Washington Irving, the son of a Scotch merchant, was born in New York, April 3, 1783. As his health was delicate his education was desultory, and at sixteen he began to study law but without much seriousness. He spent most of the time in reading, being in this way really self-educated. His health continuing a matter of concern, he took many excursions up the state to the woods, with much physical benefit. In many of the up-state towns he mingled in society to such a degree that he was in danger of becoming a mere society man. However, all the time he was doing some writing, a part of which appeared in The Morning Chronicle when he was but nineteen.

In 1804, his health continuing poor, it was decided to send him to Europe. There he stayed nearly two years, visiting France, England, and Italy, being everywhere received by society and meeting the best people, as he was a remarkably agreeable young man. The trip completely restored his health.

On his return to America in 1806, he again plunged into society, giving, however, a hint of his future occupation in Salmagundi, a semi-monthly periodical of short duration, on the model of The Spectator, written in conjunction with two of his brothers in 1807-1808. In the meantime he had been admitted to the bar. In 1809 appeared "The Knickerbocker History of New York," a piece of humor and satire which made him famous. At this time occurred the death of his fiancÉe, a loss from which he never recovered. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he served for four months on the staff of the Governor of New York.

In 1815 he went again to Europe, this time on the business of his brothers' firm, to which he had been admitted, and he stayed there seventeen years. The firm failing in 1818, he turned to literature and began the publication in 1819 of "The Sketch-Book," a collection of sketches and narratives in the manner of The Spectator. This book definitely established him as an author, being received both in America and in England with delight. Besides being successful financially it gave him an introduction to literary society. "Bracebridge Hall" and "The Tales of a Traveller" appeared soon after, in 1822 and 1824 respectively. Irving himself had been for years much of a traveller, both from inclination and from the demands of his health.

In 1826 Irving went to Spain to write his "Life and Voyages of Columbus," which appeared in 1828. This residence in Spain, which lasted till September, 1829, was a fruitful one, as Spanish subjects appealed to his imagination. Besides the "Columbus," he wrote "The Conquest of Granada," "The Companions of Columbus," and "The Alhambra." These books were financially profitable in addition to being literary successes. Throughout these years he enjoyed, as usual, the pleasures of charming society. His stay in Spain was terminated by his unexpected appointment as Secretary of Legation to the Court of St. James.

Returning to England, he was received with honors, the Royal Society of Literature awarding him in 1830 one of the two annual medals and the University of Oxford making him an honorary D.C.L. In 1831 he resigned and the next year returned to America.

America greeted him with enthusiasm. After an extended tour of the South and West he settled at Tarrytown, on the Hudson, a few miles north of New York, to enjoy the domestic life afforded by numerous relatives, and to do the writing which was more than ever necessary for the support of the relatives who had become dependent on him. At Sunnyside, as his place was named, he resolutely devoted himself to literary work, after declining several offers of public office. He was a regular contributor to The Knickerbocker Magazine at an annual salary, and he wrote several volumes, not now much read, while working on more ambitious literary projects.

In 1842 he received the unexpected and unsolicited honor of appointment as Minister to Spain. For four years he continued in office, performing his duties with tact and discretion. In 1846 he returned finally to his home, where he devoted his last days to a long-contemplated "Life of Washington," a task almost beyond his powers. On the 28th of November, 1850, he died, honored as no American man of letters had ever been.

REFERENCES

Biography
Warner: Washington Irving.
Boynton: Washington Irving.
Criticism
Howells: My Literary Passions.
Thackeray: Nil Nisi Bonum (Roundabout Papers).
Richardson: American Literature.

NOTES TO "RIP VAN WINKLE"

This story appeared with four other papers in the first number of "The Sketch-Book," which was published in America in May, 1819, as the work of one Geoffrey Crayon.

Page 1. Diedrich Knickerbocker: the supposed author of "The Knickerbocker History of New York." All this prefatory matter is merely to carry out the pretence, as do the Note and Postscript at the end.

2. Peter Stuyvesant: last Dutch governor of New York, born in Holland in 1592, died in New York in 1672. A man of short temper and with a wooden leg from the knee. Fort Christina: built by the Swedes on the Delaware River near the present city of Wilmington. There was no fighting.

15. Federal or Democrat: the two political parties after the close of the Revolutionary War. tory: name applied to all followers of the king during the war.

16. Stony Point: this promontory on the west bank of the Hudson was captured by the British, and later recaptured by the Americans under General Anthony Wayne. Antony's Nose: a bold cliff, in the shape of a nose, on the east bank of the river. The name is now usually spelled with an h.

18. Hendrick Hudson: really Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. He was on a voyage to discover a north-east passage, when he explored the river which bears his name. The Half Moon was the name of his boat.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

Edgar Allan Poe, the child of poor travelling actors, was born in Boston, January 19, 1809. Left an orphan in his third year, he was taken into the family of Mr. John Allan of Richmond, who gave him his name. Soon he became a great pet of his foster-parents, who rather spoiled him. In 1815 the Allans went to England, where the boy was in school at Stoke Newington, a suburb of London, till June, 1820, when the family returned to Richmond. His education was continued in private schools and by the aid of tutors till he entered the University of Virginia, February 14, 1826. At the University he developed a passion for drink and gambling, which led Mr. Allan to place him in his own counting-room at the end of the session in December, though he had done extremely well in some of his studies. Not liking the irksomeness of this occupation, Poe left to make his own way.

