THE 
 
 ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 WILLIAM J. ROLFE 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
 
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 Chap,.. Copyright No, 
 
 Shel£j5L4_5 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE 
 
 ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 HINTS TO TEACHERS 
 
 WILLIAM J. ROLFE, Litt.D. 
 
 SEP 251896 ) 
 
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 -£>\ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 1896 
 
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 .*£* 
 
 Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers. 
 ^/<T rights reserved. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In the Preface to the first volume of the " English Classics 
 for School Reading " I promised to prepare some " Hints 
 for Teachers " on the use of the books. These Hints were 
 printed in a small pamphlet, two editions of which have 
 been exhausted. In this third edition I have thought it well 
 to expand the pamphlet into a little book, in which the 
 Hints should be given in revised and enlarged form, with 
 the addition of one or two other papers on the elementary- 
 study of English. 
 
 In former editions of the Hints the teacher has been re- 
 ferred to the books — the Tales of Chivalry and Tales from 
 English History— for the passages which the quoted notes 
 explain or illustrate. I now give these passages with the 
 notes, thus making the Hints complete in themselves, and 
 also rendering the method and suggestions more intelligible 
 to teachers who are unacquainted with the series. Whatever 
 books for " supplementary reading " or the elementary 
 study of English they use, they may be interested in some 
 of these results of the experience of a fellow-teacher — for 
 such, it should be understood, they are. I suggest nothing 
 to others which I have not thoroughly tested myself. More 
 than forty years ago, with boys and girls eight or ten years 
 old, in a country academy, and with no other material than 
 was to be found in the school reading-books of the time,! 
 
iv PREFACE 
 
 did such work as is described here. Some of those boys and 
 girls, after they had become fathers and mothers, told me 
 that nothing in their school training was of more enduring 
 value and delight to them than those early lessons in litera- 
 ture. All my teaching from that day to this, in high schools, 
 summer schools (where the students were mostly teachers), 
 private schools, and elsewhere, has been on the same lines, 
 and hundreds of pupils have borne similar testimony to the 
 results. That the method is the best possible I have not the 
 presumption to imagine, but that it is good in its way I may 
 venture to believe when I have such assurance of the fruit it 
 has borne. 
 
 The Hints are prefaced with a paper on " The Grammar- 
 school Course in English," written on that subject at the re- 
 quest of the officers of the Massachusetts State Teachers' 
 Association, and read at a meeting of that society in Boston 
 in 1888, but not printed until now ; and short papers on " The 
 Teaching of History" and on "The English Language" are 
 added. In the Appendix I give a brief description of the 
 books already issued in the series, with selections from the 
 notes in the later volumes as further illustrations of the 
 method. 
 
 Cambridge, June 10, 1896. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Grammar-school Course in English .... i 
 Hints for Teachers on the Use of the "English 
 
 Classics for School Reading" 14 
 
 Hints on Teaching History 50 
 
 The English Language .... 56 
 
 Appendix .... 61 
 
 Index , .... 85 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/elementarystudyoOOrQlf 
 
THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 
 
 [PORTIONS OF A PAPER READ BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS 
 STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, NOVEMBER 30, 1888.] 
 
 The grammar-school serves two purposes in our system 
 of education. For a small minority of the pupils it is a step- 
 ping stone to the high-school ; for the great majority it is 
 what the high-school is for the minority, or the university for 
 a select few out of that minority — the final stage in their 
 school training. It is the high-school of the million, the 
 university of the masses. In laying out its course of study 
 the interests of the majority should be considered rather than 
 those of the minority ; though, so far as the training in Eng- 
 lish is concerned, it may well be the same for both classes 
 of pupils. It should be the best possible course for those 
 who are to finish their schooling here ; and this I believe 
 will be found to be as good a course as any that might be 
 specially arranged to lead up to the high-school work in 
 English. 
 
 What should this course be for boys and girls who are to 
 have no further school training in their mother tongue? It 
 should certainly enable them to use that tongue correctly, if 
 not aptly and gracefully — to speak, read, and write English 
 well, if not very well. Some teachers may say that this is 
 
THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 enough ; twenty-five years ago, very few would have thought 
 of attempting anything more : but nowadays we are begin- 
 ning to see that any school course in English should include 
 some instruction in literature as well as in language — that 
 boys and girls who have learned to read should be taught 
 how to choose their reading after they leave school — trained 
 to recognize what is good in literature, and to prefer it to 
 what is poor or bad. They should have got in school at 
 least a taste of good literature, enough to give them a taste 
 for it which they can never lose in after-life. 
 
 Some will say at the outset that this cannot be done in the 
 grammar-school. But if it should be done, it can be done ; 
 and that it should be done is indisputable. If children learn 
 nothing else in school, they should learn how to use their own 
 language. This is the key to the learning of all time, the 
 instrumentality whereby all knowledge is shared and dis- 
 tributed among men. It is, moreover, the only branch of a 
 school education of which we may say that all the pupils will 
 find all they have learned in it of positive practical use at all 
 periods of their life. Beyond the merest elements, how much 
 of the arithmetic learned in school is of real use to one pupil 
 out of ten ? How much of it is remembered by the very large 
 class who have no occasion to employ it in later life ? Be- 
 yond the great facts that could be taught in a few lessons, 
 how much of the geography is remembered in after-years by 
 the vast majority who have learned it in school ? In travel- 
 ling in Europe, and even in parts of our own country, one has 
 to learn the geography all over again. I have to go to the 
 gazetteer for hundreds of facts that I had to commit to 
 memory in my school-days ; and if I want some of the same 
 facts again six months later, the chances are that I shall 
 have to go to the gazetteer again for them. I do not care 
 to lumber up my memory with such knowledge when I know 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 3 
 
 where to find it if I have occasion to make some temporary 
 use of it. And so with the minutiae of history, which are 
 memorized so laboriously in school and forgotten so easily 
 afterwards. It is only teachers and critical students of his- 
 tory who remember them, or to whom they are of sufficient 
 value or interest to justify any special effort to retain them 
 in the memory. But all that we learn in the study of lan- 
 guage, if it is taught aright, is of immediate and enduring 
 value. Every new thing of beauty that we come to know in 
 literature is a joy forever. Your schoolboys and schoolgirls 
 after they have become fathers and mothers will testify to 
 the truth of this. I am old enough to speak on this point 
 from my own experience. I began teaching English forty 
 years ago, and from the start I combined work in literature 
 with that in language. I have met many of my pupils long 
 after they had grown up and become settled in life ; and I 
 have found them enjoying good books and training their 
 children to the same habits, and tastes. They tell me that 
 of all the lessons they had in school these in English have 
 been the most helpful, stimulating, and inspiring ever since. 
 
 Whatever else, then, may have to be omitted, abridged, or 
 treated superficially in the grammar-school, the course in the 
 English language should not be so treated. If necessary, 
 throw away half of the arithmetic or two-thirds of the geog- 
 raphy, or both, and give the time thus saved to English. 
 Even if history, as generally studied, is cut down somewhat, 
 the loss can be more than made good by judicious selections 
 of historical matter, both prose and verse, for a part of the 
 study in literature. 
 
 As to the details of the course little can be said in a brief 
 paper like this. In the education in speaking English I am 
 inclined to think that much may be done by insisting on 
 the clear and accurate use of language in recitations in all 
 
4 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 branches, and not merely in English, especially when the 
 pupil has to give the answer in his own words. Many teach- 
 ers who insist on precision in definitions, rules, and princi- 
 ples, and other formal statements, allow a pupil to use loose 
 and slovenly English in explaining or illustrating things in 
 his own way. Every such answer should be a practical exer- 
 cise in the correct and appropriate use of language. 
 
 In writing of an informal character (as distinguished from 
 regular exercises in composition) on slate, blackboard, or 
 paper, the same accuracy and propriety should be insisted 
 upon — punctuation, the use of capitals, and the like not ex- 
 cepted. Good English and attention to these minor matters 
 should be required in all written examinations, whether faults 
 and defects in this line are " marked " or not. 
 
 Technical grammar should have a subordinate place in the 
 course, being regarded solely as a means, not as an end. So 
 far as it really helps to attain the results we are aiming at, 
 let it be utilized, but no farther. Just how far it will be a 
 help is a question on which good teachers will doubtless 
 continue to disagree. For myself, I have no hesitation in 
 taking my stand with those who believe that, so far as the 
 training of children to correct habits in the use of English is 
 concerned, technical grammar is of very little value or none 
 at all. It may be a hindrance rather than a help. Prof. 
 Whitney, one of our best American philologists, has put this 
 matter well in the preface to his Essentials of English Gram- 
 mar. After saying that " it should be a pervading element 
 in the whole school and home training of the young, to make 
 them use their own tongue with accuracy and force," he adds 
 that this drill " will not bear the intrusion of much formal 
 grammar without being spoiled for its own ends. It is con- 
 stant use and practice under never-failing watch and correc- 
 tion that makes good writers and speakers ; the application 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 5 
 
 of direct authority is the most efficient corrective. Grammar 
 has its part to contribute, but rather in the higher than in 
 the lower stages of the work. One must be a somewhat re- 
 flective user of language to amend even here and there a 
 point by grammatical reasons; and no one ever changed 
 from a bad speaker to a good one by applying the rules of 
 grammar to what he said." 
 
 Technical grammar, it seems to me, should be studied to 
 some extent in the grammar-school for other reasons than 
 any direct influence it may be supposed to have upon the 
 pupil's habits in the use of English. In the first place, much 
 of its nomenclature has come to be a part of our common 
 speech ; and terms like noun and verb, adjective and adverb, 
 subject and predicate, should be understood by every well- 
 informed person. But, what is more important, these tech- 
 nicalities are convenient, if not indispensable, in "language 
 lessons," as distinguished from mere grammar lessons, espe- 
 cially in the upper classes of the grammar-school. As Prof. 
 Whitney says, " To teach English grammar to an English 
 speaker is to take advantage of the fact that the pupil knows 
 the facts of the language, in order to turn his attention to 
 the underlying principles and relations, to the philosophy of 
 language as illustrated in his own use of it, in a more effec- 
 tive manner than is otherwise possible." There is a point, 
 even in the grammar-school course, when a certain amount 
 of this " philosophy of language " may be profitably taught 
 in connection with exercises in writing English, and especially 
 with the readings in literature. 
 
 But, to my thinking, the main part of this teaching should 
 be oral, or in the form of deductions from these exercises 
 and readings. Many things can be taught in this way that 
 are not found in even the larger school manuals of grammar, 
 and which could not be learned so well from any text-book. 
 
6 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 The manual of grammar put into the hands of the pupil 
 should not be larger than the smallest of the books recently 
 prepared for common schools. Some of these are good in 
 their way, but their treatment of some subjects might be 
 materially improved. The ideal book of this small compass 
 is yet to be written ; at least, I have not met with one which 
 is quite to my own mind. Prof. Whitney's, to which I have 
 referred, is too large for pupils of this grade ; but it will be 
 helpful and suggestive to the teacher. 
 
 Whatever of grammar is taught should be taught correctly, 
 which is rarely done. The writers of "grammars" often — I 
 might say, generally — know little of the history of the lan- 
 guage, and teachers know less; and, what is more unfortu- 
 nate, their ignorance incapacitates them for teaching well 
 the little they do know. 
 
 Some of the useless matter in these elementary grammars 
 might well be replaced by an account of the more important 
 constructions that have become obsolete in the last two or 
 three hundred years, especially as many of these are still 
 admissible in poetry. It would seem no more than reason- 
 able that the only grammar the majority of people will ever 
 study or refer to should cover the English of Shakespeare, 
 Milton, and King James's Bible ; and to do this concisely 
 would not require half a dozen pages out of several dozen 
 that might to advantage be cleared of stuff that now cum- 
 bers them. At any rate, oral instruction in this English 
 should be included in the last year's course in every 
 grammar-school. 
 
 I may add that, in my opinion, the main facts in the his- 
 tory of the English language should be taught in the latter 
 part of the grammar-school course. An outline of these facts 
 can be put into two small pages of good-sized type (as in a 
 card that I myself once prepared for grammar-school use), 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 7 
 
 and an hour's familiar talk about the matter will make it 
 perfectly intelligible to the boys and girls. 
 
 The only difficulty with lessons of this kind, which might 
 be introduced without interfering with anything that is now 
 done, is the ignorance and consequent indifference of teach- 
 ers — though the indifference is quite as much due to what 
 they know as to what they do not know. The present gen- 
 eration of teachers can never entirely recover from the effects 
 of their own early training in English, with its excess of drill 
 in technical grammar of the old inaccurate sort and of pars- 
 ing in the old blundering way. 
 
 The habits of years are not easily changed, even when there 
 is an honest effort to get the better of them. Our education- 
 al journals illustrate this in more ways than one. We often 
 see in them attempts at teaching the history of words, for 
 instance, which, though well meant, show either gross igno- 
 rance of the facts or a weak grasp of them which seriously 
 mars if it does not utterly spoil the lesson ; and, what is 
 equally significant, the worst blunders in articles of this kind 
 pass without being detected, or at least without being criti- 
 cised, by the thousands of teachers who read them. 
 
 The study of English literature was introduced into our 
 high-schools some twenty-five years ago, and within a few 
 years the " supplementary reading " so-called has been the 
 entering wedge of its introduction into grammar-schools. An 
 avalanche of books has followed the new movement, some of 
 which are intended to give instruction in history, geography, 
 and natural science, while others are designed to initiate 
 the young folk in the study, or at least in the reading of 
 literature properly so called. The former class of books 
 doubtless answer a good purpose, but it is only with the 
 latter that I have to deal here. What should these books 
 
8 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 be, and how should they be used ? The latter question 
 seems to me by far the more important. It does not so 
 much matter what the books are, if they are really good 
 literature in every sense, — pure and wholesome in tone and 
 influence as well as unexceptionable in style, — and if they 
 are suited to the capacity of young readers and likely to 
 interest them. Let teachers or supervisors choose what 
 they will from the increasing supply of excellent material of 
 this character. 
 
 But, having selected our books, how shall we use them ? 
 Some tell us that they should simply be read, with no direct 
 instruction beyond what is necessary to insure their being 
 understood. This done, trust them to commend themselves 
 to the child, and by " unconscious tuition " to cultivate his 
 taste and to accomplish their higher mission in forming his 
 character and guiding his life. Let the literature teach its 
 own lessons, with little meddling on the part of the instructor. 
 In addition to the books read in the school-room, let others 
 well-chosen be put into the hands of the children for reading 
 at home with no aid or comment from the teacher. 
 
 Now, this is excellent in its way ; nothing, indeed, can be 
 better as a part — we may say, the main part — of the course ; 
 but it is not the study of literature, and I believe that a cer- 
 tain amount of genuine study not only is no hindrance or 
 drawback to this reading, but is a help and stimulus to it, 
 while it has a material value of its own. If much reading of 
 good books fosters a love for such literature, the careful 
 study of select specimens of the same literature tends to 
 confirm and increase that love by justifying it and pointing 
 out new grounds for it which otherwise would not have been 
 recognized or suspected. It changes the love from a vague 
 sentiment to an intelligent appreciation— from an instinctive 
 feeling for which one can give no clear reason to a pos- 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 9 
 
 itive assurance which he can explain and, if need be, 
 defend. 
 
 That such an intelligent appreciation of literature is de- 
 sirable no' one will deny — not even those who would limit 
 the grammar-school course to mere reading. They will prob- 
 ably say, as many others will at first, that, while something 
 may be done in the high -school in the line I have sug- 
 gested, it is impracticable in the grammar-school, where it is 
 beyond the capacity of the pupils, or, if it were not, there is 
 no time for it. If rightly taught, it is certainly not beyond 
 the capacity of the upper classes in the grammar-school, and 
 less time is required for it than might be supposed — and, as 
 I have said, time can be got for work in this department by- 
 saving it in others where it is wasted. It is a common error 
 in education to underrate the ability of the child. In most 
 cases the difficulty is in the methods of teaching rather than 
 in the matters to be taught. In this study of language and 
 literature, I believe that almost everything that is now clone 
 in the high-school could be done in the grammar-school if 
 attempted in the right way. Some things could be taught 
 more successfully in the lower grade than in the higher, be- 
 cause it is the natural time for learning them. The child 
 masters them more easily than the adult, and the child of 
 ten or twelve more easily than one of fourteen or fifteen. 
 
 The chief aim in the study of literature in either school is 
 the cultivation of taste. How much is actually accomplished 
 in this direction in the average high-school course ? A smat- 
 tering of the elements of rhetoric, or what purports to be such, 
 is got from one of the wretched text-books (there are only one 
 or two out of twenty or more that are not wretched) ; and a 
 few masterpieces of literature are read — carefully and faith- 
 fully in certain respects, but seldom in a way that gives the 
 pupil any critical power available after he leaves school. He 
 
IO THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 learns certain facts about what he reads, and comes to feel, 
 or to imagine that he feels, something of its beauty and 
 worth ; but he has not acquired the ability to judge of litera- 
 ture in general. His taste is neither sensitive nor trust- 
 worthy ; he is in no sense whatever a critic. For myself, I 
 am confident that more than this may and should be accom- 
 plished in the grammar-school — that boys and girls in the 
 upper classes at least can be taught to be critical in their 
 estimate of what they read. They should be educated to this 
 critical habit from their earliest introduction to the study of 
 literature. It is a mistake to suppose that this training be- 
 longs only to an advanced course. The earlier it begins, the 
 better, if I may judge from my own experience as a teacher. 
 
 How are these grammar-school children to be taught the 
 elements of criticism ? Not by the use of text-books in 
 rhetoric. Luckily there are none that profess to be suited 
 for grammar-schools, as there are for high-schools. Oral 
 teaching in connection with a part — a small part, if you 
 choose — of the readings in literature is all that is necessary 
 or desirable. A certain amount of good prose and poetry 
 should be studied minutely and critically with reference to 
 its style. A few teachers imagine that they do this now ; but 
 they do it very imperfectly — though no worse than might be 
 expected when they themselves either are untaught or have 
 been mistaught. They know neither what to do, nor how to 
 do it. They leave off where really useful work should begin. 
 It is as if in an industrial school the names and construc- 
 tion of the tools and machines were learned, but not how to 
 handle and employ them. 
 
