Q. What is the meaning of boycotting?

A. Boycott was the name of an Irish landlord whose tenants refused to gather his crops, and endeavored to prevent his doing it. To withhold help and patronage, or in any way to obstruct or hinder the business of another—a meanness that is despicable—is to treat him as the tenants treated Mr. Boycott.

Q. Was General Grant the author of the expression, “We have met the enemy and they are ours?”

A. The above is very like to CÆsar’s “veni, vidi, vici,” and as a general’s report of a great victory just won, is remarkable for its comprehensive brevity. The words, though in harmony with the character and sayings of General Grant, were not, if used, original with him, but should be credited to Commodore Perry.

Q. Why was the son of Edward III. called the Black Prince?

A. Because of his black armor.

Q. Was Alexander of Macedon, who informed the Greeks before the battle of Platea of the intended attack, their ally?

A. Not openly; but secretly he was, or the information would not have been given.

Q. Where is the mountain lake Shawangunk?

A. The Shawangunk (Shon-gum) mountain is properly a continuation of the Appalachian, or Allegheny chain in New York. Like the Adirondacks and Catskills, south of the Mohawk, also outliers of the chain, it seems separated by intervening lands of lower elevation, and the relationship is shown by similarity of the geological formation. Look for the lake in the same region. It is probably small, and may not be found on most maps.

Q. Was it not Leonidas who, before the battle of ThermopylÆ, said, “The Persians are so numerous that their arrows will darken the sun?”

A. No. Those words may intimate fear of the overwhelming force of the enemy, and the Greek historian does not mention their author, but says that on hearing them, a brave Spartan replied: “All the better, as we will then fight in the shade.”

Q. Which construction? “Thus were music and poetry born in the same family, and we shall notice how that they have clung to each other,” or “how they have clung?”

A. The latter is preferred. The conjunctive particle is not needed, and though occasionally thus used by a good writer, only encumbers the sentence.

Q. Who was Caius Cestius?

A. A wealthy Roman citizen of the Augustan age, a client of Cicero, of not much distinction, though rich. A part of his estate was employed in building for him a fine mausoleum, which remains to the present day, though most of the contemporaneous surrounding structures have long been in ruins. Near it lie the ashes of Keats and Shelly. After the death of Keats, Shelly wrote of his friend: “He lies in the lovely, romantic cemetery of the Protestants of Rome, near the tomb of Caius Cestius, and within the mossy walls and towns, now mouldering and desolate, which formed the circuit of ancient Rome. The cemetery is an open space among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with death to think of being buried in so sweet a place.”

Q. Can you give the date of Mrs. Browning’s birth in 1809?

A. We can not. No records now at hand give the day or month. It is not best to be greatly troubled over our want of information on the subject, as it is quite safe to conclude she was “well born” some time during the year mentioned. Many other eminent writers have gone into history with the same uncertainty as to the day of their birth.

Q. In whose hands was the government of the United States from 1783 to 1789?

A. Nominally in the Continental Congress—a kind of quasi central government. Practically in the hands of the colonists and their legislators. The war was ended and the United States acknowledged a free, sovereign, and independent nation. But they were, as yet, united only by the “articles of confederation” adopted in 1778; a bond of union that was soon found inadequate to secure a strong, permanent government amidst the perils that threatened the new republic. The regulation of commerce, the adjustment of difficulties between States, and the public defense were not sufficiently provided for. Congress could devise and recommend measures, but had little power to legislate, even on subjects that concerned the whole. There was still more need of an efficient executive department. Feeling that the articles of confederation were, in the changed state of the country, no longer sufficient, the leading statesmen wisely framed, and the country adopted the American Constitution, giving us a strong central government, with the least possible surrender of rights by the States thus united.

Q. Was there any reason for calling Alexander the Great a Greek?

A. Alexander was not a Greek, though educated by Greek teachers, and, as other Macedonians, using the Greek language. Macedon was not a part of Greece, but held Greece as a dependency, and used her power in expelling the Persians.

Q. After the confusion of tongues and the dispersion of mankind, into what families lingual were they divided?

A. Into Shemetic, Hametic, and Japhetic. The descendants of Shem peopled central Asia, particularly the parts about the Euphrates. The dialect or language called Aramaic prevailed in their northern and northeastern territory, the Arabic in their southern, and in their central and western the Hebrew. These are cognate languages, and profitably studied in connection. The descendants of Japheth spread over Europe and the northwest of Asia. Those of Ham occupied the southern part of the globe, particularly Africa. The languages spoken in these sections, respectively, may also be grouped together, and, however different, give evidence of a common origin. The general division into the above three classes has been found convenient, though the patronymics are used only to indicate remote origin and kinship.