He first went to Boston, where he succeeded in having some of his verses published. His resources failing, he enlisted in the United States Army, being assigned to the artillery and serving in different stations, among them Fort Moultrie at Charleston, South Carolina. His conduct being excellent, he was appointed Sergeant-major in 1829. Shortly afterward he was reconciled to Mr. Allan, who secured him an appointment to West Point. At the Academy he neglected his duty, was court-martialled, and was dismissed March 7, 1831.

Poe now settled in Baltimore, where he devoted himself to writing, winning a prize of one hundred dollars for his tale, "A MS. Found in a Bottle." He lived with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, to whose daughter he became engaged and whom he married in 1836 in Richmond, where he had gone to become an assistant on The Southern Literary Messenger.

His habits and unfortunate disposition made it impossible for him to remain long in one position. After some drifting, he settled in Philadelphia in 1838, where he did hack work until he became associate editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and American Monthly Review in July, 1839. In 1840 appeared a volume of his tales which attracted favorable notice. In 1841 he became editor of Graham's Magazine, but in this year, too, his wife became a hopeless invalid. Anxiety about her had doubtless much to do with the subsequent condition of Poe's mind. In the next year again he lost his position. At this time he fell into wretched poverty. Then, as always, his aunt gave him the devotion of a mother. The fortunate gaining of another hundred-dollar prize, this time for "The Gold Bug," helped along together with some work on Graham's in a minor capacity.

New York was his next location, where he was on The Evening Mirror. In 1845 his "Raven" was published and at once sprang into phenomenal favor. Lecturing, magazine work, and the editing of The Broadway Journal occupied the next year. In 1846 he moved to Fordham. There ill-health and poverty so oppressed him that money had to be raised to take care of the family. In 1847 Mrs. Poe died. From this time till his own death, October 7, 1849, his mind, long clouded and affected by his habits, became hopelessly diseased.

Poe was a genius of great analytical power and imagination, but unstable and morbid. His ability has always received great recognition in Europe, particularly in France, where a translation of his tales appeared in his lifetime.

REFERENCES

Biography
Woodberry: Edgar Allan Poe.
Harrison: The Life and Letters of Edgar Allan Poe.
Criticism
Stedman: Poets of America.
Gates: Studies and Appreciations.
Brownell: American Prose Masters.

NOTES TO "THE GOLD BUG"

This story, which is classed in the group entitled "Stories of Ratiocination" (see Introduction), was first published in The Dollar Newspaper of Philadelphia in June, 1843, winning a prize of one hundred dollars.

Page 23. Tarantula: the bite of this spider was once supposed to cause a form of madness which made the victim dance. Compare the musical term "tarantelle." Huguenot: French Protestant. Many fled to South Carolina from persecutions in France. Sullivan's Island: Poe has been criticised for his inaccuracies concerning this island. He should have known it well, as he was stationed at Fort Moultrie in 1828 when a private in the United States Artillery.

24. Swammerdamm: Jan Swammerdam—one final m according to the Century Dictionary—(1637-1680). A distinguished Dutch naturalist.

27. scarabÆus caput hominis: (Latin) a man's head beetle. There is no such species known.

29. syphon: Negro dialect for ciphering, a colloquial word for "reckoning in figures." Poe hardly seems successful in representing the sounds of the speech of Negroes. Not much attention had been paid to the subject in literature at that time. To-day, since the work of Joel Chandler Harris in "Uncle Remus" and of Thomas Nelson Page in "In Ole Virginia," we rather look down on these early crude attempts. noovers: Negro dialect for manoeuvres in the sense of movements.

32. empressement: (French) eagerness.

44. curvets and caracoles: the prancing and turning of a horse.

45. violent howlings of the dog: it is popularly supposed that a dog, through its extraordinary sense of smell, can indicate the presence of parts of a human body, though buried.

48. counter: obsolete term for pieces of money.

49. solution of this most extraordinary riddle: this story exemplifies Poe's power in such work. He specialized on it in magazines.

52. long boat: "The largest and strongest boat belonging to a sailing ship."—Century Dictionary.

54. aqua regia: (Latin) royal water. A chemical compound so called from its power of dissolving gold. regulus of cobalt: early chemical term referring to the metallic mass of an ore.

55. Captain Kidd: William Kidd, about whose early life nothing is positively known, was commissioned by the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1695 to put down piracy. With a good ship under him, however, he himself turned pirate. On his return he was arrested, sent to England, tried, and executed in London in 1701. Some of his buried treasure was recovered by the colonial authorities in 1699.

58. Golconda: a place near Hyderabad, India, noted for its diamonds. cryptographs: from two Greek words meaning hidden and write. The commoner term is "cryptogram."

59. Spanish main: the ocean near the coast of South America and the adjacent parts of the Caribbean Sea over which the Spaniards exercised power.

67. insignium: (Latin) a sign.

NOTES TO "THE PURLOINED LETTER"

This detective story was published in "The Gift" for 1845.