 I have not time to explain at length what I believe can be 
 done in teaching elementary criticism in a grammar-school. 
 One or two of the possible lines of study may be briefly 
 mentioned by way of illustration. 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH n 
 
 In the reading of poetry, the essential principles and laws 
 of versification may be taught, the pupil being made to deduce 
 them for himself from the poem before him. As I have said 
 elsewhere (see page 40 below), it is the right time for learning 
 what children of larger growth often fail to acquire. The 
 young child never errs in the rhythmical rendering of Mother 
 Goose, that classic of the nursery ; but adults and teachers, 
 and sometimes even college professors, who have lost the 
 childish sensitiveness to the music of verse, will often blunder 
 badly in reading or reciting Shakespeare. 
 
 In elementary rhetoric, the leading forms of figurative lan- 
 guage — the easiest and most interesting subject for a first 
 lesson — can be taught to a child of ten in the same way — 
 that is, from the examples he finds in the prose or verse he 
 is reading. He uses in his daily talk similes and metaphors 
 and personifications and apostrophes, and many another 
 figure to which rhetoricians have given fearfully polysyllabic 
 names — why should they bother him in books ? The small 
 boy who is so much given to similes that when he is hard up 
 for a more specific comparison he will say " like anyt/iing" 
 making up in emphasis what the expression lacks in point 
 and precision, will not be slow to recognize that sort of thing 
 on the printed page if you call his attention to it. He will 
 pick out the similes and metaphors as readily as the nouns 
 and verbs, and explain the resemblances on which they are 
 based as easily as the syntax of subject and predicate. 
 
 And here most teachers will think the lesson may end — as 
 it generally does in the high-school — but just here the valu- 
 able instruction should begin. To note and name these 
 figures soon becomes a merely mechanical process — much 
 like " parsing," and as profitless ; but to see whether the 
 figure is apt or expressive or beautiful, and to find out and 
 explain why it is so, is a practical lesson in taste and criti- 
 
12 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 cism ; and this exercise should follow. Here the real pleas- 
 ure as well as profit of the study begins; for children, with 
 very few exceptions even among the dunces, have keen poetic 
 sensibility, and enjoy any exercise that appeals thereto. Call 
 it out, allow it play, and you will be amazed at its quick and 
 vigorous development. Let it lie dormant or check its 
 natural growth, as our methods of education too often seem 
 perversely adapted to do, and it is liable to become as dull 
 and dead as — it is in the average grammar-school teacher. 
 
 In summer schools and elsewhere I have had many classes 
 made up largely of teachers, and I have often found boys and 
 girls just entering a high -school apter pupils than these 
 grown-up students, some of whom had been teaching lan- 
 guage and literature for ten years or more. 
 
 And here let me suggest that the critical study of some 
 masterpiece of literature, especially poetry, is one of the best 
 possible exercises for the teacher in this department. It 
 may or may not be something that one has to teach in 
 school — it is as well, in my opinion, that it should be some- 
 thing above the range of one's daily work — but the manner 
 of study is of more importance than the matter. This may 
 be carried on by one's self, but it is better for two or three 
 or more to do it together, meeting for the purpose weekly or 
 fortnightly, or as often as may be convenient. If it could be 
 done under the guidance of some one who knows how to 
 study and teach literature, so much the better ; but this may 
 not be possible in most cases. However managed, it may 
 be as enjoyable as it is sure to be profitable— at once a 
 delightful recreation and valuable self-culture. 
 
 To return to work in school, but only in closing, let it be 
 understood that the lessons in metre and rhetorical figures 
 to which I have alluded are but random illustrations of the 
 kind of exercises that I am confident can be combined with 
 
THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL COURSE IN ENGLISH 
 
 13 
 
 the reading of prose and poetry in the upper classes, if not 
 in lower grades, of any grammar-school. I have no theory as 
 to what can be accomplished with such pupils which is not 
 based on- my own experience in teaching. I am not dis- 
 posed to dogmatize on the subject, but simply speak what 
 I know — and it seems to me only a plain, common-sense 
 answer to the question I have been invited to discuss. 
 
 To sum up this answer in a sentence or two, the grammar- 
 school should be literally and pre-eminently a grammar- 
 school — taking the name in no narrow technical sense, but 
 as indicating the school of language and literature for the vast 
 majority who finish their school education here. The Eng- 
 lish language is by far the most important part of its course 
 of study, and should have more time than is now allowed it, 
 taking time, if necessary, from other branches. Besides a 
 thorough practical training in the speaking, reading, and 
 writing of English, there should be some critical study of lit- 
 erature — enough at least to enable the pupil to discriminate 
 intelligently between what is good and bad in literature, and 
 to lead him to love the one and despise the other in after- 
 life. If this should be done, it can be done ; and it will 
 be done when the balance of studies is fairly adjusted and 
 methods of teaching are thoroughly perfected. 
 
HINTS FOR TEACHERS 
 
 ON THE USE OF THE " ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL 
 READING." 
 
 It should be understood at the outset that this is no formal 
 essay on elementary instruction in English Literature, but 
 simply a few random hints to teachers on the use of the 
 ' English Classics for School Reading," based upon the first 
 two volumes — the Tales of Chivalry and Tales from English 
 History. I do not assume that all teachers will need all or 
 any of these hints ; they are written for such as may find 
 them in some degree helpful or suggestive. 
 
 As was explained in the preface to the first volume, my 
 aim in the series has been " to edit certain selections from 
 standard prose and poetry, suited either for ' supplementary 
 reading,' as it is called, or for elementary study in English 
 literature." 
 
 For the former purpose the brief notes under the text are 
 perhaps all that some teachers will consider necessary, or 
 that they may have time to make use of. If, however, they 
 can take time for an occasional oral exercise based upon the 
 longer notes at the end of the book, it will be a convenience 
 to have this material at hand. Let me advise them at least 
 to call the attention of their pupils to these notes, which 
 contain much matter well worth reading, even if it is not 
 used in the regular or occasional class-work. 
 
 These longer notes, however, are more particularly de- 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 15 
 
 signed for the other purpose I have mentioned — elementary 
 study of language and literature. They do not in any sense 
 form a course of study, but are meant to be helps in whatever 
 course the teacher prefers to pursue. They are not to be 
 assigned in bulk as lessons. They are to be used for ref- 
 erence as needed, not to be committed to memory. The 
 text is the lesson, the notes are merely aids in studying it. 
 To what extent they are to be used will depend upon the 
 method of study. 
 
 Certain notes are meant to be hints to the teacher rather 
 than helps to the pupil. It will be seen that many are in 
 the form of questions, and that there is considerable variety 
 in the questions on the same subject. 
 
 For instance, on page 18, line 60, of the Tales of Chivalry, 
 it is said that Scott was " led to regard his literary powers as 
 an exhaustless mine of wealth " ; and the note on the italicized 
 words is the question : " What is the figure here ?" 
 
 On the next page, line 91, the text reads : — 
 
 " Gentle as a child, he has been unspoiled by the flattery of 
 a world. Through the mists of the fast-fading mind looks out 
 that true and tender manhood which is forever memorable." 
 
 The note quotes the Gentle as a child, and asks : " Is the 
 figure here the same as in the mists of the next line ?" 
 
 Simile and metaphor have been previously explained and 
 illustrated in a note (on page 13, line 334), which may be 
 quoted here to show how such rhetorical instruction is given 
 in the book : — 
 
 " Was also a sealed book. That is, it was like a book whose 
 covers are fastened together and sealed, so that it cannot be 
 read. Here we have a metaphor, or implied comparison (see on 
 page 10, line 266 above) ; as in line 350 below : ' I waded into the 
 
l6 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 stream ' ; where the abundant reading at his command is indi- 
 rectly compared to a stream into which he is free to wade. But 
 when he goes on to say ' like a blind man into a ford,' the com- 
 parison is direct, and is called a simile (a Latin word meaning 
 like or similar, which is derived from it). The simile is always 
 introduced by like, as, or some word expressing likeness or sim- 
 ilarity ; while the metaphor omits these words and merely implies 
 that one thing is like another. If Scott had written, 'The 
 philosophy of history was like a sealed book to me,' it would 
 have been a simile instead of a metaphor." 
 
 On page 67, line 170, the expression, "White as pearl," 
 occurs; and the note reads: "What is the figure? What 
 would it be if Scott had written ' her teeth of pearl ' ?" 
 
 The note on a simile on page 102 (" Like an oak," etc.) 
 is : " Name and explain this figure." On another, on page 
 103 (" Like crushed reptiles "), it is : " Point out another ex- 
 ample of the same figure on the same page." 
 
 These are only a few out of many examples intended to 
 remind the teacher that he should avoid mechanical routine 
 in his questions if he would not have his pupils get into the 
 same bad way in their answers. 
 
 Among these notes that are simply suggestions to the 
 teacher are ^such as refer to beauties of style, sentiment, 
 characterization, etc. The following, on page 102, line 251, 
 of the Chivalry, is an example : — 
 
 " Holy prophets of the law I Note that all the exclamations 
 of Rebecca are in keeping with her Jewish nationality. Con- 
 trast with these the language of Ivanhoe on the next page, 
 lines 290, 299, etc." 
 
 In the passages referred to, Ivanhoe exclaims, " Saint 
 George strike for us !" and " By Saint John of Acre !" 
 Again, on page 122, line 183, the text reads thus : — 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING" .17 
 
 " ' Give me her glove,' said Beaumanoir. ' This is indeed,' 
 he continued, as he looked at the flimsy texture and slender 
 fingers, 'a slight and frail gage for a purpose so deadly! — 
 Seest thou, Rebecca, as this thin and light glove of thine is to 
 one of our heavy steel gauntlets, so is thy cause to that of the 
 Temple, for it is our Order which thou hast defied.' 
 
 "'Cast my innocence into the scale,' answered Rebecca, 'and 
 the glove of silk shall outweigh the glove of iron.' " 
 
 The note is as follows : — 
 
 " A s this thin and light glove, etc. Here we have the full and 
 formal statement of the simile. Note how aptly Rebecca turns 
 the figure against Beaumanoir in her reply, which also illustrates 
 the difference between the simile and the metaphor." 
 
 On page i of the English History is this stanza of Cowper's 
 Boadicea : — 
 
 " Rome, for empire far renowned, 
 Tramples on a thousand states ; 
 Soon her pride shall kiss the ground — 
 Hark ! the Gaul is at her gates !" 
 
 I give the note on the last line in full, though it is only the 
 second paragraph to which I wish to call attention here : — 
 
 " Hark ! the Gaul is at her gates / By the Gaul Cowper means 
 the Goths, Vandals, and other Northern tribes that broke up 
 the Roman Empire in the 5th century. Gaul (mainly the terri- 
 tory occupied by modern France), which had long been a part 
 of the empire, was itself invaded and overrun by these bar- 
 barians. 
 
 Note the effect of the exclamatory form of the line. It would 
 have been far less forcible if the poet had written, ' Soon the 
 Gaul be at her gates.' " 
 
18 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 Here the pupil should be led, if possible, to see for himself 
 why the exclamatory form is more forcible. 
 
 The following notes in the same book are similar hints to 
 the teacher : — 
 
 "Page 75, line 19. — Gayly dance the bells. An expressive 
 metaphor for the lively chiming of the bells." 
 
 "Page 88, line 1, — Tra7nple! trample ! In this word we have 
 a ' correspondence of sound and sense'; that is, the sound of 
 the word is like the sound described. Such words as buzz, hum, 
 ding-dong , bow-wow, etc., are familiar examples of this onomato- 
 poeia (Greek for word-making), as it is called, though we may 
 be satisfied to define it as ' correspondence of sound and sense.' 
 Trap, pad, thud, and rap below are other examples. The use of 
 these words adds not a little to the life and spirit of the narra- 
 tive. We almost fancy that we hear the horses on their way." 
 
 It would have been easy to multiply such notes in the 
 books, but to have done so would have defeated my purpose. 
 The teacher should see that his pupils find similar instances 
 for themselves, giving them help only by Socratic question- 
 ing, and no further than may be necessary to train them to 
 the exercise of their own taste and judgment. 
 
 These remarks apply equally to occasional notes in which 
 the line of thought is explained ; as in some of those upon 
 the following stanzas from Alfred the Harper (the disguised 
 Alfred is singing in the camp of the Danes) : — 
 
 " ' But chief his fame be quick as fire, 
 
 Be wide as is the sea, 
 Who dares in blood and pangs expire, 
 
 To keep his country free! 
 To such, great earls, and mighty king ! 
 
 Shall praise in heaven belong ; 
 The starry harps their praise shall ring, 
 
 And chime to mortal song. 
 
HINTS ON USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING " ig 
 
 " ' Fill high your cups, and swell the shout, 
 
 At famous Regnar's name, 
 Who sank his host in bloody rout 
 
 .When he to Humber came! 
 His men were chased, his sons were slain, 
 
 And he was left alone. 
 They bound him in an iron chain 
 
 Upon a dungeon stone. 
 
 " ' Great chiefs, why sink in gloom your eyes ? 
 Why champ your teeth in pain? 
 Still lives the song though Regnar dies ! 
 
 Fill high your cups again ! 
 Ye too, perchance, O Norseman lords ! 
 
 Who fought and swayed so long, 
 Shall soon but live in minstrel words, 
 And owe your names to song ! 
 ****** 
 
 " ' To him, your lord, O, shout ye all ! 
 
 His meed be deathless praise ! 
 The king who dares not nobly fall 
 
 Dies basely all his days. 
 The king who dares not guard his throne, 
 
 May curses heap his head ; 
 But hope and strength be all his own 
 
 Whose blood is bravely shed !' 
 
 " ' The praise thou speakest,' Guthrum said, 
 'With sweetness fills mine ear; 
 For Alfred swift before me fled, 
 
 And left me monarch here. 
 The royal coward never dared 
 
 Beneath mine eye to stand. 
 O, would that now this feast he shared, 
 And saw me rule his land !' " 
 
20 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 The following are the notes I have in mind here : — 
 
 " Quick as fire. Explain the figures in this line and the next. 
 Be is the third person imperative. 
 
 " Note the turn which the harper here gives to his song. He 
 has praised the warrior who fights and dies bravely, like the 
 Norseman on his piratical expeditions ; but now he claims the 
 highest fame for the patriot who falls in defence of his native 
 land. For him the harps of heaven shall echo the eulogies of 
 men below." 
 
 " Fill high yoicr cups, etc. And now, having sung the praise 
 of patriotism, the harper reminds the Norse invaders of the fate 
 of the most famous of their predecessors, Regnar (or Regner) 
 Lodbrog (or Lodbrok), who, as tradition relates, ravaged Nor- 
 thumbria in the reign of Ella (who usurped the throne in A. d. 
 862), and, being taken prisoner by that monarch, was thrown into 
 a dungeon filled with vipers, as described in the poem. His sons 
 Hinguar and Hubba were said to be among the jarls, or earls, 
 who accompanied Guthrum on his expedition. The history of 
 Regnar, however, is more or less mythical, and some authorities 
 doubt whether he ever existed except in the Norse legends." 
 
 " Why sink in gloom your eyes f It is the fear of defeat rather 
 than of death which thus affects the warriors, for the Norsemen 
 dreaded no death except from disease or old age. Regnar is 
 said to have died singing the joys of that death in battle which 
 his fate denied him ; and the song ends with, ' The hours of my 
 life are numbered ; 1 die laughing.' " 
 
 " To him, your lord, etc. This stanza is so expressed as to 
 mislead Guthrum and the rest. It seems to deride and execrate 
 Alfred for his cowardice; but the king simply invokes curses 
 upon his own head if he shall prove the coward that his enemy 
 believes him to be. The next stanza shows how completely 
 Guthrum is deceived by the ambiguous language of the sup- 
 posed minstrel." 
 
 In this particular instance the pupil may need some help 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 21 
 
 in following the subtle turns of thought and explaining the 
 ingenious ambiguities of the harper's song ; but the analysis 
 is a sample of what he should, in most cases, do for himself, 
 and the teacher should see that he does it. It is not my 
 purpose to do it for him. 
 
 Other notes hint at lessons and exercises in elementary 
 criticism ; as in the one on these lines in The Burial of Sir 
 John Moore : — ■ 
 
 " • But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
 With his martial cloak around him.' 
 
 " He lay like a warrior, etc. A comma is often put after lay, 
 to the injury of the passage. Why is it better without the 
 comma?" 
 
 The pupil should need no help in answering this question. 
 The last stanza of The Song of the Camp, by Bayard Tay- 
 lor, now reads thus : — 
 
 " Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest 
 Your truth and valor wearing ; 
 The bravest are the tenderest, — 
 The loving are the daring." 
 
 There is the following note upon it : — 
 
 " Sleep, soldiers f etc. The earlier version of the stanza was : — 
 
 " ' Ah ! soldiers, to your honored rest 
 Your love and glory bearing, — 
 The bravest are the loveliest, 
 The loving are the daring.' 
 
 " It is much improved by the revision, especially in the third 
 line." 
 
22 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 Why it is " improved " should be explained by the pupil, 
 not by the teacher. 
 
 No two copies of The Relief of Lucknow, by Robert T. S. 
 Lowell (an elder brother of James Russell Lowell), as printed 
 in various collections, agree in their readings. It is given in 
 the English History as it appears in the author's edition of 
 i860. The various readings are given in the notes, and their 
 comparative merits should be discussed by the class. Boys 
 and girls ten years old, if not younger, can do this original 
 work in criticism, and they enjoy it heartily; and the teacher 
 will be surprised to see how rapidly they improve in it. 
 