Page 69. Nil sapientiÆ, etc.: (Latin) Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than too great acuteness. C. Auguste Dupin: clever amateur who solves the mysteries which baffle the police. Most writers of detective stories follow this example set by Poe. au troisiÈme: (French) on the third floor. Faubourg: (French) section of a city. Saint Germain: a section of Paris on the south bank of the Seine, once the abode of the French nobility. affair of the Rue Morgue: a reference to the detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." the murder of Marie RogÊt: a reference to another detective story, "The Mystery of Marie RogÊt." The writer is playing the same part as does Dr. Watson in the various Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle. Prefect: (French) chief.

71. cant of diplomacy: set phrases used in intercourse between representatives of governments by which they hint at their meaning.

73. hÔtel: (French) residence. au fait: (French) expert.

76. microscope: since Poe's time the microscope is, in stories, almost an invariable part of a detective's outfit.

79. Abernethy: John Abernethy (1764-1831). A celebrated London physician.

80. escritoire: "A piece of furniture with conveniences for writing, as an opening top or falling front panel, places for inkstand, pens, and stationery, etc."—Century Dictionary. Procrustean bed: In Greek mythology, Procrustes (derivatively "the stretcher") was a giant who tied those whom he caught on a bed, making them fit by stretching them out if too short, and by cutting off their limbs if too long.

82. Rochefoucauld: FranÇois La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680). A French moralist known for his "Maxims" published in 1665. La Bougive: In the edition of Poe's works prepared by Edmund Clarence Stedman and Professor George Edward Woodberry, this name is given as La BruyÈre. Jean de La BruyÈre (1645-1696) was a French moralist. Machiavelli: Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). A celebrated statesman and writer of Florence, Italy, whose book "The Prince" is based on unscrupulous principles. Campanella: Tomaso Campanella (1568-1639). An Italian writer.

83. recherchÉ: (French) far-fetched. policial: a rare word, meaning "pertaining to the police."

84. non distributio medii: (Latin) a non-distribution of the middle, or the undistributed middle. This is a mistake in reasoning. When the Prefect reasons that all fools are poets, therefore all poets are fools, he has no middle term at all; that is, no class of which poets and fools are both members. Correct reasoning is represented by this: all men are mortal; John is a man; therefore John is mortal. Between mortal and John, two terms, there is a middle term, men, of which both are members. Differential Calculus: a higher form of mathematics. par excellence: (French) above all. Il y a, etc.: (French). The odds are that every public idea, every accepted convention, is a foolish trick, for it is suitable for the greatest number. Chamfort: Sebastian Roch Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794). A French writer of maxims. ambitus: (Latin) a going around. Poe means by this example and by those that follow that mere similarity of two words does not make them of the same meaning.

85. Bryant: Jacob Bryant (1715-1804). An English writer on mythology.

86. intrigant: (French) intriger.

87. vis inertiÆ: (Latin) the force of inertia, the same as inertia, a term of physics which denotes the tendency of a body to remain at rest or in motion.

88. ministerial hÔtel: house of the minister or cabinet officer.

92. facilis descensus Averni: a misquotation from Vergil's "Aeneid," Book VI, line 126. It should be "facilis descensus Averno," easy is the descent to Avernus. Catalani: Angelica Catalani (1779-1849). An Italian singer. monstrum horrendum: (Latin) a horrible monster, the epithet applied to the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, in Vergil's "Aeneid," Book III, line 658. Un dessein, etc.: (French). A design so fatal, if it is not worthy of AtrÉe, it is worthy of Thyeste. CrÉbillon's "AtrÉe": Prosper Jolyot de CrÉbillon (1674-1762). A French tragic poet. His play, "AtrÉe et Thyeste," bears the date 1707.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Nathaniel Hawthorne, or Hathorne, as it was spelled before he changed it, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, July 4, 1804. His family, settled in New England since 1630, had played its part in the activities of the land in various capacities, including the persecution of so-called witches. His father, a sea-captain, died on a voyage when the lad was four years old. The excessive mourning then in vogue made the widow practically seclude herself in her room, throwing a consequent gloom over the household and affecting the boy's spirits. From this depressing atmosphere he found relief in an early developed taste for reading. In 1818 the family moved to a lonely part of Maine, where in roaming the lonely woods he gained a liking for solitude as well as for nature. He returned to Salem in 1819 to prepare for Bowdoin College, which he entered in 1821. After an undistinguished course he went back to his native town, whither his mother had also returned.

In Salem he remained for twelve years, a recluse in a family of recluses, devoting himself to reading and writing. In 1828 his first book, "Fanshawe," was published at his own expense. Its failure caused him to destroy all the copies he could find. Some of the stories which he wrote during this period were published in the annuals, then fashionable, and in The New England Magazine, but without making much impression.

This hermit-like existence was healthily broken in 1836 by his becoming the editor of an obscure magazine, though it was hack work and lasted but a short time. The anonymity to which he had stubbornly clung was also dispelled by one friend, and the publication of his "Twice-Told Tales" was arranged for by another, his classmate, Horatio Bridge. These two facts made him known and mark the beginning of the disappearance of his solitary depression, which was ended by his engagement to Sophia Peabody.

In January, 1839, he became a weigher and gauger in the Boston Custom House, a position which he lost in April, 1841, owing to a change in the political administration. Then for a few months he was a member of the Brook Farm Community, a group of reformers who tried to combine agriculture and education. In the Custom House and at Brook Farm he worked so hard as to have little energy for literature, publishing only some children's books. On July 9, 1842, occurred his marriage.