 These exercises in criticism should be combined, from first 
 to last, with the study of figurative language suggested by the 
 notes. In my opinion, the pupil should learn the elementary 
 facts about figures, not from a text-book of " rhetoric," but 
 from the examples in what he reads, and by finding and 
 analyzing them for himself, rather than by having them 
 pointed out and explained to him. The average schoolboy 
 or schoolgirl can be led, by judicious questioning, to deduce 
 all this "rhetoric" from half a dozen pages of any good 
 poetry (or prose, if it contain enough of figurative language) 
 in a few lessons. Almost no direct instruction is needed. 
 The technical terms should be very sparingly introduced. 
 Only such as have ceased to be exclusively technical, and 
 ought to be understood by every well-informed person (meta- 
 phor, simile, personification, and the like), should be employed. 
 The mere pointing out of instances of the figures (saying 
 " This is a metaphor," or " That is a simile," etc.), without 
 regard to the aptness, or beauty, or other noteworthy fact 
 concerning them, is " flat, stale, and unprofitable " work after 
 the pupil has once learned to recognize and name the fig- 
 ures. In some schools this is the chief thing done in the 
 so-called "study" of poetry, but, like a good deal of the 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 23 
 
 work done in our schools, it stops just where really useful 
 work should begin. It is the mechanical drudgery which is 
 the necessary preliminary to exercise at once profitable and 
 enjoyable. It is learning the names of the rhetorician's 
 tools without understanding how he uses them or learning 
 to use them ourselves. 
 
 Since this work, to be worth anything, must be done by 
 the pupil and not by the teacher or the editor, it will be seen 
 that my notes pertaining to it are few and far between ; but 
 the teacher must keep in mind the plan of which they give 
 hints and exemplifications. Here and there I insert a note 
 solely as a reminder to the teacher. On pages 105 and 106 
 of Chivalry, for example, the following extract from Ivanhoe 
 occurs : — 
 
 " ' Rebecca,' he replied, ' thou knowest not how impossible it 
 is for one trained to actions of chivalry to remain passive as a 
 priest or a woman when they are acting deeds of honor around 
 him. The love of battle is the food upon which we live — the 
 dust of the melee is the breath of our nostrils ! We live not — we 
 wish not to live longer than while we are victorious and re- 
 nowned. Such, maiden, are the laws of chivalry to which we 
 are sworn, and to which we offer all that we hold dear.' 
 
 " ' Alas !' said the fair Jewess, ' and what is it, valiant knight, 
 save an offering of sacrifice to a demon of vainglory, and a pass- 
 ing through the fire to Moloch ? What remains to you as the 
 prize of all the blood you have spilled — of all the travail and 
 pain you have endured — of all the tears which your deeds have 
 caused, when death hath broken the strong man's spear, and 
 overtaken the speed of his war-horse ?' . . . 
 
 " ' By the soul of Hereward !' replied the knight impatiently, 
 'thou speakest, maiden, of thou knowest not what. Thou 
 wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, which alone distin- 
 guishes the noble from the base, the gentle knight from the 
 churl and the savage ; which rates our life far, far beneath the 
 
24 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 pitch of our honor, raises us victorious over pain, toil, and suf- 
 fering, and teaches us to fear no evil but disgrace. Thou art no 
 Christian, Rebecca; and to thee are unknown those high feel- 
 ings which swell the bosom of a noble maiden when her lover 
 hath done some deed of emprize which sanctions his flame. 
 Chivalry! — why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high 
 affection — the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of griev- 
 ances, the curb of the power of the tyrant.' " 
 
 The following is the concluding note on this portion of the 
 text :— 
 
 " Note the figures in this passage, and in lines 371, 372 below, 
 where there is also a Scriptural allusion. The next page abounds 
 in examples of figurative language. Observe. the personification 
 of Chivalry in 405 and the lines that follow." 
 
 The pupil should be questioned here upon the figures in 
 the passages referred to. 
 
 Other notes suggest exercises that may be introduced in 
 connection with the study. The note on the following lines 
 from Boadicea — 
 
 " Every burning word he spoke 
 Full of rage and full of grief" — 
 
 concludes thus : — 
 
 " For other examples of metaphor drawn from fire, see ' Preg- 
 nant with celestial fire ' (full of religious ardor) in the present 
 poem ; * warlike fire ' in line 37, page 4 ; ' burning blood ' in line 
 7, page 10; 'kindling wine' in line 20, page 10; 'mouths of 
 flame' in line 29, page 11 ; ' brows inflamed ' in line 53, page 12, 
 etc." 
 
 This illustrates a kind of work which the pupil may occa- 
 sionally be required to do in any similar case ; and the search 
 
BINTS OX USE OF '"CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 25 
 
 for examples need not be confined to the book in hand. 
 Metaphors and similes drawn from familiar objects and phe- 
 nomena (plants, trees, and flowers, beasts, birds, and insects, 
 earth, air. and water, day and night, sunrise and sunset, the 
 seasons, and the like) abound in our literature, and the pupil 
 can readily find a dozen or more examples under any of these 
 heads or a small subdivision of some of them — as a particular 
 tree or flower, like the oak or the rose. But criticism should 
 be a part of all these exercises. Only such examples should 
 be accepted or approved as are apt or admirable, and the 
 pupil should be required, if called upon, to show wherein 
 their special merit consists. These exercises may be either 
 oral or written ; and if written they may often be made a 
 substitute for the periodical •"composition."' 
 
 In this connection I may call attention to the following 
 note on page 114, line 652. of Chivalry, as illustrating a 
 curious and interesting group of metaphors which pupils will 
 enjoy tracing out : — 
 
 " Hound of the Temple. — Compare page 66, line 129 [' Dog of 
 an unbeliever !'], and page 90, line 201 [' Cowardly dog !']. Meta- 
 phors taken from the names of animals are common, not only 
 in books but in every-day speech. Such use of hog, bear, fox, 
 goose, etc., will occur to young people at once, and they can 
 easily make out a long list of similar names. Sometimes the 
 metaphor takes the form of a verb ; as in dog, to follow like a 
 dog. Compare Comus, 405 : ■ I fear the dread events that dog 
 them both.' " 
 
 The 6gure should be explained in each instance, and, if 
 possible, striking examples of it should be hunted up. 
 
 Another excellent exercise, suggested by certain of the 
 notes, is the finding of passages or poems resembling the 
 one under consideration, in subject, style (figurative Ian- 
 
26 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 guage, metre, etc.), beauty, or any other noteworthy char- 
 acteristic. 
 
 A note on the following passage from The Armada of 
 Macaulay may serve as an illustration here : — 
 
 " Night sank upon the dusky beach and on the purple sea : 
 Such night in England ne'er hath been nor e'er again shall 
 
 be. 
 From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford 
 
 Bay, 
 That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day; 
 For swift to east, and swift to west, the ghastly war-flame 
 
 spread ; 
 High on Saint Michael's Mount it shone ; it shone on 
 
 Beachy Head," etc. 
 
 This is the note : — 
 
 "For swift to east, etc. For a similar spirited description of 
 spreading an alarm by signal-fires from the heights, see Scott's 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel, iii. 341-392. The following is an ex- 
 tract from it : — 
 
 " ' And soon a score of fires, I ween, 
 
 From height and hill and cliff were seen, 
 Each with warlike tidings fraught ; 
 Each from each the signal caught ; 
 Each after each they glanced to sight, 
 As stars arise upon the night.'" 
 
 Exercises in changing figurative language to literal, or 
 changing one figure to another (suggested by various notes 
 in both books) may also be introduced at the discretion of 
 the teacher. 
 
 An easy but very instructive exercise in the study of words 
 is suggested by the following note on page 4, line 19, of 
 English History : — 
 
HINTS ON USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING " 27 
 
 " The board. The dining- hall. Note the various derived 
 senses of board, which originally meant simply the wood of 
 which a table is made." 
 
 Any boy or girl old enough to read the book ought to be 
 able, without help from the teacher, to explain how the vari- 
 ous derived meanings of board (noun and verb) have come 
 from its original sense of a plank ; as used to make a table 
 (and so running out into suggestions of food, eating, hospital- 
 ity, etc., and of officers gathered about a table for consulta- 
 tion or business), or to form the deck or sides of a ship 
 (whence on board, aboard, larboard, starboard, the verb board 
 in its nautical senses, etc.), to say nothing of minor mean- 
 ings, as the boards of a theatre, compounds like blackboard, 
 card- board, chess-board, sideboard, sounding- board, etc., and 
 phrases like above board, etc. 
 
 In connection with this exercise the young people (and 
 perhaps some of their elders) need to be reminded that 
 words of the same or similar form and meaning may be of 
 different derivation ; like isle and island, rhyme and rhythm, 
 to take familiar examples. In the case of board, the word as 
 applied to the side of a ship is by some derived from the 
 French, and the New English Dictionary of the Philological 
 Society says that aboard " appears to have been taken 
 directly from the French a bord"; but the French bord, it 
 adds, is of Teutonic origin and perhaps directly related to 
 board =. plank. 
 
 While referring to the study of words, I may mention 
 certain classes of facts concerning words which are occa- 
 sionally made the subject of notes : — 
 
 1. Old forms of words ; as, in the English History (where 
 the notes on them may be found by the index), Excester 
 (an example of an interesting class of geographical names), 
 
28 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 vaward, holden, mettle, etc. ; and in Chivalry (see index), 7t> hit- 
 tie (noun), sith, foughten, reck, etc. 
 
 2. Old senses of words; as, in the English History (see 
 index), brave, advance, cheer, mifiion, to (=for), on (=of), be 
 (=are), etc.; and in Chivalry (see index), proof, strength, 
 trumpet, etc. 
 
 3. Words used only in poetry ; as, in English History (see 
 index), erewhile, hap, massy, etc. 
 
 4. Words used rarely or peculiarly ; as, in Chivalry (see 
 index), affirmance, advantage (verb), applauses, etc.; and in 
 English History, behoof, blink, devildoms, etc. 
 
 5. Diminutives, and other derivative words rarely noticed 
 in school text-books ; as, in English History (see index), islet, 
 lubbard, Peterkin, etc. 
 
 A few notes under these heads may be cited here as illus- 
 trations : — 
 
 " Mettled. Spirited. The word mettle is only another spelling 
 of metal. In the early editions of Shakespeare, as in other 
 books of that day, we find metal and mettle without regard to 
 the meaning. Of course mettle is a metaphorical form of 
 metal, originally alluding to the quality of a sword-blade as 
 depending upon the steel of which it is made." 
 
 "Recks. Cares; now little used except in poetry. Reckless, 
 which is derived from it, was in constant use down to the mid- 
 dle of the 1 6th century, but fifty years later it had become 
 so nearly obsolete that Dr. Richard Hooker (1 553-1600) thought 
 it necessary to explain its meaning in a marginal note. It was 
 afterwards revived, and is now familiar to every English-speak- 
 ing person. Reck was formerly used impersonally' also ; as in 
 Milton's Comus, 404: 'Of night or loneliness it recks me not'; 
 that is, I do not care for them, or regard them." 
 
 "Make no heavy cheer. The original meaning of cheer was 
 face or countenance ; as in Shakespeare, Midsummer-Night 's 
 Dream, iii. 2. 96 : ' pale of cheer '; Spenser, Faerie Queene, i. 1.2: 
 
HINTS ON USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 29 
 
 " ' Right faithfull true he was in deede and word, 
 But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad,' etc. 
 
 Hence ' to be of good cheer ' meant to look cheerful ; and 
 from the frequent use of this and similar phrases cheer itself 
 came to be understood as meaning cheerfulness or gladness. It 
 was also applied to viands or provisions for a feast, as promot- 
 ing cheerfulness ; and, finally, to cries or shouts expressive of 
 joy or pleasure." 
 
 "Minion. The word is now used only in a contemptuous 
 sense, but its original meaning was darling, or favorite. In Syl- 
 vester's Du Bartas (1605) we find ' God's disciple and his dear- 
 est minion'; and in Stirling's Do7nes-day : 'Immortal minions 
 in their Maker's sight.' Shakespeare, Macbeth (i. 2. 19), refers 
 to his hero as ' Like valour's minion.' " 
 
 " To thy ow7i share means/br your own share. In old English 
 this use of to for for was very common. Compare fudges, xvii. 
 13 ; Matthew, iii. 9 ; Luke, iii. 8, etc. ' Take to wife ' is still used 
 in the marriage service." 
 
 "Armor of proof . This use of proof was a technical term, im- 
 plying that the armor had been proved, or tested, or would bear 
 the proof of actual service in war. The word is sometimes put, 
 by metonymy, for the armor itself, as in Shakespeare's Richard 
 III. v. 3. 219 : — 
 
 " 'ten thousand soldiers, 
 Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.' " 
 
 " Strength. In the use of strength for stronghold, we have an 
 example of an ' abstract ' noun, or the name of a quality, put for 
 a 'concrete' noun, or the name of something possessing that 
 quality. This is a form of that ' figure of speech ' which writers 
 on rhetoric call metonymy — a word which means ' change of 
 name' or 'exchange of names.' Shakespeare uses this same 
 abstract noun in another concrete sense in King Lear (i. 1. 41), 
 where the old monarch says : — 
 
3 o THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 " ' Know that we have divided 
 In three our kingdom ; and 't is our fast intent 
 To shake all cares and business from our age, 
 Conferring them on younger strengths ;' 
 
 that is, on those who are younger and stronger. We also find 
 strength used for an army (just as we now use force and forces — ■ 
 another example of the same figure) ; as in King John (ii. i. 388) ; 
 where 'your united strengths' means your allied armies." 
 
 "Islet, a diminutive of isle ; that is, a derivative noun denot- 
 ing a smaller thing of the same kind ; as leaflet, lambkin, hillock, 
 duckling, etc. Give other examples of diminutives with these 
 endings {-let, -kin, -ock, -ling)!' 
 
 " Lubbard. The word has the force of a ' big lubber,' the end- 
 ing -ard being apparently used as in laggard, sluggard, drunk- 
 ard, etc., where it has what is called an augme7itative force, ex- 
 pressing frequency or excess. Thus a laggard is one who lags 
 much, or is very lazy ; a sluggard, one who is very sluggish ; a 
 drunkard, one who drinks to excess, etc. In braggart, the end- 
 ing becomes -art." 
 
 French and other foreign words are not only defined, but 
 their pronunciation is added ; and the peculiar local pronun- 
 ciation of English geographical names is given. The follow- 
 ing notes are examples : — 
 
 " Drap-de-bure. French for cloth of drugget. Drap (which 
 we have in drape, draper, drapery, etc.) is pronounced drah. 
 The e in de, as before explained, is like that in her ; and bure 
 may be pronounced as it would be in English, though the 
 French u has a sound unknown in our language." 
 
 " Beaulieu (here Bo-lu', but the local pronunciation is Bu'-le) 
 is within the limits of the New Forest, an extensive tract of 
 woodland originally set apart as a royal hunting-ground by 
 William the Conqueror. Here his son, William Rufus, was 
 killed in 1100 by Walter Tyrrel." 
 
HINTS ON USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 31 
 
 " Belvoir (pronounced Bee'-ver) Castle, the seat of the Duke of 
 Rutland, is on a high hill. George Crabbe (1 754-1 832), the poet, 
 lived here as chaplain for some time." 
 
 The grammatical notes are few but important. Some are 
 intended to call attention to errors or omissions in the ordi- 
 nary school text-books. For instance, in the English History 
 (note on page no, line 44) the distinction between "particip- 
 ial nouns," properly so called, and "verbal nouns" or "infini- 
 tives ending in -ing" (which the text-books either do not 
 recognize at all or fail to make intelligible to young students) 
 is clearly stated and illustrated, thus : — 
 
 " The loving are the daring. In loving and daring we. have 
 examples of 'participial nouns,' or participles in -ing used as 
 nouns. These are often confounded with ' verbal nouns,' or ' in- 
 finitives in -ing,' as they are sometimes called, which have no 
 historical connection with the participle. We have examples of 
 these in 'Loving is the opposite of hating'; 'deeds of daring,' 
 etc. The ' participial noun ' always expresses the agent, the 
 'verbal noun' the action. In Early English the two had different 
 endings, as they still have in German. A child can readily dis- 
 tinguish the two by the sense, not only when used singly, but 
 also in compounds. Compare, for instance, a workingman (a 
 man who works) and a working-day (a day for working), Cowper's 
 'church-going bell ' (which Wordsworth was wrong in criticising), 
 and 'a church-going belle' or 'church-going people,' etc." 
 
 Certain of the notes refer to grammatical forms or con- 
 structions that are obsolete; as the use of who for which 
 and which for who (English History, on page 40, line 17). 
 The passage referred to is the following stanza of Dray- 
 ton's Ballad of Agi?icourt (the preceding stanza ends with 
 a period) : — 
 
32 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 "Which, in his height of pride 
 King Henry to deride, 
 His ransom to provide 
 
 To the King sending; 
 Which he neglects the while, 
 As from a nation vile, 
 Yet with an angry smile 
 
 Their fall portending." 
 
 The note (which I quote in full, as illustrating other feat- 
 ures of the annotation) is as follows : — 
 
 " Which, in his height of pride. Which was often used for 
 who, and who for which, in the time of Drayton. Thus in Shake- 
 speare we find ' a lion who ' {Julius Ccesar, i. 3. 21), ' The mistress 
 which ' ( Tempest, iii. 1.6), etc. Compare the Lord's Prayer : ' Our 
 Father which art in heaven.' In the present passage we have 
 another old construction, which being used at the beginning of 
 a sentence for ' And he.' Compare Acts, xxi. 37, where Who is 
 similarly used. 
 