For the next three years Hawthorne resided in Concord at the Old Manse. In this retired town, where such eminent people as Emerson and Thoreau were to be met, he lived a very happy, quiet life, given to musing and observation. But he had lost a considerable sum of money in the Brook Farm experiment, the failure of The Democratic Review prevented payment for his contributions, and he began to feel the pinch of poverty. At this juncture his college mates, Bridge and Pierce, came to the rescue, and on March 23, 1846, he was appointed surveyor of the port of Salem, that spot in which the Hawthorne family was so firmly rooted, whither he had previously returned with his wife and daughter, Una, born in Concord in 1844.

Though happy for a short time at getting into the stir of actual life, the routine and sordidness soon palled and he began to fret in the harness. This mood kept him from composition till he forced from himself, in 1848, the last of his short stories, including "The Great Stone Face" and "Ethan Brand." Despite the effort, the stories rank well. In 1849 he was dismissed from office by a change of political administration, not because of inefficiency. He took this dismissal hard because some of his townspeople had been opposed to him. Again he was in money difficulties from which he was released by a donation from his loyal friends. The leisure thus made possible was devoted to the production of his greatest work, a novel, "The Scarlet Letter," which is a study in the darker side of Puritanism. Its publication in April, 1850, brought him fame. In the same year he moved to the Berkshire Hills.

The year and a half in the hills was thoroughly happy. He had the incentive of success, the tranquillity of mind due to sufficient means, physical comfort, and a loving household now enlarged by the birth of a second daughter, Rose. During this time he wrote and published (1851) his novel, "The House of the Seven Gables," the study of an inherited curse, made pleasing as a story by means of its realistic portrayal of ordinary life. He also put many of the stories of classical mythology into a form understandable by children, publishing the results in "A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys" (1852) and "Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys" (1853). In 1852 appeared "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales," containing hitherto uncollected contributions to various magazines.

Believing the Berkshire air rather enervating, Hawthorne moved in November, 1851, to a temporary residence in West Newton, where he wrote "The Blithedale Romance," which was published in 1852. This novel, founded on his Brook Farm experience, is a study of the failure of the typical reformer. In June, 1852, the family moved to a place of their own, called "The Wayside" in Concord. Here the ideal family life continued. In the summer he brought out "The Life of Franklin Pierce," the biography of his old college mate, who was shortly after elected to the presidency of the United States, and made Hawthorne United States Consul at Liverpool in 1853.

The holding of office was never a congenial occupation to Hawthorne, though he was a good official. It always became irksome and dried up his creative power. The consulship was no exception, and when he resigned in 1857 he felt much relief. By this time he had obtained a competence which afforded him the gratification of paying back the money once raised for him by his friends. When in England he had seen much of the country; now he determined to see more of Europe. The family travelled through France to Italy, which they greatly enjoyed, staying there till 1859. For some months they had occupied the old villa of Montauto, where Hawthorne composed most of "The Marble Faun." The illness of Una compelling them to seek a different climate, they returned to England, where he finished the book, which was published the next year. "The Marble Faun" is "an analytical study of evil"; but despite the subject, the artistic effects and the interpretation of Italy lend it charm.

In 1860 the family returned to Concord. Hawthorne's health had been failing for some time, and now he became incapable of sustained work. However, in 1863 was published "Our Old Home," the theme of which is well expressed by the sub-title "A Series of English Sketches," which had been composed previously. He continued to do some work, and even promised a new novel to the press, but he came to realize that he would never finish it. In 1864 he went on a carriage trip with his old friend Pierce, during which he peacefully died in his sleep.

REFERENCES

Biography
Woodberry: Nathaniel Hawthorne.
James: Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Criticism
Hutton: Literary Essays.
Stephen: Hours in a Library.

NOTES ON "HOWE'S MASQUERADE"

This story was first published in The Democratic Review for May, 1838, and was republished in 1842 in an enlarged edition of "Twice-Told Tales." It exemplifies the work in which Hawthorne was the pioneer—that of building a story about a situation. The idea of this particular one is found in the following entry in "American Note-Books": "A phantom of the old royal governors, or some such showy shadowy pageant, on the night of the evacuation of Boston by the British." Hawthorne was accustomed to jot down in his note-books hints for stories which often can be traced in his developed writings.

In "Howe's Masquerade" can be clearly seen the fact that he had not mastered the method of writing the short-story as we have it to-day. There is too much introduction and too much conclusion. He takes too long to get the story into motion, and he spoils the effect by tacking to the end a moral. These mistakes or crudities Poe did not make; however, each writer contributed to the development of the short-story some element of value, as has been pointed out in the Introduction.

This story is one of "The Legends of the Province House," stories joined together by the scheme of having an old inhabitant tell them to some visitor. Such machinery with its prologues and end-links, more or less elaborate, has been often used, as is seen in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and in Longfellow's "Tales of a Wayside Inn." The taste for this method has largely passed, though it has been recently revived by Alfred Noyes in "The Tales of the Mermaid Tavern."

Page 93. Washington Street: the scene is laid in Boston. Old Province House: the term Province House is used somewhat in the same sense as State House. The building was erected when Massachusetts was a province and served as the headquarters and dwelling of the royal governor. Hawthorne represents it as having descended to the condition of an inn or inferior hotel, the most important part of which was the bar for the sale of liquor.