 " The whole sentence is an example of the loose syntax of the 
 time of Elizabeth. The meaning is : And he (the French gen- 
 eral), in his height of pride, in order to show his contempt for 
 Henry, sent word to him (Henry) to prepare his ransom (as if 
 already captured by the French). Holinshed says : ' Here we 
 may not forget how the French thus in their jolitie sent a herald 
 to King Henrie, to inquire what ransome he would offer. Where- 
 unto he answered, that within two or three houres he hoped it 
 would so happen that the Frenchmen should be glad to common 
 [that is, to confer] rather with the Englishmen for their ransoms, 
 than the English to take thought for their deliverance, promis- 
 ing for his owne part, that his dead carcasse should rather be a 
 prize to the Frenchmen, than his living bodie should paie anie 
 ransome.' Shakespeare, in Henry V. (iii. 6 and iv. 3), represents 
 the French herald as coming twice with insulting propositions 
 concerning the ransom. The second time, Henry says to him : 
 
HINTS ON USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING'' 33 
 
 " ' I pray thee, bear my former answer back : 
 Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones. 
 Good God ! why should they mock poor fellows thus? 
 That man that once did sell the lion's skin 
 While the beast lived was killed with hunting him. 
 ******** 
 Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald : 
 They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints.'" 
 
 Farther on in the same poem we find this passage :— 
 
 " None from his fellow starts, 
 But, playing manly parts, 
 And like true English hearts, 
 Stuck close together." 
 
 The note (which contains a reference to the one just given) 
 is as follows : — 
 
 " Stuck close together. The grammatical subject of stuck is 
 only implied in what precedes. Such loose construction (see on 
 page 40, line 17) was common in Elizabethan English. - Compare 
 Henry V. iv. 7. 188:— 
 
 " ' For I do know Fluellen valiant, 
 
 And, touched with choler, hot as gunpowder ; 
 And quickly will return an injury;' 
 
 that is, he will return it." 
 
 I may add as further illustrations of this class of notes the 
 following (from English History, page 66, line 38, and Chiv- 
 alry, page 112, line 573) :— 
 
 " We were best put back. It would be best for us to put back. 
 The old expressions, I were~best, you were best, etc., had their ori- 
 gin in a construction in which the verb was impersonal and the 
 pronoun was in the dative case — equivalent to the objective 
 
34 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 with to ov for : it were best for me, for you, etc. In like manner, 
 if you please was originally if it please you, or be pleasing to you, 
 etc." 
 
 " I yield me. I yield myself. The use of the personal pronoun 
 for the reflexive was once common, but is now admissible only 
 in poetry or, as here, in imitation of the language of the olden 
 time." 
 
 These are facts in the history of the language which pupils 
 who have begun to study grammar will readily learn and 
 understand ; as they will the lesson hinted at in the follow- 
 ing note on page 39, line 76, of Chivalry : — 
 
 " In short, French was the language, etc. The remainder of 
 this paragraph might well be learned by heart — or, better, the 
 substance of it mastered — as a lesson in the history of the Eng- 
 lish language." 
 
 The passage referred to (from Scott's account of the times 
 of Richard I. in Ivan/we) is this :— 
 
 " In short, French was the language of honor, of chivalry, and 
 even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo- 
 Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hinds, who knew 
 no other. Still, however, the necessary intercourse between 
 the lords of the soil and those oppressed inferior beings by 
 whom that soil was cultivated occasioned the gradual formation 
 of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo- 
 Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intel- 
 ligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees 
 the structure of our present English language, in which the 
 speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily 
 blended together, and which has since been so richly improved 
 by importations from the classical languages and from those 
 spoken by the southern nations of Europe." 
 
 This is further illustrated by the dialogue between Wamba 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING " 35 
 
 and Gurth on pages 47, 48, which is commended in the notes 
 as "an excellent lesson in language," and which the teacher 
 should m-ake a text for oral instruction : — 
 
 " ' How call you those grunting brutes running about on their 
 four legs ?' demanded Wamba. 
 
 "■' Swine, fool, swine,' said the herd ; 'every fool knows that.' 
 
 "'And swine is good Saxon,' said the Jester; 'but how call 
 you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and 
 hung up by the heels, like a traitor ?' 
 
 " ' Pork,' answered the swineherd. 
 
 " ' I am very glad every fool knows that too,' said Wamba, 
 'and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the 
 brute lives, and is in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her 
 Saxon name ; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when 
 she is carried to the Castle-hall to feast among the nobles; 
 what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?' 
 
 " ' It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got 
 into thy fool's pate.' 
 
 " ' Nay, I can tell you more,' said Wamba, in the same tone; 
 ' there is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet 
 while he is under the charge of serfs and bondsmen such as 
 thou, but becomes Beef, a fiery French gallant, when he arrives 
 before the worshipful jaws that are destined to consume him. 
 Mynheer Calf, too, becomes Monsieur de Veau in the like man- 
 ner ; he is Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a Nor- 
 man name when he becomes matter of enjoyment.' " 
 
 The following note (on page 47, line 261, of Chivalry) illus- 
 trates two interesting peculiarities of the old grammar : — 
 
 "An thoubeest. If you are. Beest is the old subjunctive form. 
 It was also often used in the indicative ; as in Hamlet, iii. 2. 32 : 
 'O, there be players that I have seen play,' etc. Sometimes we 
 find be and is in immediate succession ; as in Richa7'd III. iv. 4. 
 .92:— 
 
36 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 " ' Where is thy husband? Where be thy brothers? 
 Where are thy children ?' 
 
 When a boy says now ' Where be they?' it is a vulgarism ; but, 
 like many other vulgarisms (double negatives and the confound- 
 ing of who and which, for example), it was once good English. 
 
 " Thou was formerly used in addressing inferiors, as by a mas- 
 ter in speaking to a servant. It was also common between equals, 
 especially if they were on familiar terms ; but to use it in speak- 
 ing to a stranger who was not an inferior was an insult. Many 
 examples of the distinction might be given ; as in Shakespeare's 
 Julius Ccesar (v. 5. 33), where Brutus says : — 
 
 " ' Farewell to you, — and you, — and you, Volumnius ; 
 Farewell to thee too, Strato ;' 
 
 where the persons first addressed are his friends, but Strato is 
 a servant. So in King Lear (iv. 6. 32), Edgar, disguised as a 
 peasant, says to the noble Gloster : ' Now fare you well, good 
 sir;' and Gloster replies: ' Now, fellow, fare thee well.' See also 
 on page 86, line 58, below." 
 
 The note on page 86, line 58, is as follows, and refers back 
 to the above : — 
 
 " Your grace. Observe that Locksley, in addressing the Prince, 
 uses the pronoun you, while the Prince uses thou in speaking to 
 him. See on page 47, line 261, above." 
 
 The notes on errors in grammar should all be discussed by 
 the class; and the errors should be corrected by the pupil, 
 if this has not been done in the note. A few examples of 
 such notes may be quoted here. 
 
 In Chivalry, page 59, is the following sentence from 
 Ivanhoe : — 
 
 " Brian de Bois-Guilbert kept his eyes riveted on the Saxon 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING" 
 
 37 
 
 beauty, more striking perhaps to his imagination because differ- 
 ing widely from that of the Eastern sultanas." 
 
 This is'the note : — 
 
 " That of the Eastern sultanas. The use of that is not strictly 
 grammatical ; neither would those be just right, as beauty is not 
 the abstract noun, but the concrete — meaning a beautiful per- 
 son, not beauty as a quality. If Scott had written ' on the 
 beauty of the Saxon lady,' it would be correctly followed by 
 ' that of the Eastern sultanas.' " 
 
 On page 93 we find this from the same novel : — 
 
 " Ivanhoe answered her hastily that he was, in point of health, 
 as well, and better than he could have expected — ' Thanks,' he 
 said, ' dear Rebecca, to thy helpful skill.' " 
 
 The note is as follows : — 
 
 " As well, and better than he could have expected. The gram- 
 matical construction is incomplete. It should read, ' as well as, 
 and better than,' etc., or, preferably, ' as well as he could have 
 expected, and better.' " 
 
 Here the correction might have been left to the pupil ; but 
 the preferable form might not have occurred to him — and 
 possibly not to some teachers. Of course, the pupil should 
 be asked to explain why it is preferable. If he cannot do it, 
 the teacher may help him out. 
 
 A very common error occurs in another sentence of Scott's, 
 in the English History, page 35, line 2 : — 
 
 " Percy, Earl of Northumberland, an English noble of great 
 power, and with whom the Douglas had frequently had en- 
 counters, sent his two sons, Sir Henry and Sir Ralph Percy, to 
 stop the progress of invasion." 
 
38 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 This is the note upon it : — 
 
 " And zvith whom. The and is superfluous with the relative. 
 It should never be used except to connect a second relative 
 clause to the preceding ; as, for example, if this passage had 
 read, ' an English noble of great power, who often made incur- 
 sions into Scotland, and with whom,' etc." 
 
 In the extract from Kenilworth {English History, p. 62) 
 Scott writes thus : — 
 
 " The queen received this address also with great courtesy, 
 and made answer in raillery, — ' We thought this lake had be- 
 longed to our own dominions, fair dame; but since so famed 
 a lady claims it for hers, we will be glad at some other time 
 to have further communing with you touching our joint in- 
 terests.' " 
 
 I give this note for the benefit of pupils and teachers out 
 of New England : — 
 
 " We will be glad. ' We shall be glad ' would be better Eng- 
 lish. Why?" 
 
 Here is a worse sentence from the same novel (English 
 History, page 68) : — 
 
 "After this, amid a crowd of lords and ladies, yet so disposed 
 around her that she could see and be seen on all sides, came 
 Elizabeth herself, then in the prime of womanhood, and in the 
 full glow of what in a sovereign was called beauty, and who 
 would in the lowest rank of life have been truly judged a noble 
 figure, joined to a striking and commanding physiognomy." 
 
 This is the note : — 
 
 " And who. The construction is bad here. And what would 
 be less objectionable, though not exactly satisfactory. The latter 
 part of the sentence should be recast." 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 39 
 
 It will be a good exercise for the older pupils to recast it. 
 If necessary, the teacher can do it for them. 
 
 Occasionally a grammatical question of the ordinary sort 
 is asked or suggested ; as in English History, note on page 5, 
 line 67 : — 
 
 " What sceptre grasped King Arthur s hajid? What is the 
 grammatical subject of grasped?" 
 
 It may seem unnecessary here to call attention to the sim- 
 ple inversion of subject and object; but grown-up children 
 have sometimes been strangely misled by this familiar trans- 
 position. In Gray's Elegy, for instance, the substitution of 
 await for awaits in the following stanza was doubtless due 
 to a misapprehension of this sort : — 
 
 " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
 
 And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
 Awaits alike the inevitable hour. 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 Deceived by the arrangement, editors and critics have 
 hastily assumed that boast, pomp, etc., are the subjects, and 
 hour the object of awaits, which they have consequently "cor- 
 rected " to await, though the three manuscripts of the poem 
 left us by Gray all have awaits. Moreover, the sense requires 
 that hour shall be the subject. The "inevitable hour" of 
 death awaits all earthly rank and power and beauty and 
 wealth, though they are not looking forward to it, or await- 
 ing it. 
 
 It is well, therefore, to call the attention of young people 
 to a case of this kind, if only to put them on their guard 
 against being too hasty in coming to a decision when the 
 construction is not so clear. 
 
40 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 It occurs to me here to refer to somewhat similar notes 
 which the teacher might at first think to be superfluous ; as 
 in English History, on page 16, line 142, where the text 
 reads : — 
 
 " And Guthrum cried : ' Nay, bard, no more 
 We hear thy boding lay ; 
 Make drunk the song with spoil and gore ; 
 - Light up the joyous fray !' " 
 
 It may be said that no boy or girl old enough to read a 
 poem like this of Sterling's needs to be informed that we 
 hear means "we wish to hear," as the note explains; or that 
 further on in the poem the statement that " The Danes ne'er 
 saw that harper more" means "saw him as a harper": but 
 it is nevertheless well for the pupil to note that the expres- 
 sions, literally or logically interpreted, may have a different 
 meaning. 
 
 A word about the notes on metre, which some teachers 
 might be inclined to regard as too difficult for young pupils. 
 On the contrary, they will be found to be precisely adapted 
 to this period of school work. It is the right time for learn- 
 ing what many grown-up people never succeed in mastering. 
 The child has a natural ear for metre and rhythm. In re- 
 peating a familiar lyric from Mother Goose, that classic of the 
 nursery, he renders the opening couplet at once as, 
 
 " Mistress Mary, 
 Quite contrary ;" 
 
 but ten or twenty years later, when he has lost this childish 
 sensitiveness to the music of verse, you cannot depend on his 
 reading in Hamlet, " Our wills and fates do so contrary run." 
 Ten to one, he will give it, " Our wills and fates do so con- 
 trary run," in utter unconsciousness that he has made prose 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 
 
 41 
 
 of it. To the child the metrical analysis of a line is easier 
 than the grammatical analysis, and half an hour's oral in- 
 struction will enable him to master the leading forms of 
 English verse — iambic, trochaic, anapestic, and dactylic — 
 technical terms and all; that is, if he is led to deduce the 
 essential facts and principles for himself from the poetry, as 
 illustrated in the notes to Efiglish History. His mastery of 
 the subject should be tested by requiring him to find other 
 examples of the various metres (except, perhaps, the dactylic, 
 of which the more familiar specimens are mentioned on page 
 133 of English History), not limiting the search to the book 
 in hand. 
 
 The notes on rhyme suggest other profitable exercises ; as 
 the finding of imperfect rhymes that are allowable: — like 
 those mentioned in the note on page 1, line 15, of English 
 History : 
 
 " Abhorred. This is not a perfect rhyme with word, the vowel 
 sounds being somewhat different ; and so with words and chords, 
 proud and bestowed, in the latter part of the poem. Such rhymes 
 are used more or less by all English poets." 
 
 Rhymes that are bad or inadmissible may similarly be 
 hunted up ; like those criticised in the note on page 5, line 
 54, of English History, where the brighter pupils will probably 
 detect for themselves the objection to a rhyme like ruin and 
 pursuit?, as the word would have to be pronounced if we 
 make it " sound right." 
 
 The teacher may give interest to this subject by asking the 
 pupils if there are English words (not including proper names 
 of persons, places, etc.) for which no rhyme can be found ; 
 and, if so, to look up examples of them (like silver, squirrel, 
 shadow, planet, filbert, beetle, statue, trellis, April, August, temple, 
 virtue, forest, poet, open, proper, almond^ bayonet, something, 
 3 
 
42 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 nothings etc.). Words which have only one rhyme are also 
 curious ; like people (steeple), anguish, winter, hornet, hatchet, 
 mountain, darkness, blackness, votive, etc, It is unnecessary to 
 give the rhymes for all these ; but it must be understood 
 that single words are required in all cases, not combinations 
 of words, like catch it as a rhyme to hatchet, or hurt you to 
 virtue. These latter rhymes may suggest the looking up of 
 odd and fantastic rhymes, like scores in The Ingoldsby Le- 
 gends, Lowell's Fable for Critics, etc. 
 
 The biographical, historical, geographical, and other notes of 
 a miscellaneous character are to be used at the discretion of 
 the teacher. It is not necessary to make them a part of the 
 regular lesson, or to do more than simply suggest to the pupil 
 to read them. Even this hint will not be needed for some 
 of the boys and girls, who are sure to become interested in 
 portions at least of this matter, whether the teacher refers 
 to it or not. 
 
 It may be said here that the greatest care has been taken 
 to secure accuracy in the statement of historical and other 
 facts. In the case of doubtful or disputed matters clue cau- 
 tion has been exercised; as, for instance, in these notes in 
 Chivalry on page 21, line 13, and page 40, line 112 : — 
 
 " The Holy Sepulchre. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 
 Jerusalem is generally believed to be on the site of the tomb 
 of Christ, though some learned men have held a different 
 opinion." 
 
 " Druidical superstition. Druidism appears to have been com- 
 mon to all nations of the Celtic race, to which the ancient Brit- 
 ons belonged. The Druids were not only priests and teachers 
 of religion, but also magistrates and judges. The oak-tree was 
 especially sacred among them, and many of their rites were per- 
 formed in oak-groves. The structures mentioned by Scott are 
 found in various parts of the British Isles, and have been gen- 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 43 
 
 erally supposed to be Druidical monuments; but this is by no 
 means certain." 
 
 Populaf misapprehensions have been pointed out and cor- 
 rected ; as in these notes on page 27, lines 35 and 53, of 
 Chivalry : — 
 
 "And even the very air was entirely devoid of its ordinary 
 winged inhabitants, etc. This has often been asserted of the 
 Dead Sea; but, according to good authorities, birds have been 
 seen flying over the lake, and even resting on its surface. Here 
 and there upon its banks are thickets of tamarisk and oleander 
 which are the home of many singing-birds. Except on the east 
 side, however, where there are ravines with fresh-water springs, 
 the shores are destitute of vegetation and indescribably dreary." 
 
 "A sufficient weight of armor. The ancient armor was heavy 
 and cumbrous, but training and experience made the wearing of 
 it easier than we might think possible. Measurements of the 
 many specimens that have been preserved prove that the men 
 who wore it were not of larger frame than the average soldier 
 of to-day." 
 
 In the note on page 48, line 284, the confused statements 
 concerning " hanging, drawing, and quartering " are disen- 
 tangled and reconciled for the first time, so far as I am 
 aware : — 
 
 " And drawn, and quartered, and hung tip by the heels, like a 
 traitor. There is an allusion here to the ancient punishment of 
 a traitor by ' hanging, drawing, and quartering ;' the victim being 
 disembowelled {drawn is still used in this sense in connection 
 with dressing fowls) and cut into pieces after being hung. In 
 the time of George III. this penalty for treason was changed 
 to 'drawing the criminal on a hurdle to the place of execution, 
 hanging him, and dividing his body into quarters.' This will 
 explain the seemingly inconsistent explanations of ' hanging, 
 
44 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 drawing, and quartering,' given in dictionaries and encyclo- 
 paedias." 
 
 In the English History, page n, line 27, in the poem of 
 Alfred the Harper, most readers and some teachers would 
 hastily assume that "Where Thames makes green the towery 
 strand" refers to the Tower of London, which is on the bank 
 of the river ; but this was not built until after the Norman 
 Conquest, much later than the time of the poem. Teachers 
 should see if the pupil can explain a point like this without 
 assistance. The note merely states that the reference is to 
 the city of London. 
 
 The quotations in the notes may be made the subject of 
 occasional oral exercises. I remember distinctly meeting 
 with the lines from Spenser quoted in Chivalry (in note on 
 page 26, line 2) when I was very young, and how they made 
 me want to know more about the poem and the author. 
 This is the note : — 
 
 "A knight of the Red-cross. That is, wearing the red cross of 
 St. George, the national emblem of England. The first book of 
 Spenser's Faerie Queene is devoted to the ' legend of the Knight 
 of the Red-cross,' who typifies Holiness in the allegory (see on 
 page 12, line 320, above). The. 2d stanza says of him : — 
 
 "'And on his brest a bloodie Crosse he bore, 
 The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, 
 For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, 
 And dead, as living, ever him ador'd : 
 Upon his shield the like was also scor'd, 
 For soveraine hope which in his helpe he had.'" 
 
 A quotation in the old spelling, like the one just given, and 
 the following of greater length (page 151 of English History), 
 will repay a little special attention : — 
 
HINTS OX USE OF " CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING " 45 
 
 " According to Sir Walter Raleigh, who wrote a ' Report of 
 the truth of the fight about the lies of Acores this last Sommer,' 
 the engagement began at 3 p.m. on the 31st of August, Old Style, 
 or the 10th of September, New Style, in the year 1591. Gervase 
 Markham, who commemorated the event in a poem entitled The 
 Most Honorable Tragedie of Sir Richard Grinuile, Knight (1595), 
 gives the main facts in his ' Argument,' or introduction, as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " ' Sir Richard Grinuile, lying at anchor neere vnto Flores, one 
 of the westerlie Hands of the Azores, the last of August in the 
 after noone, had intelligence by one Captayne Midleton of the 
 aproch of the Spanish Armada, beeing in number fiftie three saile 
 of great ships, and fifteene thousand men to man them. Sir 
 Richard, staying to recouer his men which were vpon the Hand, 
 and disdayning to flie from his Countries enemy, not beeing able 
 to recouer the winde, was instantlie inu ironed with that hudge 
 Nauie, betweene whom began a dread full fight, continuing the 
 space of fifteene howers, in which conflict, Sir Richard sunck the 
 great San Phillip of Spaine, the Ascention of Siuel, the Admirall 
 of the Hulks, and two other great Armados ; about midnight Sir 
 Richard receiued a wound through the bodie, and as he was 
 dressing, was shot againe into the head, and his Surgion slaine. 
 Sir Richard mayntained the fight, till he had not one corne of 
 powder left, nor one whole pike, nor fortie lyuing men ; which 
 seeing, hee would haue sunke his owne ship, but that was gaine- 
 stood by the Maister thereof, who contrarie to his will came to 
 composition with the Spanyards, and so saued those which were 
 left aliue. Sir Richard dyed aboard the Admyrall of Spayne, 
 about the fourth day after the battaile, and was mightlie be- 
 waild of all men.' " 
 
 Some of the children may find difficulty in reading parts of 
 it on account of the spelling, especially the interchanging of 
 u and v — and I have known teachers who were not aware 
 that the v was regularly used at the beginning of words and 
 the u elsewhere. The absence of the apostrophe in posses- 
 
46 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 sives (sometimes a stumbling-block to editors of Shakespeare 
 and other early writers), the use of italics in proper names, 
 and other peculiarities may be noted. The spelling of Hand 
 may be particularly referred to as more correct than island, 
 which, as intimated above, is due to a supposed connection 
 with isle. 
 
 Mistakes like the one mentioned in the note on page 89, 
 line 29, of -English History are curious as well as instructive, 
 and should receive at least a moment's attention. The note 
 is on this passage of The Cavalier s Escape, by Walter Thorn- 
 bury : — 
 
 " I looked where highest grew the may, 
 And deepest arched the fern ;" 
 
 and reads thus : — 
 
 " The may. The white hawthorn. In more than one instance 
 this may has been confounded with the month of May. In 
 Tennyson's Mille? r, s Daughter, 130, the poet says, ' The lanes, 
 you know, were white with may ' (that is, with the hawthorn 
 blossoms); but the American editions print 'with May,' as if it 
 meant with May flowers in general. As it happens, Tennyson 
 uses 'white with May' in this latter sense in The Coming of 
 Arthur : — 
 
 " ' Far shone the fields of May through open door, 
 The sacred altar blossomed white with May, 
 The sun of May descended on their king.' " , 
 
 The cuts in the book may also be the subject of oral exer- 
 cises. The reason for introducing human figures in cuts like 
 this on page 138 of Chivalry ought to be explained by the 
 pupil : — 
 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING" 47 
 
 A CROMLECH 
 
 A question as to the height of the stones in the picture 
 will probably serve as a clew, if any is needed. Even mere 
 " tail-pieces," like the group of old arms on page 83 of Chiv- 
 alry^ and the hawk and heron on page 115, may furnish topics 
 for oral instruction ; and so with the cuts on pages 64, 73, 
 etc., of the English History. The cut on page 9 of the latter 
 book is a particularly good subject for the brighter members 
 of a young class to exercise their wits upon, with the aid of 
 the quotation under it (given on page 48). Its relation to the 
 poem to which it is appended should not be overlooked. 
 
 I have said already that some teachers may not need all 
 or any of these suggestions ; and I do not expect that any 
 teacher will use all the notes in all the possible ways I have 
 mentioned. The notes, as I have said, are aids to the study 
 of the text, and the extent to which they are used must de- 
 pend upon the method of study. The teacher can easily 
 explain to the pupils that certain notes or portions of notes 
 
r 
 
 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 need not be studied, though they may profitably be read. 
 In my own teaching I have always graduated the required 
 work to the average ability of the class, making due allow- 
 ance for the failure of the dunces to come up to this stand- 
 ard, and furnishing enough of extra optional work for the 
 brighter pupils, most of whom are generally ready to do more 
 than the strict letter of the law demands. In the notes to 
 my books I aim to furnish a good supply of material that 
 may be used in keeping this latter class of pupils busy. The 
 teacher must see that this material is made a stimulus to the 
 
 
 " Within the hollow crown 
 That rounds the mortal temples of a king, 
 Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits, 
 Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp." 
 
 {Richard II. iii. 2. 160.) 
 
HINTS ON USE OF "CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 
 
 40 
 
 better half of the class, not a stumbling-block in the hard 
 path of the poorer half. 
 
 In a word, the notes are to be used, just in the degree that 
 they can be made useful, in every grade of school exercise 
 for which the text is suitable, from mere " supplementary 
 reading" up to the most varied critical study that can be 
 exacted of the pupil at that stage of his education. If the 
 teacher finds more matter in the notes than he can use to ad- 
 vantage, it is easy to let it alone. If, with the hints here given, 
 he does not find all that he wants, he can probably supply 
 the deficiency by oral instruction or by referring the pupil to 
 other sources of information in the school, home, or public 
 library. These hints, as the heading implies, are limited to 
 the use of my own books, and I have purposely refrained 
 from suggestions concerning the many valuable exercises 
 which depend mainly upon collateral reading or study. 
 
 In closing, let me say that I shall always be grateful to teach- 
 ers for memoranda of any typographical or other errors they 
 may detect, as well as for any suggestions concerning possi- 
 ble improvements in these or future volumes of the series. 
 
HINTS ON TEACHING HISTORY 
 
 The teaching of history is generally a perplexing task, ex- 
 cept to those who conduct it in the bad old way of merely 
 requiring the pupil to commit a text-book to memory. This 
 method is not entirely obsolete in these latter days. Not 
 very long ago, in a New England country town, I visited a 
 high-school, the master of which was a graduate from one of 
 our smaller colleges. He was very proud of his class in 
 English History, and its work had been highly commended 
 by the " committee men " who had witnessed it. I happened 
 to be present at one of the recitations, and had to admit that 
 it was "remarkable in its way." The teacher began by call- 
 ing up one of the boys, who, without any further question or 
 direction, started off with a fluent repetition of the first para- 
 graph of the lesson. This had been committed to memory 
 from the book, and was given absolutely verbatim. I had a 
 copy of the book in my hands, and could detect no variation 
 from the letter of the text. Another pupil was then called 
 upon, who continued the narrative from where the first had 
 dropped it, and went on to the end of the paragraph, or until 
 the teacher said " Enough." Others followed, in no regular 
 sequence, until the lesson was finished. If a pupil hesitated 
 or blundered, he was stopped at once, and another was called 
 upon to take up the broken thread of the story. Of course 
 this necessitated close attention on the part of those who 
 had not recited ; and those who were relieved from anxiety 
 
HINTS ON TEACHING HISTORY 5 1 
 
 on that point appeared to be engaged in keeping track of 
 the rest. The teacher had a good measure of personal mag- 
 netism, and had succeeded in exciting no little emulation 
 among his pupils. They evidently felt the same interest in 
 the recitation that they would have had in a game of ball. 
 As a competitive exercise in the gymnastics of memory it 
 was not bad, but as instruction in history it could hardly 
 have been worse. 
 
 Just how the teaching of history should be managed in 
 elementary schools I will not attempt to say, nor will I add 
 other examples of " how not to do it." I wish simply to refer 
 to the use of historical fiction and poetry for awakening or 
 increasing an interest in the study. This is one of the ends 
 I have had in view in preparing the Tales of Chivalry and 
 the Tales from English History and Scottish History. These 
 books may be read before the formal study of history is be- 
 gun, to stimulate the appetite for further and fuller knowl- 
 edge ; or they may be used for collateral reading in connec- 
 tion with the study, in order to make it more attractive and 
 consequently more profitable. 
 
 When I was twelve or thirteen years old, and had just en- 
 tered the high-school, the master occupied a vacant half-hour 
 one day by reading to us the story of the combat of the 
 Christian and the Saracen, from Scott's Talisman, which 
 is the first selection in the Tales of Chivalry. It was a de- 
 light and a revelation to me. I had read nothing of Scott's 
 then, and knew nothing about the days of chivalry. The 
 story opened for me a new world, with which I longed to be 
 better acquainted ; but I did not dare to ask the teacher to 
 lend me the book, or even to inquire the name of it. It was 
 not till a year or two later that I found out what it was, and 
 that it was fiction and not sober history, though founded 
 upon the latter. 
 
52 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 It was about the same time, or earlier, that I came across 
 Cowpers poem of Boadicea in one of the few books to 
 which I had access out of school ; and that also I found 
 equally fascinating and stimulating. I have included it in 
 the Tales from E?iglish History, and in the notes I have put 
 the historical facts which as a child I was so eager to learn 
 but too diffident to ask anybody to teach me. How I should 
 have enjoyed the other stories in verse and prose which I 
 have collected in the same little volume ! Some of them — 
 Macaulay's Armada, for instance — stirred my soul like mar- 
 tial music when I became acquainted with them later in my 
 boyhood. They made history more attractive than fiction 
 — unless it was fiction based on history, like Scott's novels 
 of that class. 
 
 The mention of Macaulay reminds me of the charm I 
 found in his Lays of Ancient Rome, which came out when I 
 was fitting for college. Certain critics, of whom the late 
 Matthew Arnold is perhaps the most noteworthy, tell us that 
 the Lays are not poetry; but on that question I am content 
 to be wrong with John Stuart Mill and " Christopher North " 
 and Henry Morley and Edmund Clarence Stedman, if they 
 are wrong, rather than to be right with Matthew Arnold, if 
 he is right. I may quote Stedman here, as perhaps saying 
 best what these excellent critics agree substantially in say- 
 ing : " Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome was a literary 
 surprise, but its poetry is the rhythmical outflow of a vigor- 
 ous and affluent writer, given to splendor of diction and im- 
 agery in his flowing prose. He spoke once in verse, and un- 
 expectedly. His themes were legendary, and suited to the 
 author's heroic cast, nor was Latinism ever more poetical 
 than under his thoroughly sympathetic handling. I am 
 aware that the Lays are criticised as being stilted and false 
 to the antique, but to me they have a charm, and to almost 
 
HINTS ON TEACHING HISTORY 53 
 
 every healthy young mind are an immediate delight. Where 
 in modern ballad-verse will you find more ringing stanzas, 
 more impetuous movement and action ? Occasionally we 
 have a noble epithet or image. Within his range — little as 
 one who met him might have surmised it — Macaulay was a 
 poet, and of the kind which Scott would have been first to 
 honor. Horatius and Virginia among the Roman lays, and 
 that resonant battle - cry of Tvry, have become, it would 
 seem, a lasting portion of English verse." 
 
 Every teacher who has used the Lays with his classes can 
 testify that boys enjoy them heartily. They are particularly 
 well adapted for collateral reading in the study of Latin, on 
 account of their subjects and their many allusions to Roman 
 customs and habits. 
 
 There is much truth in what Macaulay said about the writ- 
 ing of history before he tried his hand at writing it himself : 
 " History should be a compound of poetry and philosophy, 
 impressing general truths by a vivid representation of partic- 
 ular characters and incidents. While our historians are prac- 
 tising all the arts of controversy, they miserably neglect the 
 art of narration, the art of interesting the affections and pre- 
 senting pictures to the imagination. . . . The instruction de- 
 rived from history thus written would be of a vivid and prac- 
 tical character. It would be received by the imagination 
 as well as the reason. It would be not merely traced upon 
 the mind, but burned into it." 
 
 I venture to say that to most of us the portions of English 
 history that we think we know best, and that seem most real 
 to us, are the portions included in the plays of Shakespeare ; 
 and when we visit Old -World scenes of historic events, it 
 is often the poet rather than the historian to whom we feel 
 most indebted for the interest they excite. When we stand 
 in Wolsey's Hall at Hampton Court, it is Shakespeare's 
 
54 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 Wolsey whom we think of; and the visionary throng that 
 fills the magnificent room is that which the poet assembles 
 there in his Henry VIII. At Bannockburn the patriot is per- 
 haps more stirred by the poet than by any historian of the 
 battle. 
 
 " On Bannock-field what thoughts arouse 
 The swain whom Burns s song inspires ! 
 Beat not his Caledonian veins, 
 As o'er the heroic turf he ploughs, 
 With all the spirit of his sires, 
 And all their scorn of death and chains !" 
 
 History merely writes the obituary of the dead past; Poetry 
 calls it back from the grave, and makes it live again before 
 our eyes. 
 
 The combination of poetry and history which Macaulay 
 commends we certainly do not find in the school text-books. 
 The best of them have little or none of the poetry, though 
 they attempt to render the history somewhat less dry and re- 
 pulsive than it is made in the worst of them ; and few there 
 be of the former kind compared with the multitude of the 
 latter. It might not be a bad idea to put some of the best 
 historical poems into the text - book as an appendix ; but, 
 since the makers of such books have not seen fit to do this, 
 I believe that many teachers will be glad to have the poetry, 
 together with some of the entertaining prose tales founded 
 on the history, in separate volumes like these of mine. As I 
 have already suggested, these can be used as collateral read- 
 ing for young students of history, or, if preferred, as prepara- 
 tory to the study of text-books. At the same time, as I have 
 explained in the "Hints for Teachers" (page 14 above), the 
 books can be used for the elementary study of English, the 
 notes having been written with an eye to both purposes. 
 
HIXT5 OX TEACHING HISTORY 55 
 
 I may add that, in these notes, the greatest care has been 
 taken to secure accuracy in the statement of historical and 
 other facts. In respect to doubtful or disputed matters, due 
 caution has been exercised and dogmatism avoided. Popular 
 misapprehensions have been pointed out and corrected ; and 
 the confused statements concerning the minor details of his- 
 tory which are found, not only in school-books, but some- 
 times in cyclopaedias and other works of reference, are dis- 
 entangled and the truth made clear. Attention is also called 
 to any variations from historical facts in the fiction or poetry. 
 
 *. 
 
 ^"^ 
 
 CRUSADERS 
 
 (From Tales of Chivalry) 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 
 [This is the "card " to which reference is made on page 6 above. It 
 was originally printed on the two sides of a card of about the size of this 
 page, for use as "supplementary reading" and as material for oral in- 
 struction in the Cambridge (Mass.) grammar-schools. It was also printed 
 in Harper's Young People. ~\ 
 
 The inscription on the Soldiers' Monument in Boston, 
 written by the President of Harvard College, has been much 
 admired. It reads thus : — 
 
 TO THE MEN OF BOSTON 
 
 WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY 
 
 ON LAND AND SEA IN THE WAR 
 
 WHICH KEPT THE UNION WHOLE 
 
 DESTROYED SLAVERY 
 
 AND MAINTAINED THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE GRATEFUL CITY 
 
 HAS BUILT THIS MONUMENT 
 
 THAT THEIR EXAMPLE MAY SPEAK 
 
 TO COMING GENERATIONS 
 
 What is to be said is here said in the simplest way. There 
 is no waste of words, no attempt at display. It is a model 
 of good English, brief, clear, and strong. If a schoolboy had 
 written it, he would have thought it a fine chance for using 
 big words. He would have said, " The citizens of Boston 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 57 
 
 who sacrificed their lives," not "the men who died/' and 
 "preserved the integrity of the Union," not " kept the Union 
 whole;" and "erected," not- "built." And some men who 
 have written much in newspapers and books would have 
 made the same mistake of choosing long words where short 
 ones give the sense as well or better. 
 
 A great preacher once said that he made it a rule never to 
 use a word of three or two syllables when a word of two syl- 
 lables or one syllable would convey the thought as well ; and 
 the rule is a good one. In reading we want to get at the 
 sense through the words; and the less power the mind has 
 to spend on the words, the more it has left for the thought 
 that lies behind them. Here the simple words that we have 
 known and used from childhood are the ones that hinder 
 us least. We see through them at once, and the thought is 
 ours with the least possible labor. 
 