94. lady of Pownall: the wife of Thomas Pownall, a royal governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bernard: Sir Thomas Bernard, another royal governor.

98. Steeled knights of the Conquest: persons dressed as cavalrymen in steel armor of 1066, when William the Conqueror became King of England. party-colored Merry Andrew: an old term for a clown dressed in garments having several colors. Falstaff: an important character in several of Shakespeare's plays. He is always represented as fat and ridiculous. Don Quixote: the chief character of the celebrated Spanish satire "Don Quixote" (1605) by Cervantes. Don Quixote is a simple-minded man, whose head has been turned by reading the extravagant romances of chivalry then current, in which knights ride forth to redress wrongs. He feels himself called to such a mission and, armed with various ridiculous makeshifts and accompanied by a humorous squire, Sancho Panza, whose sayings have achieved an immortality nearly equal to his master's doings, he sallies out upon a course of adventures, which caused the world to laugh the dying remnants of false chivalry into its grave. Colonel Joliffe: an imaginary character. whig principles: the people belonging to the patriotic party in the colonies were called Whigs.

99. Rev. Mather Byles: an actual person (1706-1788). He was imprisoned in 1777 as a Tory; that is, as an adherent of the king. wig and band: Protestant clergymen of that day wore wigs and a strip of linen, called a band, placed about the neck with the ends hanging down in front.

102. regicide judges: in the first part of the seventeenth century the people of England became dissatisfied with their king, Charles I, because of his illegal acts. They revolted, captured the king, put him on trial, and executed him, January 30, 1649. The judges are called regicide, because they tried and condemned a king. The royal party spoke of him as a martyr to the cause.

110. When the truth-telling accents, etc.: Hawthorne has tried in this last paragraph to emphasize the contrast between the rather sordid real and the imaginary. He is entirely too successful, because he spoils the effect of the story—something for which Poe strove with such singleness of purpose as to permit of no such ending.

NOTES TO "THE BIRTHMARK"

This story was first published in the March, 1843, number of The Pioneer, a magazine edited by James Russell Lowell, and was republished in "Mosses from an Old Manse" in 1846. It belongs to the "moral philosophic" group of Hawthorne's writings (see Introduction).

Page 112. natural philosophy: an old term for physics. spiritual affinity: in chemistry certain elements show a tendency to combine with others, so an attraction of one human spirit for another, leading generally to marriage, is often called a spiritual affinity.

114. Eve of Powers: Hiram Powers (1805-1873). An American sculptor whose statue of Eve is one of his noted works.

118. Pygmalion: in Greek mythology a sculptor who made such a beautiful statue of a woman that he fell in love with it, whereupon in answer to his prayer the goddess Aphrodite gave it life.

121. optical phenomena: sights which cheat the eye into believing them real.

122. corrosive acid: a powerful chemical which eats away substance. dynasty of the alchemists: the succession of the early investigators of chemistry who spent most of their energy in seeking what was called the "universal solvent" which would turn every substance into gold. These men were sometimes legitimate investigators, but often cheats who made money out of foolish people. At one time they became so numerous in London that laws were passed against them, but it took Jonson's play "The Alchemist" to laugh away their hold.

123. elixir vitÆ: (Arabic, el iksir, plus Latin, vitÆ) literally, the philosopher's stone of life. Another fad of the alchemists.

125. Albertus Magnus: "Albert the Great" (1193-1280), a member of the Dominican order of monks. Cornelius Agrippa: (1486-1535) a student of magic. Paracelsus: Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541), a physician and alchemist. friar who created the prophetic Brazen Head: the legendary "Famous History of Friar Bacon" records the construction of such a thing. Transactions of the Royal Society: the volumes containing the discussions of the Royal Society and also the papers read before it. This association was founded about 1660 for the advancement of science.

BRET HARTE

Francis Bret Harte, or as he later called himself Bret Harte, was born in Albany, New York, August 25, 1836. He came of mixed English, Dutch, and Hebrew stock. The family led a wandering life, full of privations, till the death of the father, a schoolmaster, in 1845. In 1853 the widow moved to California, where she married Colonel Andrew Williams. Thither the son followed her in 1854.

As tutor, express messenger, printer, drug clerk, miner, and editor he spent the three years till 1857, when he settled in San Francisco, where he became a printer in the office of The Golden Era. Soon he began to contribute articles to the paper, and was promoted to the editorial room. In 1862 he married Miss Anna Griswold, and in 1864 he was appointed secretary of the California mint. He continued writing, and in the same year was engaged on a weekly, The Californian. In 1867 the first collection of his poems was published under the title of "The Lost Galleon and Other Tales." When The Overland Monthly was founded in the next year Bret Harte became its first editor. To its second number he contributed "Luck of Roaring Camp." Though received with much question in California, it met a most enthusiastic reception in the East, the columns of The Atlantic Monthly being thrown open to him. This success he followed six months later by another, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." His next great success was the poem "Plain Language from Truthful James," which was in the September, 1870, number of the magazine. It made him famous though he attached little importance to it. In this year he was made Professor of Recent Literature in the University of California.