 Those who urge the use of simple English often lay stress 
 on choosing " Saxon " rather than " Classical " words, and it 
 is well to know what this means. 
 
 The English is a mixed language, made up from various 
 sources. Its history is the history of the English race, and 
 the main facts are these : — 
 
 Britain was first peopled, so far as we know, by men of the 
 Celtic (or Keltic) race, of which the native Irish are types. 
 The names of the rivers, mountains, and other natural feat- 
 ures of the land are mostly Celtic, just as in this country they 
 are mostly Indian. About fifty years before the Christian 
 era the Romans conquered Britain, and held it for about five 
 hundred years. They brought in the Latin language ; but few 
 traces of it now remain, except in the names of certain towns 
 and cities. The mass of the people kept their old Celtic 
 tongue. Between the years 450 and 550 a.d. Britain was in- 
 vaded and conquered by German tribes, chiefly Angles and 
 
5 8 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 Saxons. It now became Angleland, or England ; and the 
 language became what is called Anglo-Saxon, except in the 
 mountains of Wales and Scotland, where Celtic is found to 
 this day. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Danes in- 
 vaded England, and ruled it for a time, but they caused no 
 great change in the language. In the year 1066 the Norman 
 Conquest took place, and William the Conqueror became 
 King of England. Large numbers of the Norman French 
 came with him, and French became the language of the court 
 and of the nobility. By degrees our English language grew 
 out of the blending of the Anglo-Saxon of the common people 
 and the Norman French of their new rulers, the former fur- 
 nishing most of the grammar, the latter supplying many of 
 the words. Now the French was of Latin origin, and the 
 English thus got an important Latin or " Classical " ele- 
 ment, which has since been increased by the adding of 
 many Greek and Latin words, especially scientific and tech- 
 nical terms. 
 
 The two great events in the history of the English lan- 
 guage, as of the English people, are the Saxon and the Nor- 
 man conquests. To the former it owes its grammatical 
 framework, or skeleton ; to the latter much of its vocabulary, 
 or the flesh that fills out the living body. 
 
 It must not be inferred that our grammar is just like the 
 Anglo-Saxon because this is the basis of it. The Anglo- 
 Saxon had many more inflections (case - endings of nouns 
 and pronouns, etc.) than the French, and in the forming of 
 English most of these were dropped, prepositions and aux- 
 iliaries coming to be used instead. It was not until about 
 a.d. 1550 that the language had become in the main what 
 it now is. Some words have since been lost, and many have 
 been added, but its grammar has changed very little. Our 
 version of the Bible, published in 161 1, shows what English 
 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 
 59 
 
 then was (and had been for fifty years or more), and has 
 done much to keep it from further change. 
 
 As a rule the most common words — those that chiefly 
 make up the language of childhood and every-day life — are 
 Saxon ; and very many of them are words of one syllable. 
 In the inscription above, every monosyllable is Saxon, with 
 Boston, grateful, and coming ; the rest are French or Latin. 
 In the case of pairs of words having the same meaning, one 
 is likely to be Saxon, the other Classical. Thus happiness is 
 Saxon, felicity is French ; begin is Saxon, commence is French ; 
 freedom is Saxon, liberty is French, etc. The Saxon is often 
 to be preferred, though not always ; but, as has been implied 
 above, if a short and simple word conveys our meaning, we 
 should never put it aside for a longer and less familiar one. 
 In such cases the chances are that the former is Saxon, and 
 the latter Classical. Thus above, citizens, sacrificed, preserved, 
 integrity, and erected are all Classical. 
 
 ^^J^ 
 
 & 
 
 From Tales from English History, p. 64. 
 
SEA-KINGS 
 
 (From Tales from English History) 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 
 
 In the " Hints for Teachers " (pages 14-49 above) the illustra- 
 tive passages and notes are entirely from the first two volumes 
 of the series, the Tales of Chivalry and the Tales from English 
 History. A concise description of these books and of the other 
 volumes already issued, with a few specimens of the notes in the 
 latter, may be added here. 
 
 Tales of Chivalry. — This book (150 pages) contains a 
 sketch of the life of Scott, the early part of it being largely 
 drawn from the autobiography which he began ; and the follow- 
 ing tales from the Waverley Novels, mostly from Ivanhoe : " The 
 Crusaders "; " The Christian Knight and the Saracen "; " Sher- 
 wood Forest in the Reign of Richard the First "; " The Tourna- 
 ment at Ashby-de-la-Zouche "; " Robin Hood " (his adventures 
 at the Tournament when disguised as Locksley the Yeoman); 
 " The Siege of Torquilstone " (the castle of Front-de-Bceuf) ; and 
 " The Trial of Rebecca the Jewess." Portions of the original 
 text are somewhat condensed, to adapt them to my purpose, 
 but they are not otherwise modified. 
 
 Tales from English History. — This book (170 pages) con- 
 tains both prose and poetry. The former is entirely from Scott's 
 novels and Tales of a Grandfather, and comprises the following- 
 pieces : " Edward the Black Prince at Cressy and Poitiers "; 
 " Percy and Douglas "; " Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth "; " Sir 
 Walter Raleigh's First Interview with Queen Elizabeth"; and 
 "The Restoration of Charles the Second." 
 
 The poems, all of which are complete, are as follows : Cow- 
 
62 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 per' s Boadicea ; Sterling's Alfred the Harper ; Drayton's Ballad 
 of Agincourt ; Macaulay's The Armada ; Tennyson's " The Re- 
 venge" ; Walter Thornbury's The Cavalier s Escape ; R. S. Haw- 
 ker's Song of the Cornish Alen ; Soutbey's Battle of Blenheim ; 
 Cowper's Loss of the " Royal George "; Wolfe's Burial of Sir J oh?i 
 Moore ; Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade ; Bayard Tay- 
 lor's Song of the Ca?np ; and Robert T. S. Lowell's Relief of 
 Luc know. 
 
 The selections are arranged in historical or chronological 
 order. The notes contain biographical sketches of the authors, 
 and also of the historical personages referred to. Of the other 
 notes the specimens in the " Hints to Teachers" will suffice to 
 give an idea. 
 
 Tales from Scottish History.— The prose selections in 
 this volume also (210 pages) are from Scott's novels and Tales 
 of a Grandfather. They include " Robert the Bruce "; " The 
 Taking of Three Castles" (Edinburgh, Linlithgow, and Rox- 
 burgh) ; " Douglas and the Heart of the Bruce "; " The Battle of 
 Otterburn "; " The Battle of Flodden "; " The Goodman of Bal- 
 lengiech "; " Mary Queen of Scots Resigns the Crown "; " The 
 Escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven "; " Killiecrankie and 
 the Death of Dundee "; " Rob Roy "; and " The Battle of Preston 
 Pans." 
 
 The poems are: Sir Patrick Spens ; Aytoun's The Heart of 
 the Bruce; the old ballad of The Battle of Otterboume ; Ay- 
 toun's Edinburgh after Flodden ; Allan's Queen Marys Escape 
 front Lochleven ; Aytoun's Execution of Montrose and The Burial 
 March of Dundee ; and Campbell's LochieTs Warning. 
 
 It will be seen that several of the stories are given in both 
 prose and verse, illustrating the different ways in which the his- 
 torian and the poet deal with the same subject. The selections, 
 as in the Tales from English History, are arranged chronologi- 
 cally, the prose narrative being followed by the poetical version 
 when both are given. 
 
 The first poem in the volume, the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, 
 suggests the following note on ballad poetry : — 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 63 
 
 ." This poem is one of the ballads in Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of 
 the Scottish Border — that is, the border-land between Scotland and Eng- 
 land. A ballad, in the sense in which the word is here used, is ' a versi- 
 fied narrative, in a simple, popular, and often rude style, of some valorous 
 exploit or some tragic and touching story.' The old ballads were in- 
 tended to be sung, or recited in a musical way, with the accompaniment 
 of a harp or some similar instrument. They were often composed by the 
 singers, or minstrels, who led a wandering life, like the street musicians 
 in our day. Originally these roving poets _were welcomed to the mansions 
 of the great no less than to the cottages of the common people ; but they 
 gradually sank in social position until in the 15th century they were re- 
 garded much as the wandering organ-grinder is now. In England in 
 1597 they were classed by a statute with 'rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy 
 beggars. ' 
 
 " In the introduction to Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, the scene of 
 which is laid in the latter part of the 17th century, the decline in the for- 
 tunes of the minstrels is pathetically described : — 
 
 " ' The way was long, the wind was cold, 
 The Minstrel was infirm and old ; 
 His withered cheek and tresses gray 
 Seemed to have known a hetter day ; 
 The harp, his sole remaining joy, 
 Was carried by an orphan boy. 
 The last of all the bards was he, 
 Who sung of Border chivalry ; 
 For, well-a-day ! their date was fled, 
 His tuneful brethren all were dead ; 
 And he, neglected and oppressed, 
 Wished to be with them and at rest. 
 No more, on prancing palfrey borne, 
 He carolled, light as lark at morn ; 
 No longer courted and caressed, 
 High placed in hall, a welcome guest, 
 He poured, to lord and lady gay, 
 The unpremeditated lay : 
 Old times were changed, old manners gone, 
 A stranger filled the Stuart's throne ; 
 The bigots of the iron time 
 Had called his harmless art a crime. 
 A wandering harper, scorned and poor, 
 He begged his bread from door to door, 
 And tuned, to please a peasant's ear, 
 The harp a king had loved to hear.' 
 
 " The old English and Scottish ballads were not put into written form 
 
64 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 until long after they were composed ; and copies taken from the lips of 
 different persons often vary much. There are many versions of this 
 'grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens,' as the poet Coleridge called it. 
 Some of the variations are given in the notes below. 
 
 1 ' Critics do not agree as to the event upon which this ballad is founded ; 
 but it was probably the expedition sent in 1281 to carry Margaret, daugh- 
 ter of Alexander III. of Scotland, to Norway as the bride of King Eric 
 of that country. As an old historian relates, she, ' leaving Scotland, on 
 the last day of July, was conveyed thither, in noble style, in company 
 with many knights and nobles. In returning home, after the celebration 
 of her nuptials, the Abbot of Balmerinoch, Bernard of Monte-Alto, and 
 many other persons were drowned.' 
 
 " The poem is composed in what is called ' ballad measure,' because it is 
 the most common metrical form for these old popular songs. The stanza 
 is made up of alternate lines of eight and six syllables each, with the ac- 
 cents on the even syllables ; but, as will be seen, there are frequent varia- 
 tions both in the number of syllables and in the place of the accent. 
 
 "Verse with the accent on the even syllables is called iambic, being re- 
 garded as made up of iambuses (or iambi, if we use the Latin plural) ; an 
 iambus being a combination of two syllables, with the accent on the 
 second." 
 
 I add some of the shorter notes on the same poem, calling 
 attention to peculiarities of the ballad style : — 
 
 " O, where will I °el a skeely skipper, etc. Note the frequent use of O 
 in beginning sentences in this ballad, and compare The Battle of Otter- 
 bourne. Skeely is also spelled skilly, and is derived from skeel {skill). 
 Skipper is to be accented on the second syllable, like sailor in line 7, 
 letter in line 9, etc. Compare Longfellow's ballad of The Wreck of the 
 Hesperus, written in imitation of this old style : ' And the skipper had 
 taken his little daughter,' ' Then up and spake an old sailor,' etc. (the 
 accent marks being the poet's own)." 
 
 " Up and spake. A common expression in the old ballads, as in mod- 
 ern imitations, like Longfellow's." 
 
 " To Noroway, to Noi'oway, etc. Repetitions of this and other forms 
 are frequent in the ballads. What purpose do they serve in poems ad- 
 dressed to the ear rather than the eye, recited or sung instead of being 
 read ?" 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 65 
 
 " Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud, etc. The rhyme suggests that lie is to be 
 pronounced like le (le), a Scottish form of the word. Compare The Battle 
 of Otterbourne, lines 69, 70 (page 59). 
 
 "Note the 'dramatic form' here and in the following stanzas, that is, 
 giving what is said without stating who says it. This is another charac- 
 teristic of the old ballads. Who is the speaker here ? Who in lines 47- 
 52?" 
 
 The following notes on other selections illustrate sundry feat- 
 ures of my method : — 
 
 "And the Miserere s singing. The Miserere is the 51st Psalm (50th 
 in the Vulgate), so called from the first word of the Latin version, which 
 begins thus: 'Miserere mei, Domine ' ('Pity me, O Lord'). In the 
 Roman Catholic and Greek churches it is used in the burial service and 
 on certain other occasions. 
 
 " The construction here — ' the Miserere is singing ' — is liable to be mis- 
 understood. Some persons would say that 'is being sung' would be 
 better; but singing here (like building in ' the house is building,' etc.) is 
 not the participle, but the 'verbal noun,' or 'the infinitive in -ing,' as 
 some grammarians call it. The earlier form was a-singing, a-bidlding 
 (still used colloquially, as when boys talk of 'going a- fishing,' etc.), in 
 which the a is a remnant of an or on. ' The house is building ' means 
 'the house is in process of building.' Compare John, li. 20: 'Forty 
 and six years was this temple in building ;' where in (equivalent to the 
 old an or on) is expressed. In 1 Peter, iii. 20, we have the form with a : 
 'while the ark was a-preparing. ' In Shakespeare we have a-bleeding, 
 a-brewing, a-coming, a-doing, etc. 
 
 " The a- in afire, afoot, ashore, etc., is similarly prepositional. We can 
 say instead on fire, on foot, on shore, etc. But some of these forms have 
 become obsolete. We cannot now use a- high for on high, as Shakespeare 
 does in Richard III. iv. 4. 86 : 'heaved a-high.' On the other hand, we 
 cannot use on sleep for asleep, as in Acts, xiii. 36 : ' fell on sleep.' " 
 
 [For another note on the same subject, see page 31 above.] 
 
 " The lights of Saint Elmo. Balls of fire, of an electrical nature, 
 sometimes seen on the tops of masts and the ends of yards of ships at sea, 
 4 
 
66 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 especially in threatening or stormy weather. They are so called after 
 Saint Elmo, bishop of Formiie, in ancient Italy, who died about 304 and 
 is regarded as a patron saint by sailors in the Mediterranean. Compare 
 Longfellow, Golden Legend : — 
 
 " ' Last night I saw Saint Elmo's stars, 
 
 With their glimmering lanterns, all at play 
 
 On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars, 
 
 And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.' " 
 
 " Taster at the queen's table. It used to be a regular formality at royal 
 tables for an officer or servant, appointed for the purpose, to taste of the 
 food and wines in order to certify to their good quality. This was called 
 taking the assay (or say) or giving the say. Compare Richard II. v. 5. 
 99, where the keeper comes in with a dish for the imprisoned monarch, 
 who says to him : ' Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.' " 
 
 1 ' Rede. Also spelled read, being the noun corresponding to the verb 
 read, the original meaning of which was 'to counsel or advise.' Com- 
 pare Hamlet, i. 3. 51 : ' And recks not his own rede ' ; that is, does not 
 mind, or follow, the advice he gives to others." 
 
 " In fiery fight against the foe. Observe the alliteration, or beginning 
 successive words with the same sound, as here with f. Point out other 
 examples in this poem." 
 
 " Scotland's kindly earth. That is, native earth, the land of his birth. 
 The original meaning of both kind and kindly is 'natural.' In the 
 Litany ' the kindly ffuits of the earth ' are its natural fruits, or such as 
 it brings forth according to its kind, or nature. Compare the noun ir\- 
 Genesis, i. 11, 12, 21, 24, etc." 
 
 " Eyne. Or eyen, an old plural formed like oxen, hosen {Daniel, iii. 21), 
 shoon {Hamlet, iv. 5. 26), etc. It is used here for the sake of the rhyme. 
 Compare page 61, line 114." 
 
 "Amain. That is, with main, or force. The noun is still used in 
 this sense in the expression, ' with might and main.' " 
 
 " News have arrived. News is the plural of new (a translation of the 
 French plural nouvelles), and is often found with a plural adjective or 
 verb in old writers. Shakespeare uses it in both numbers, even in the 
 same play. Compare Much Ado, ii. 1. 180 : ' these ill news ;' and v. 2. 
 102 : ' this news.' " 
 
 " Thick as leaves in Vallombrosa. This familiar quotation is from 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, \. 302 : — 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 67 
 
 1 Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks 
 In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades 
 High over-arch'd imbower.' 
 
 Vallombrosa was a famous abbey in Tuscany, at an elevation of about 
 3000 feet on the wooded mountains near Florence. It was founded in 
 the nth century, and suppressed in 1869. The buildings are now occu- 
 pied by a school of forestry." 
 
 " Locheill. Sir Evan Cameron of Locheill, or Lochiel, chief of the large 
 and powerful clan of Cameron. He was also known as Evan Dhu, or 
 Black Evan, from his dark complexion. Scott, in the Tales of a Grand- 
 father, tells many interesting stories of him ; this, for instance : ' Being 
 benighted, on some party for the battle or the chase, Evan Dhu laid him- 
 self down with his followers to sleep in the snow. As he composed him- 
 self to rest he observed that one of his sons or nephews had rolled to- 
 gether a great snowball on which he deposited his head. Indignant at 
 what he considered as a mark of effeminacy, he started up and kicked the 
 snowball from under the sleeper's head, exclaiming, "Are you become so 
 luxurious that you cannot sleep without a pillow ?" ' After the civil war 
 was over he grew old in peace, dying in 1719 at the age of ninety. In 
 his last years, Scott says that ' this once formidable warrior was fed like 
 an infant, and like an infant rocked in a cradle.' " 
 
 Fairy Tales. — This book (188 pages) contains a selection of 
 fairy tales in prose and verse from early and recent literature. 
 
 Those in prose are The Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Prince 
 Cherry, and The Prince with the Nose (all four from Miss 
 Mulock's collection); the story of The Midsummer '- Night 's 
 Dream, as told by Charles and Mary Lamb ; and Poucinet and 
 The Fairy Crawfish (both translated from Laboulaye). 
 
 The poems are Allingham's The Fairies ; Tennyson's The 
 Sleeping Beauty ; Mary Howitt's The Fairies of the Caldon- 
 Low • the anonymous old Merry PraJiks of Robin Goodfellow ; 
 Hood's Queen Mab ; Ariel's Song from The Tempest of Shake- 
 speare ; Lover's The Fairy Tempter and The Hawited Spring ; 
 Robert Buchanan's The Green Gnome ; "The Gathering of the 
 Fays," from J. R. Drake's The Culprit Fay ; T. H. Bayly's O, 
 Where do Fairies Hide their Heads? Miss M. A. Lathbury's 
 May Song ; and Miss J. McDermott's Fairy Tale. 
 
68 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 The introduction to the notes, which is intended to give 
 young readers a general idea of fairy mythology, is as follows : — 
 
 "Nowadays it is only young children that ever suppose fairies to be 
 real beings ; but in former times the common people of England and 
 other European countries believed that there were such creatures, and 
 that the stories about them were actually true. Learned men have given 
 much time and study to this fairy mythology,* as it is called, but they do 
 not agree as to where it had its birth. Beings like the fairies in certain 
 respects are found in Oriental and Greek fable, and some stories about 
 these beings may have become blended with the early ideas concerning 
 fairies; but the latter properly belong to the north of Europe, and we 
 begin to hear of them as far back as the I2th century. They probably 
 had their origin among people of the Keltic or Celtic race (to which the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of the British Isles belong), but many new ideas 
 about them were derived from Scandinavian, Teutonic (or German), and 
 French sources. 
 
 "In a general sense, the term, fairies includes all the beings known as 
 
 fays, elves., dwarfs, trolls, brownies, hobgoblins, gnomes, kobolds, kelpies, 
 
 pixies, etc. ; but strictly it is applied only to the fays, or fairies properly 
 
 so called, the smallest of all these imaginary creatures. The elves are like 
 
 the fairies in this respect ; the two names being, indeed, commonly used 
 
 as synonymous. These are the fairies of the poem on The Fairy Queen 
 
 (page 30) and of Shakespeare's Midsummer- Night 's Dream — tiny sprites 
 
 that can ' creep into acorn-cups and hide themselves ' (page 34). The 
 
 same poet thus describes Mab their queen in Romeo and Juliet (i. 4. 53 
 
 fol.) :— 
 
 " 'she comes 
 In shape no bigger than an agate-stone 
 On the fore-finger of an alderman, 
 Drawn witht a team of little atomies} 
 Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep; 
 Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners'§ legs. 
 The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, 
 The traces of the smallest spider's web, 
 The collars of the moonshine's watery beams, 
 Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film, 
 
 * "The word means a group of myths, or fables, about gods, heroes, or other beings of 
 more than human powers. All races of men in the early stages of their history have a 
 mythology and believe in it, often as a part of their religion." 
 
 f " By." X " Atoms, or creatures as small as atoms." 
 
 § " Spiders, ' Daddy-long-legs.' " 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 69 
 
 Her wagoner a small gray-coated gnat, 
 Not half so big as a round little worm 
 Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid; 
 Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut 
 Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, 
 Time out of mind the fairies' coachmaker.' 
 
 It is Queen Mab also who comes in a chariot drawn by flying mice to 
 carry Tom Thumb to Fairyland (page 20), and of whom Hood tells us in 
 the poem on page 65. These are the fays of whose gathering Drake gives 
 so charming a description (page 109), and about whose winter hiding- 
 places Bayly sings in musical verse (page 112). 
 
 " But there are bigger fairies, like those that figure in the stories of 
 The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Cherry, The Hatmted Spring, and others in 
 this book, as well as in many of the old French, Italian, and German 
 romances. These seem much like ordinary mortals gifted with super- 
 human powers. They are sometimes benevolent, and sometimes malig- 
 nant. Sometimes they enter into marriages with human beings,- like the 
 famous French fairy Melusina, who married Raymond Count of Lusignan. 
 
 " Besides these two classes there are many others, including beings of 
 varied size and shape, having their abode in earth, air, or water. Dwarfs 
 and gnomes and kobolds haunt the woods or caves and mines ; nixies and 
 kelpies inhabit the waters ; Ariel (page 67) and his kin are spirits of the 
 air. The salamander of the middle ages was a fairy in human form whose 
 home was in the fire. To describe all the beings of fairy mythology, 
 even briefly, would fill a volume. Many of the ways in which they were 
 supposed to interfere in mortal affairs are seen in the tales here collected, 
 and will be further illustrated in the notes that are to follow." 
 
 The following are specimens of other notes on the same sub- 
 ject :• — 
 
 " Green jacket. Green seems to be the favorite color for fairy dress, 
 though not the only one. The queen of the fairies clothes Tom Thumb 
 in ' bright green ' (page 22). In the Merry Wives of Windsor (iv. 4. 49) 
 the fairies are ' green and white.' " 
 
 " They live on crispy pancakes, etc. Several writers assert that fairies 
 do not eat ; but the only proof they cite is from Shakespeare's Cymbeline 
 (iii. 6. 41), where Belarius, seeing Imogen in the cave, says : — 
 
70 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 " ' But that it eats our victuals, I should think 
 Here were a fairy.' 
 
 But here either fairy is equivalent to spirit, or Belarius simply means 
 that a fairy would not be likely to eat the ordinary food of human beings. 
 Fairy literature abounds in references to their feasts ; as, for instance, in 
 the old poem on page 30. Robin Goodfellow and beings like him are 
 often described as doing work for a bowl of cream. Compare Milton's 
 L 'Allegro, 101 : — 
 
 " ' With stories told of many a feat, 
 How fairy Mab the junkets eat. 
 ***** 
 And he, by Friar's lantern led, 
 Tell how the drudging goblin sweat 
 To earn his cream-bowl duly set,' etc. 
 
 In Keightley's Fairy Mythology, some of the titles of stories are ' The 
 Dwarf's Banquet ' (p. 128), ' Wedding-Feast of the Little People ' (p. 220), 
 ' The Fairy Banquet' (page 283), etc." 
 
 " The old king. Fairies are often represented as old men or women, 
 sometimes decrepit with age. See, for instance, page 73, line 127. They 
 are also sometimes described as governed by a king instead of a queen." 
 
 " They stole little Bridget. There is nothing more familiar in the fairy 
 tales of different nations than the idea that the elves steal pretty babies 
 and leave their own offspring instead. Oberon and Titania (page 34) 
 quarrel about the possession of such a ' changeling.' Robin Goodfellow 
 (page 52) confesses to similar thefts. See also Spenser's Faerie Queene, 
 i. 10. 65 :— 
 
 " ' From thence a Faery thee unweeting reft, 
 There as thou slept in tender swadling band; 
 And her base Elfin brood there for thee left: 
 Such men do Chaungelings call, so chaung'd by Faeries theft.' 
 
 John Gay, in his fable of The Mother, The Nurse, and the Fairy, repre- 
 sents the nurse as calling the new-born babe a changeling because it is 
 
 " ' a shocking, awkward creature, 
 That speaks a fool in every feature. 
 Lord! Madam, what a squinting leer; 
 No doubt the Fairy hath been here.' 
 
 The poem continues thus : — 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 71 
 
 " ' Just as she spoke a pigmy sprite 
 
 Pops through the keyhole, swift as light ; 
 Perched on the cradle's top he stands, 
 And thus her folly reprimands: 
 " Whence sprung the vain conceited lie, 
 That we the world with fools supply? 
 What! give our sprightly race away 
 For the dull helpless sons of clay! 
 Besides, by partial fondness shown, 
 Like you, we dote upon our own. 
 Where yet was ever found a mother 
 Who 'd give her booby for another ? 
 And should we change with human breed, 
 Well might we pass for fools indeed." ' 
 
 Many amusing stories are told of the devices by which mothers manage 
 to get back their own babies. Sometimes the fairies are frightened into 
 restoring them. For instance, the oven is heated as if for baking, and 
 the changeling is on the point of being put into it, when the elfin mother 
 comes, in haste and fright, with the real child and takes away her own 
 ugly brat. According to other tales, if the changeling can be made to 
 laugh, it will be at once exchanged for the human infant. In a German 
 story the mother breaks an egg in two, and sets water to boil in each half. 
 The imp bursts out laughing, and says, ' Well, I am as old as the Wester- 
 wald, but I never before saw anybody cooking in egg-shells !' Similar 
 tales are found in Brittany, Ireland, and elsewhere." 
 
 ' ' They thought that she was fast asleep. This may seem a little stupid 
 on the part of the fairies, but so they are often represented. Besides, 
 being immortal, they are not so familiar with death as human beings are. 
 According to some of the stories, the children stolen by fairies could be 
 made to share this immortality. Fletcher, in The Faithful Shepherdess, 
 describes 
 
 " ' A virtuous well, about whose flowery meads 
 The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds 
 By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes 
 Their stolen children, so to make 'em free 
 From dying flesh and dull mortality.' 
 
 Virtuous here means powerful, or having magic virtue or power ; as in 
 Milton's II Penseroso, 113 : ' the virtuous ring and glass,' etc." 
 
 "An old fairy %uho had never been invited. This incident is found in 
 other fairy tales, and is as old as the Greek myth of the origin of the 
 Trojan War in the dispute over the golden apple which Eris, the goddess 
 
72 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 of discord, threw among the guests at the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis 
 because she had not been invited with the rest of the deities." 
 
 " A brownie. Described by Keightley, in his Fairy Mythology (p. 357), 
 as ' a personage of small stature, wrinkled visage, covered with short curly 
 brown hair, and wearing a brown mantle or hood. His residence is the 
 hollow of an old tree, a ruined castle, or the abode of man. He is at- 
 tached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside 
 even for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house,' etc. He likes 
 a nice bowk of cream or a piece of fresh honeycomb, left for him in a 
 corner, but is strangely offended by a gift of clothing. When people 
 have left a new coat or hood for him, he is said to have quit the house in 
 disgust. The brownie is particularly associated with Scotland, though he 
 figures in some English stories also." 
 
 " There was no one left but vie. In many tales about fairies they 
 vanish when they discover that a mortal is looking at them ; and some- 
 times the person is punished for the intrusion. According to some tradi- 
 tions, certain persons can see fairies while others cannot. The four- 
 leaved clover was said to confer the power of discerning them. But 7?ie 
 is not incorrect, but being here a preposition." 
 
 " And as I named the Blessed Name, etc. In some cases the fairies are 
 regarded as evil spirits, to whom anything sacred is repugnant. The sign 
 of the cross, the utterance of a prayer, the touch of holy water, puts them 
 to flight. It is only unbaptized babes that they can steal, or a Bible 
 under the pillow protects the child. Other accounts represent them as 
 wishing to have their children baptized and made Christians. An old 
 English writer tells of some 'green children ' near Bury St. Edmunds that 
 'lost their green hue, and were baptized, and learned English.' He 
 adds that 'they said their country was called St. Martin's Land, as that 
 saint was chiefly worshipped there ; that the people were Christians and 
 had churches.' In Sweden, the Neck, or water-elf, is described as anxious 
 about his soul's redemption. Keightley says that the following story is 
 told in all parts of Sweden : ' Two boys were one time playing near a 
 river that ran by their father's house. The Neck rose and sat on the sur- 
 face of the water, and played on his harp ; but one of the children said to 
 him, "What is the use, Neck, of your sitting there and playing? You 
 will never be saved." The. Neck then began to weep bitterly, flung away 
 his harp, and sank down to the bottom. The children went home and 
 told the whole story to their father, who was the parish priest. He said 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 73 
 
 they were wrong to say so to the Neck, and desired them to go immedi- 
 ately back to the river, and console him with the promise of salvation. 
 They did so ; and when they came down to the river the Neck was sitting 
 on the water weeping and lamenting. They then said to him, "Neck, 
 do not grieve so ; our father says that your Redeemer liveth also." The 
 Neck then took his harp, and played most sweetly until long after the sun 
 was gone down.' In another form of this legend, a priest says to the 
 Neck, ' Sooner will this cane which I hold in my hand grow flowers than 
 thou shalt attain salvation.' The Neck in grief flung away his harp and 
 wept, and the priest rode on. But soon his cane began to put forth 
 leaves and blossoms, and he then went back to tell the glad tidings to the 
 Neck, who now joyously played on his harp all the night.' 
 
 ' ' Some stories of the opposite character are amusing. According to one 
 of them, an elf carrying his treasure home lays it down beside the road to 
 rest. Two straws accidentally fall upon it one across the other. The elf 
 cannot pick it up now, and asks a man who comes along to remove the 
 straws ; but the man is bright enough to understand the predicament, 
 and, carefully taking up the rich load without disturbing the cross formed 
 by the straws, goes off with it, to the great disgust and wrath of the help- 
 less owner. 
 
 " In the present instance, the green gnome is a human being who has 
 been carried off to Fairyland, and whom the prayer of the maiden to 
 ' Him who died for men ' releases from the enchantment. Scott gives 
 several similar tales in his introduction to The Young Tamlane in the 
 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." 
 
 To these notes on fairy mythology I will add only two or 
 three of a different kind : — 
 
 "To all eternity. An example of hyperbole, or highly exaggerated lan- 
 guage. The word is from the Greek and means 'excess,' or literally a 
 'throwing beyond.' It goes beyond the exact truth, often far beyond 
 it ; but we generally see that it is figurative, not literal, and so are not 
 deceived by it. When a boy says, ' It will take me forever to get this 
 lesson,' and another replies, ' I can get mine in less than no time,' 
 there is no danger that they will misunderstand each other. It is a bad 
 habit, however, to use hyperboles as often as many young people do. If 
 we waste our strongest forms of speech on trivial subjects, they will seem 
 
74 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 weak and inexpressive when the occasion really requires them. Hyper- 
 bole is common in the Bible. See, for instance, Matthexv, xix. 24, xxiii. 
 24, Luke, xix. 40, 44, John, iv. 29, Galatians, iv. 15, etc. It is in keep- 
 ing with the glowing Oriental style ; but with us it is considered out of 
 place except in expressions of intense feeling." 
 
 "These halcyon days. This is an example of ' classical allusion,' as it is 
 called. We may learn that halcyon means ' peaceful, serene,' as the foot- 
 note on page 120 tells us ; but we shall not fully appreciate the signifi- 
 cance of the word unless we know the old classical* myth to which it al- 
 ludes. Halcyone (Hal-si'o-ne) was the daughter of yEolus (E'o-lus), 
 god of the winds, and became the wife of Ceyx (Se'ix), King of Thessaly. 
 Her husband was shipwrecked and drowned ; and the gods, in pity for 
 her deep grief at his loss, changed them both into the birds called king- 
 fishers. During the days when these birds are brooding upon their float- 
 ing nests, the sea is calm and smooth, the winds being kept in confine- 
 ment by y£olus. There are many references to these ' halcyon days ' in 
 ancient and modern poetry. One of the most beautiful is in Milton's 
 Hymn on the Nativity : — 
 
 " ' But peaceful was the night 
 Wherein the Prince of Light 
 
 His reign of peace upon the earth began ; 
 The winds, with wonder whjst, 
 Smoothly the waters kissed, 
 
 Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,t 
 Who now hath quite forgot to rave, 
 While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.' " 
 
 ' ' The fwy. This is another instance of ' classical allusion ' (see on 
 page 120, line 172). In the Greek mythology, the Furies were three 
 goddesses that tormented guilty persons who escaped or defied human 
 justice. Their heads were wreathed with serpents, and their whole ap- 
 pearance was frightful. They were dreaded by both gods and men. 
 Hence the name of Fury has become a metaphor for a woman of fierce 
 
 * " Classical means ' belonging to the first or highest class, especially in literature,' and 
 is particularly applied to Greek and Roman authors. Classical learning commonly 
 means a knowledge of Greek and Latin literature ; classical mythology is Greek and 
 Roman mythology, etc." 
 
 t " Ocean is here a trisyllable, as the metre and rhyme require. In the time of Milton 
 and Shakespeare, words with -e or -i followed by another vowel in the ending (like ocean, 
 patience, soldier, nation, etc.) were often thus lengthened in pronunciation." 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 75 
 
 and malignant disposition, or one who, as here, gives way to a fit of 
 insane anger." 
 
 The Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare. — These are edited 
 in two volumes : Tales from Shakespeare s Comedies (270 pages), 
 and Tales from Shakespeare's Tragedies (240 pages). The plan 
 of the editor, which exactly carries out the suggestions of the 
 authors concerning the use of the Tales, is explained in the 
 preface to the Comedies, which I therefore quote in full : — 
 
 ' ' In the preface to the first edition the authors say that these Tales 
 ' are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the 
 study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it 
 seemed possible to bring them in ; and in whatever has been added to 
 give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been 
 taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beau- 
 tiful English tongue in which he wrote ; therefore, words introduced into 
 our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided. ' 
 
 " The authors say also : ' It has been wished to make these Tales easy 
 reading for very young children. To the utmost of their ability the 
 writers have constantly kept this in mind ; but the subjects of most of 
 them made this a very difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the 
 histories of men and women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a 
 very young mind. For young ladies, too, it has been the intention chiefly 
 to write ; because boys being generally permitted the use of their fathers' 
 libraries at a much earlier age than girls are, they frequently have the 
 best scenes of Shakespeare by heart before their sisters are permitted to 
 look into this manly book ; and, therefore, instead of recommending these 
 Tales to the perusal of young gentlemen who can read them so much 
 better in the originals, their kind assistance is rather requested in explain- 
 ing to their sisters such parts as are hardest for them to understand ; and 
 when they have helped them to get over the difficulties, then perhaps they 
 will read to them (carefully selecting what is proper for a young sister's 
 ear) some passage which has pleased them in one of these stories, in the 
 very words of the scene from which it is taken ; and it is hoped they will 
 find that the beautiful extracts, the select passages, they may choose to 
 give their sisters in this way will be much better relished and understood 
 from their having some notion of the general story.' 
 