Debt, friction with the new owner of The Overland, and a growing lack of sympathy with the late settlers, caused Bret Harte to leave California in 1871. He came East and devoted himself entirely to writing, his work being published for one year altogether in The Atlantic Monthly. But his ever recurring financial difficulties becoming acute, he did some lecturing in addition. In 1876 appeared his only novel, "Gabriel Conroy," which was not a success. His money difficulties continuing, his friends came to the rescue and secured his appointment as United States Consul at Crefeld, Germany. Leaving his wife, whom he never saw again, he sailed in 1878. At this post he continued for two years, his life being varied by a lecture tour in England. In 1880 he was transferred to the more lucrative consulship at Glasgow.

In Glasgow he remained for five years, writing, meeting some eminent writers, and visiting different parts of the country. In 1885, a new President having taken office, he was superseded in his consulship. He then settled in London, devoting himself to writing with only an occasional trip away, once as far as Switzerland. In 1901 he died.

REFERENCES

Biography
Merwin: The Life of Bret Harte.
Pemberton: Life of Bret Harte.
Criticism
Woodberry: America in Literature.

NOTES TO "THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT"

This story was first published in The Overland Monthly of San Francisco in 1869.

Page 134. Poker Flat: an actual place in Sierra County, California. The name is typical of a large class of western geographic names bestowed by rough uneducated men when the West was new. moral atmosphere: these western mining towns in 1850 in a region which had just become a part of the United States as a result of the War with Mexico, were largely unorganized and without regularly constituted government. The bad element did as it pleased until the better people got tired. Then a "vigilance committee" would be organized, which would either drive out the undesirables, as in this story, or would execute the entire lot.

135. sluice robber: one way of separating gold from the gravel and sand in which it is found is to put the mixture into a slanting trough, called a sluice, through which water is run. As these sluices were sometimes of considerable length, it was not a difficult matter for a man to rob one.

136. Parthian: the Parthians inhabited a part of ancient Persia. It was their custom when retreating to continue to shoot arrows at their enemy.

142. Covenanter: one of that body of Scotchmen who had bound themselves by a solemn covenant or agreement in the seventeenth century to uphold the Presbyterian faith. This act required force of character, since it was in defiance of King Charles I, and this force was shown in the vigor of their hymns.

144. Iliad: the ancient Greek epic poem, ascribed to Homer, which tells the story of the war of the Greeks against Troy. Alexander Pope (1688-1744), an English poet, who rather freely translated the poem.

147. Derringer: a pistol, so called from the name of the inventor.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson, the son of a man of some means, was born in Edinburgh, November 30, 1850. The Louis form of his second name was merely a caprice in spelling adopted by the boy, and never altered the pronunciation of the original by his family. An only child, afflicted with poor health, he was an object of solicitude, notably to his nurse, Alison Cunningham, to whose loving devotion the world owes an unpayable debt. Stevenson's appreciation of her faithful ministrations is beautifully voiced in the dedication of his "A Child's Garden of Verses" (1885). After some schooling, made more or less desultory by ill-health, he attended Edinburgh University. The family profession was lighthouse engineering, and though he gave it enough attention to receive a medal for a suggested improvement on a lighthouse lamp, his heart was not in engineering, so he compromised with his father on law. He was called to the Scottish bar and rode on circuit with the court, but, becoming master of his destiny, he abandoned law for literature.

Literature was the serious purpose of his life and to it he gave an ardor of industry which is amazing. He worked at the mastery of its technique for years, till he gained that felicity of expression which has made his writings classical. His earliest publications were essays, often inspired by his trips abroad in search of health. On one of these in France in 1876 he met his future wife, Mrs. Osbourne, an American. Other such trips are recorded in "An Inland Voyage" (1878) and in "Travels with a Donkey" (1879). In 1879 he came to America, travelling in a rough way to California, an experience made use of in his book "An Amateur Emigrant." As a consequence of this trip, he fell desperately ill in San Francisco, where he was nursed by Mrs. Osbourne, whom he married in 1880. His convalescence in an abandoned mining camp is recorded in "The Silverado Squatters" (1883). Returning to Scotland, they found the climate impossible for his weak lungs, consequently they tried various places on the Continent. Throughout his ill-health he heroically kept at work, publishing from time to time books of essays and short-stories, such as "Virginibus Puerisque" (1881) and "New Arabian Nights" (1882), parts of which had already appeared in magazines, and in 1883 his first popular success, "Treasure Island."

In 1887 his father died and in the next year he came again to America, sojourning at various places, among them Saranac Lake, and then voyaging in a sailing vessel, The Casco, in the Pacific. It was not his ill-health alone that kept him on the move, but an adventurous spirit as well. Finally the family settled at Apia, Samoa, the climate of which he found remarkably salubrious. There he could work even physically without the long spells of illness to which he had been accustomed all his life. He was able to take an intense interest in the unhappy politics of the islands, endeavoring to alleviate the unfortunate condition of the natives, who passionately returned his interest. They built for him to his house a road to which they gave the significant name of "The Road of the Loving Heart," and they celebrated his story-telling gift by the name "Tusitala," the teller of tales. His efforts for Samoa resulted in a book entitled "A Foot Note to History" (1893), which showed the troubled condition of the islands. In this place, ruling over a large retinue of servants like a Scottish chieftain over his clan, he lived for three years, turning out much work and producing half of that most wonderful novel, "Weir of Hermiston," which bid fair to be his greatest achievement. Death came suddenly in 1894 from the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain, thus cheating his lifelong enemy, tuberculosis. Besides "Weir," he left almost completed another novel, "St. Ives," which was concluded by Quiller-Couch and published in 1898.

On a high peak of Vaea he lies beneath a stone bearing the epitaph written by himself:

"Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."

REFERENCES

Biography:
Balfour: Life of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Raleigh: R. L. Stevenson.
Criticism:
Genung: Stevenson's Attitude toward Life.
Phelps: Modern Novelists.

NOTES ON "THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT'S DOOR"

This story of dramatic interest, which contains, moreover, much psychologic interest, was first published in Temple Bar, January, 1878, and reprinted in the volume "New Arabian Nights" in 1882.

Page 148. Sire: obsolete French for sir. Burgundy: a section of eastern France bordering on the river Rhone. The Count of Burgundy by a treaty with the English recognized the claim of the English king, Henry VI, to the throne of France. Their troops at the time of the story were endeavoring to establish this claim by force of arms. Joan of Arc figures in this war. safe-conduct: a passport. As Denis had one, he must have come from the French forces and consequently was among enemies.

149. Chateau Landon: an ancient town southeast of Paris.

150. Bourges: a city in the Department of Cher, west of Burgundy.

154. rushes: In those days the floors of rooms were covered with rushes into which people were accustomed to throw refuse. Cleaning was done by removing the old rushes and putting a fresh supply in their place.

155. Leonardo: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), a famous Italian painter who did much portraiture, particularly of women. One of his best-known works is the "Mona Lisa."

156. damoiseau: obsolete French word denoting rank.

163. salle: (French) hall.

164. Charlemagne: the French form of Charles the Great (742-814), a great king of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans.

169. Hercules: a great personage in Greek mythology, famous for his strength. Solomon: king of Israel, 993-953 B.C., noted for his wisdom.

NOTES ON "MARKHEIM"

This psychological study was written in 1884 and published in Unwin's Annual for 1885.

Page 179. "Time was that when the brains were out": a misquotation from Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Act III, scene iv, lines 78-79. In full this most apposite reference runs:

"The times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is."

180. Bohemian goblets: drinking glasses of glass made in Bohemia, the most northern portion of the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Its glassware is famous.

182. Brownrigg: Elizabeth Brownrigg, a notorious English murderess of the eighteenth century. Pictures of such persons were common at country fairs. Mannings: other murderers, man and wife. Thurtell: another murderer and his victim.

185. other murderers: compare the agonies of Bill Sykes in "Oliver Twist."

186. Sheraton sideboard: Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was a well-known English furniture maker. Jacobean tombs: graves of the times of the English kings named James of the seventeenth century.

187. a face was thrust into the aperture: This was not a real person but one born of Markheim's troubled mind. The conversation shows the dual nature of man, containing both good and bad, and how a man excuses his wickedness. The subject was used again by Stevenson in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

RUDYARD KIPLING

Rudyard Kipling is the son of John Lockwood Kipling, successively Professor in the Bombay School of Art and Curator of the Government Museum at Lahore, India, and of Alice Macdonald, the daughter of a Wesleyan minister. He was born at Bombay, December 30, 1865. His given name commemorates the meeting-place of his parents, a small lake in Staffordshire.

In accordance with the custom dictated by the needs of health and of education in the case of white children born in India, he was taken in 1871 to England, where he stayed with a relative at Southsea, near Portsmouth. The experiences of such little exiles from the home circle are feelingly shown in "Baa, Baa, Black-sheep" and in the beginning of "The Light that Failed." When thirteen he entered The United Services College, Westward Ho, Bideford, North Devon. Here he stayed from 1878 to 1882, taking part in some at least of the happenings so well narrated in "Stalky and Co." (1899).

On leaving college in 1882 he went to Lahore, India, where he became sub-editor of The Civil and Military Gazette. In 1887 he joined the editorial staff of The Allahabad Pioneer. To these papers he contributed many of the poems and short-stories soon collected in the volumes named "Departmental Ditties" (1886) and "Plain Tales from the Hills" (1888). All of these writings come near to actual occurrences, and give a fascinating glimpse of conditions in India. In the same year of 1888 he published in India six other volumes of tales.

Leaving India in 1889, he returned to Europe via China, Japan, and the United States, sending back to the two papers travel sketches which have since been collected under the title of "From Sea to Sea" (1899).

On reaching England he found himself a celebrated man. There he met in 1891 Wolcott Balestier, an American, to whom he dedicated "Barrack Room Ballads" (1892) in an introductory poem filled with glowing tribute. In the same year he made further journeys to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

He married Caroline Balestier in 1892, the year of publication of "The Naulahka," which had been written in collaboration with her brother. The travelling continued till they settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where their unique house was named appropriately "The Naulahka." The fruit of his American sojourn was, among other writings, "Captains Courageous" (1897), a story of the Atlantic fishing banks, full of American atmosphere and characters. In the meantime, in various periodicals had appeared short-stories and poems, which were quickly put into books. One of the stories is "A Walking Delegate," which is so wonderfully accurate in the local color of Vermont as to be worthy of special mention. It forms one of "The Day's Work" group (1898). In it is seen Kipling's power of observation, which he possesses to such a remarkable degree. To this period belong those famous collections, "The Jungle Book" (1894) and "The Second Jungle Book" (1895), containing the beast stories which seem so plausible, and a book of poems, "The Seven Seas" (1896).

In 1896 the Kiplings returned to England, taking a house at Rottingdean. While England has remained his permanent home, he has continued to take journeys. During a trip in 1899 he was seriously ill in New York with pneumonia. While ill, his condition was a constant source of anxiety to all classes of people. He recovered, but his little daughter Josephine died of the same disease. One cannot fail to note the intimate touches reminiscent of her in "They," published in "Traffics and Discoveries" (1904). Another trip, in 1900, was to South Africa, while the Boer War was in progress. The results are to be found in many poems and stories about the struggle.

In late years honors have come to him. The Nobel Prize of Literature and an honorary degree from Oxford were both awarded him in 1907. He has taken some part in politics, but he continues to write, though not so prolifically as before. His more recent books are: "Kim" (1902), a vivid panorama of India; "Puck of Pook's Hill" (1906), and "Rewards and Fairies" (1910), realistic reconstructions of English history; "Actions and Reactions" (1909), a series of stories, among them "An Habitation Enforced," a rare story of the charm of English country life; and "The Fringes of the Fleet" (1916), relating to the European War. His son John has had the misfortune to be captured in the present war.

One book, "The Day's Work," deserves particular mention, as it contains some of his best stories, such as "The Brushwood Boy," and exhibits especially the three cardinal points of his philosophy of life—"Work," "Don't whine," and "Don't be afraid."

REFERENCES

Biography
Clemens: A Ken of Kipling.
Knowles: A Kipling Primer.
Criticism
Le Gallienne: Rudyard Kipling, A Criticism.
Falls: Rudyard Kipling, A Critical Study.
Hooker: The Later Work of Rudyard Kipling, North American Review, May, 1911.

NOTES TO "WEE WILLIE WINKIE"

Page 196. Wee Willie Winkie: the name is taken from the Scotch poem of William Miller (1810-1872). Below is given Whittier's familiar version of the poem:

Wee Willie Winkie Runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs, In his nightgown! Tapping at the window, Crying at the lock, "Are the weans in their bed, For it's now ten o'clock?"	Anything but sleep, you rogue! Glowering like the moon; Rattling in an iron jug With an iron spoon; Rumbling, tumbling all about, Crowing like a cock, Screaming like I don't know what, Waking sleeping folk.
"Hey, Willie Winkie, Are you coming then? The cat's singing purrie To the sleeping hen; The dog is lying on the floor And doesn't even peep; But here's a wakeful laddie That will not fall asleep."	"Hey, Willie Winkie, Can't you keep him still? Wriggling off a body's knee Like a very eel; Pulling at the cat's ear, As she drowsy hums; Heigh, Willie Winkie! See! there he comes!"

Wearied is the mother

That has a restless wean,
A wee stumpy bairnie,
Heard whene'er he's seen—
That has a battle aye with sleep
Before he'll close his e'e;
But a kiss from off his rosy lips
Gives strength anew to me.

"An officer, etc.": this quotation refers to the time when the holders of military rank also held social position. ayah: Anglo-Indian for "nurse." Baba: Oriental title of respect. subaltern: a commissioned officer of lower rank than captain, i.e. lieutenant. compound: an enclosure, in the East, for a residence.

197. Commissioner: a civilian official having charge of a department. Station: a military post. mess: a group of officers who eat together, hence the officers. rank and file: the non-commissioned officers and privates.

198. Afghan and Egyptian medals: it is customary for medals to be struck off in commemoration of campaigns and for them to be called after the places in which the campaigns occurred.

199. Hut jao: native expression equivalent to "go away at once."

200. Bell, Butcha: dogs' names. Butcha = butcher.

201. Old Adam: it is a religious belief that Adam, supposedly the first man, committed sin, the tendency to which he handed down to all men as his descendants. Hence when one does wrong it is said that the Old Adam comes out. quarters: house or rooms of an officer.

202. Bad Men: childish name for hostile natives. broke his arrest: an officer under arrest is his own keeper. Sahib: a term of respect, equivalent to Mister, used by East Indians toward Europeans.

203. twelve-two: the unit of measurement of the height of a horse is called a hand, which is equal to four inches. Hence twelve-two means twelve hands and two inches. Waler: a horse from New South Wales.

205. Pushto: sometimes Pushtu, the language of the Afghans.

206. Sahib Bahadur: Sahib = Mister. Bahadur, title of respect equivalent to "gallant officer."

207. Spoil-five: a game of cards. Color Sergeant: in the British army, he is a non-commissioned officer who ranks higher and receives better pay than an ordinary sergeant, and, in addition to discharging the usual duties of a sergeant, attends the colors (the flag) in the field or near headquarters. Pathans: (pronounced Pay-tÁn) an Afghan race settled in Hindustan and in eastern Afghanistan. double: to increase the pace to twice the ordinary; double-quick.

208. cantonment: (in India pronounced can-tÓne-ment) part of a town assigned to soldiers. pulton: native expression equivalent to "troops."

209. pukka: native expression meaning "real," "thorough."

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