7 6 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 "Nowadays 'young ladies' are allowed to read and study Shakespeare 
 as early as their brothers, and may sometimes be able to help the latter in 
 understanding and appreciating the text more than these 4 young gentle- 
 men ' can help them. I quote the passage, however, because it has sug- 
 gested to me the plan of the present edition of these admirable stories. I 
 have aimed to help both girls and boys by ' explaining such parts as are 
 hardest for them to understand ;' and have added a selection of such por- 
 tions of the originals as are likely to be intelligible and enjoyable to 
 young readers, and at the same time perfectly proper for even ' a young 
 sister's ear.' 
 
 " I believe that the book, thus annotated and illustrated, will be useful 
 not only as ' supplementary reading for young children ' (the teacher or 
 the parent will of course see what portions of the notes are suited to their 
 age and capacity), but also as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare 
 for those who are old enough to begin that study in earnest. For this, as 
 we have seen, the Tales were intended, but the authors builded better 
 than they knew. The child's story-book has become ' an English classic' 
 for children of larger growth. Even as a contribution to Shakespearian 
 criticism it has no mean value, as more than one good critic has pointed 
 out. Mr. Ainger, in his introduction to the edition of 1878, referring to 
 Mary Lamb's work on the Comedies, remarks: ' She constantly evinces a 
 rare shrewdness and tact. in her incidental criticisms, which show her to 
 have been, in her way, as keen an observer of human nature as her 
 brother. Mary Lamb had not lived so much among the wits and humor- 
 ists of her day without learning some truths which helped her to interpret 
 the two chief characters of Much Ado About Nothing : " As there is no 
 one who so little likes to be made a jest of as those who are apt to take 
 the same liberty themselves, so it was with Benedick and Beatrice ; these 
 two sharp wits never met in former times but a perfect war of raillery 
 was kept up between them, and they always parted mutually displeased 
 with each other." And again : " The hint she gave him that he was a 
 coward, by saying she would eat all he had killed, he did ^not regard, 
 knowing himself to be a brave man ; but there is nothing that great wits 
 so much dread as the imputation of buffoonery, because the charge comes 
 sometimes a little too near the truth ; therefore Benedick perfectly hated 
 Beatrice when she called him ' the prince's jester.' " How illuminating, 
 in the best sense of the term, is such a commentary as this ! The knowl- 
 edge of human character that it displays is indeed in advance of a child's 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 77 
 
 own power of analysis or experience of the world, but it is at once intel- 
 ligible when thus presented, and in a most true sense educative. Very 
 profound, too, is the casual remark upon the conduct of Claudio and his 
 friends when the character of Hero is suddenly blasted — conduct which 
 has often perplexed older readers for its heartlessness and insane credu- 
 lity : " The prince and Claudio left the church, without staying to see if 
 Hero would recover, or at all regarding the distress into which they had 
 thrown Leonato. So hard-hearted had their atiger made them." It is 
 this casual and diffused method of enforcing the many moral lessons that 
 lie in Shakespeare's plays that constitutes one special value of this little 
 book in the training of the young. Writing avowedly, as Charles and 
 Mary Lamb were writing, for readers still in the schoolroom, ordinary 
 compilers would have been tempted to make these little stories sermons 
 in disguise, or to have appended to them in set form the lessons they were 
 calculated to teach. Happily, both as moralist and artist, Charles Lamb 
 knew better how hearts and spirits are touched to " fine issues."-' 
 
 " This preface is already longer than I intended to make it, but I can- 
 not refrain from adding to it the closing paragraph of the original pref- 
 ace : — 
 
 " 'What these tales shall have been to the young readers, that and 
 much more it is the writers' wish that the true Plays of Shakespeare may 
 prove to them in older years — enrichers of the fancy, strengthened of vir- 
 tue, a withdrawing from all selfish and mercenary thoughts, a lesson of 
 all sweet and honorable thoughts and actions, to teach courtesy, benig- 
 nity, generosity, humanity ; for of examples teaching these virtues his 
 pages are full.' " 
 
 The following is a portion of the preface to the Tales from 
 the Tragedies : — 
 
 "The child's story-book has become 'an English classic' for children 
 of larger growth, and is really a valuable contribution to Shakespearian 
 criticism. In the former preface I quoted what Mr. Ainger says of ' the 
 rare shrewdness and tact ' of Mary Lamb's incidental criticisms of the 
 Comedies. I may add here what he says of her brother's work on the 
 Tragedies : — 
 
 " ' It is in the Tragedies, and in the profounder problems of human life 
 there treated, that the master-hand of Charles Lamb distinctly declares 
 
78 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 itself. The subtle intellect and unerring taste that have elsewhere an- 
 alyzed for us the characters of Lear and Malvolio are no less visible even 
 when adapting Shakespeare's stories to the intelligence of the least critical 
 of students. It would be difficult, in writing for any class of readers, to 
 add anything to Lamb's description of Polonius — "a man grown old in 
 crooked maxims and policies of state, who delighted to get at the knowl- 
 edge of matters in an indirect and cunning way." Again, the connection 
 between the actual and the assumed madness of Hamlet — still so vexed a 
 question among amateur critics — is, after all, explained and exhausted in 
 the following simple version : " The terror which the sight of the ghost 
 had left upon the senses of Hamlet, he being weak and dispirited before, 
 almost unhinged his mind and drove him beside his reason. And he, 
 fearing that it would continue to have this effect, which might subject 
 him to observation and set his uncle upon his guard if he suspected that 
 he was meditating anything against him or that Hamlet really knew more 
 of his father's death than he professed, took up a strange resolution from 
 that time to counterfeit as if he were really and truly mad ; thinking that 
 he would be less an object of suspicion when his uncle should believe him 
 incapable of any serious project, and that his real perturbation of mind 
 would be best covered and pass concealed under a disguise of pretended 
 lunacy." And nothing can be finer in its way than the concluding sen- 
 tences of Lamb's version of Romeo and Juliet, where he relates- the recon- 
 ciliation of Lords Capulet and Montague over the graves of the unhappy 
 lovers : " So did these poor old lords, when it was too late, strive to outdo 
 each other in mutual courtesies." How exquisitely in the two epithets is 
 the moral of the whole tragedy thrown into sudden light ! The melan- 
 choly of the whole story — the " pity of it " — the " one long sigh " which 
 Schlegel heard in it, is conveyed with an almost magic suddenness in this 
 single touch ; with yet one touch more, and that of priceless importance 
 — the suggestion of the whole world of misery and disorder that may lie 
 hidden as an awful possibility in the tempers and vanities of even two 
 " poor old " heads of houses.' " 
 
 In the notes, the selection of passages from the plays, besides 
 carrying out the authors' suggestions for the reading of such 
 passages in connection with the Tales, illustrates their frequent 
 use of the precise language of the plays in telling the story. 
 Historical and other allusions in the Tales and in the illustrative 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 79 
 
 quotations are also explained, with the peculiarities of Shake- 
 speare's diction and grammar which occur in the latter ; and 
 rhetorical and other notes, such as I have already quoted from 
 the earlier volumes of the series, are interspersed. 
 
 A few of the notes may be cited here as specimens : — 
 
 ' ' I am a fool to weep at what I am glad of. This is taken word for 
 word from the play ; and so is the last sentence of the speech, ' I am your 
 wife,' etc. ' Plain and holy innocence ' is also Shakespeare's." 
 
 " My brave spirit. The word brave was formerly in very common use 
 as a term of praise or commendation. Miranda, in the play, calls the 
 ship that was wrecked ' a brave vessel ' (the ' fine large ship ' of page 3, 
 line 50) ; and elsewhere Miranda says that Ferdinand has ' a brave form ;' 
 and she herself is referred to as a ' brave lass ' (a beautiful girl). See also 
 page 14, line 369. So the noun bravery meant beauty, elegance, etc. 
 Compare Isaiah, iii. 18 : ' the bravery of their tinkling ornaments ;' and 
 Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3. 57 : ' With scarfs and fans and 
 double change of bravery ;' that is, a double set of fine garments or orna- 
 ments." 
 
 " Full fathom five. That is, at a depth of fully five fathoms, or thirty 
 feet. Fathom is used as a plural, like year in the passage quoted in note 
 on page 3, line 65. Foot, mile, pound, and other words meaning measure, 
 weight, time, etc., were similarly employed as plurals. We still speak of 
 a ten- foot pole \ a two-pound weight, etc." 
 
 " Of his bones are coral made. Bones cannot be turned into coral, nor 
 eyes into pearls, but the matter of animals and plants that have died and 
 decayed does in the course of time reappear in new forms of life and 
 beauty." 
 
 11 An excellent sweet lady and exceeding zvise. Both excellent and ex- 
 ceeding are adverbs here, as often in Shakespeare, from whom these ex- 
 amples are taken. It might be thought that excellent was an adjective 
 ('an excellent, sweet lady'); but a comparison with other passages in 
 Shakespeare proves the contrary. We often find it used by itself as an 
 adverb ; as in 'Thou didst it excellent' {Taming of the Shreiv, ind. 1. 
 89) ; and joined with another adverb ; as ' excellent well' {Othello, ii. 3. 
 121), etc." 
 
 "Now begin, etc. This is from the play, where it is arranged thus 
 (iii. 1. 24) :— 
 
80 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 " ' Now begin ; 
 For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs 
 Close by the ground, to hear our conference.' 
 
 Here we have another simile. Beatrice is compared to a lapwing, a bird 
 common in England, but not known in this country, somewhat like our 
 plover. Its nest is made on the ground, and old writers have many al- 
 lusions to its endeavors to mislead persons who might steal the eggs, 
 which are much sought for food. Yarrell, in his History of British Birds, 
 says : ' The- female birds invariably, upon being disturbed, run from the 
 eggs, and then fly near to the ground for a short distance, without utter- 
 ing any alarm cry.' " 
 
 " Borachio. If this were the Italian form of the name, ch should be 
 pronounced like k ; but, like Petruchio (in the Taming of the Shrew) 
 and certain other names, it is Anglicized (made English, or put into an 
 English form) in order to suggest the proper pronounciation. The Italian 
 form would be Boraccio (pronounced Bo-ra'chi-o). " 
 
 "What shall become of this? These are Shakespeare's words. We 
 should now say, ' What will come of this ?' that is, what will be the result 
 of it? The reply of the friar is condensed from the play, with little 
 change in the language. There is one alteration worth noting. For ' in- 
 terest in his heart ' the play has ' interest in his liver/' and there are 
 many passages in Shakespeare (see quotation on p. 210) and other old 
 writers in which the liver is represented as the seat of love. The idea 
 was a very ancient one, being found in Greek and Latin literature." 
 
 "By my sword. The sword was often used in swearing because the 
 hilt was in the form of a cross, and sometimes had a cross inscribed upon 
 it. Compare Hamlet (i. 5) where Hamlet makes his friends swear upon 
 his sword that they will say nothing about the visit of his father's ghost." 
 
 1 ' A proper saying ! That is, an improper or false saying. This is an 
 example of that form of figurative language called irony. The meaning 
 is the opposite of that which the words naturally or literally express. 
 The tone in which they are spoken, or the connection in which they are 
 used, makes the real meaning clear. Irony is seldom used except for 
 conveying blame or censure under the form of praise." 
 
 ' ' Yet some sweet uses are to be extracted from it. This is taken from a 
 famous and beautiful passage in the play (ii. 1. 22) : — 
 
 " ' Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
 
 Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 8 1 
 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; 
 And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 
 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything.' 
 
 "It was commonly believed in Shakespeare's time that toads were 
 venomous, and also that they had this 'precious jewel,' or ' toadstone,' in 
 their heads. The stone was said to be beautiful, and also to have certain 
 medicinal properties. Its virtues are set forth by many learned writers of 
 the 16th and 17th centuries." 
 
 "Proteus. This was the name of a sea-god, a son of Neptune, who 
 was noted for his power of changing his shape at will. Hence, our word 
 Protean, which is applied to persons or things that readily assume differ- 
 ent forms or characters. Very likely Shakespeare chose the name as 
 peculiarly appropriate to the fickle Proteus. The name may be pro- 
 nounced as directed in the foot-note on page 74, or, after the Greek fash- 
 ion, as a dissyllable (Pro'teus), like Theseus (see on page 18, line 14)." 
 
 " The Rialto. This is the name of one of the islands on which Venice 
 was built ; and here in Shakespeare's time was the Exchange, the build- 
 ing where the merchants were accustomed to meet for transacting busi- 
 ness. The famous Rialto Bridge connects this island with St. Mark's 
 Island, which afterwards became the commercial centre of the city. The 
 bridge was begun in 1588 and finished in 1591, and until a few years ago 
 it was the only bridge across the Grand Canal, the longest and widest of 
 the many canals in Venice." 
 
 " Lady, it is about a paltry gilt ring, etc. In the play it is called a 
 1 paltry ' ring, not because it was merely ' gilt,' as it is called here, but 
 because Gratiano thinks it is not worth making such a fuss about. 
 He says : — 
 
 " ' About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 
 That she did give me, whose poesy was 
 For all the world like cutler's poetry 
 Upon a knife, "Love me, and leave me not." ' 
 
 The poesy or posy (for the two words are the same) was a motto or rhyme 
 inscribed on the inside. Such inscriptions were also sometimes put upon 
 knives and other articles used as presents. In 1624 a little book was 
 published with the title, Love's Garland, or Posies for Rings, Handker- 
 chiefs and Gloves ; and such pretty tokens that lovers send their loves. 
 The Rev. Giles Moore, in his Journal, 1673-4, writes : ' I bought for 
 
82 THE ELEMENTARY STUDY OF ENGLISH 
 
 Ann Brett a gold ring, this being the posy : When this you see, remember 
 me.' " 
 
 "Spinsters. The word is here used in its original sense. The suffix 
 -ster was originally feminine. Thus songster used to mean a female 
 singer, but now it is regarded as masculine, and a new feminine ending is 
 added in songstress. So webster (now used only as a proper name) meant 
 a female weaver, baxter (formerly bakester) a female baker, brewster a 
 female brewer, etc. Spinster is the only one of these old feminines that 
 retains its proper gender." 
 
 ' ' Made him that he could say nothing. The construction is old-fash- 
 ioned and seems awkward now. We should rather say ' made him unable 
 to say anything,' or 'affected him so that he could say nothing.' The 
 verb make was formerly used in many constructions that are now obsolete. 
 Compare, for instance, page 159, line 282 : ' He then made as if he were 
 going back ;' that is, pretended that he was going back." 
 
 " A poor Bedlam-beggar. That is, an insane beggar. The word Bed- 
 lam is a corruption of Bethlehem. The old hospital of St. Mary of Beth- 
 lehem in London, founded in the 13th century, was converted into a 
 lunatic asylum, which came to be popularly known as Bedlam." 
 
 " Hozu he demeaned himself. How he behaved. The word demean 
 is connected with demeanor, not with mean (base), as has been popularly 
 supposed. The mistake has led to its being used in the sense of ' debase, 
 degrade.' Webster's Dictionary recognizes this meaning, and quotes in 
 illustration the Comedy of Errors, iv. 3. 83 : — 
 
 " ' Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad, 
 Else never would he so demean himself;' 
 
 where, as elsewhere in Shakespeare, it means ' behave. ' The Century 
 Dictionary says of this ' misuse of demean ' that it is ' avoided by scrupu- 
 lous writers.' " 
 
 "A heart that even cracks with woe. The word cracks here seems al- 
 most ridiculously weak, but Shakespeare often uses it with reference to a 
 breaking heart. Compare King John, v. 7. 52 : ' The tackle of my heart 
 is crack'd ;' Hamlet, v. 2. 370 : ' Now cracks a noble heart ;' Coriolanus, 
 v. 3. 9 : ' with a crack'd heart,' etc. It will be seen that Lamb follows 
 the play in this instance." 
 
 " The rough and unbending cynic. The Cynics were a set of Greek 
 philosophers who taught that pleasure is an evil if sought for its own 
 
ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR SCHOOL READING 
 
 53 
 
 sake. Hence they contemned wealth and amusements. The name is 
 derived from the Greek word for dog, and was generally understood to 
 refer to ' the coarse mode of life or the surly disposition of these philoso- 
 phers.' It has come to be applied to persons like these old Cynics, and 
 especially to sneering fault-finders. In the present passage it is well ex- 
 plained by the context." 
 
 
 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 
 
 (From Fairy Tales) 
 
ABBOTSFORD 
 
 (From Tales of Chivalry) 
 
INDEX 
 
 aboard, 27. 
 a-building, etc., 65. 
 alliteration, 66. 
 allusion, classical, 74. 
 allusion, Scriptural, 24. 
 amain, 66. 
 an (=if), 35. 
 and (superfluous), 38. 
 Angleland, 58. 
 Anglo-Saxon, 34, 57, 58. 
 animal metaphors, 25. 
 armor of proof, 29. 
 armor, weight of, 43. 
 assay (of food), 66. 
 atomies, 68. 
 augmentatives, 30. 
 awaits (in Gray's Elegy), 39. 
 
 ballad poetry, 63. 
 
 baxter. 82. 
 
 Beaulieu, 30. 
 
 Bedlam-beggar, 82. 
 
 beest, 35. 
 
 become (=come), 80. 
 
 Belvoir, 31. 
 
 best, we were, 33. 
 
 board (meanings), 27. 
 
 Borachio (pronunciation), 80. 
 
 brave, 79. 
 
 brewster, 82. 
 
 brownies, 72. 
 
 but (preposition), 72. 
 
 Celtic race, 57. 
 
 changelings, fairy, 70. 
 
 cheer, 28. 
 
 classical, 74. 
 
 contrary (accent), 40. 
 
 correspondence of sound and sense, 
 
 crack (of heart), 82. 
 
 criticism, training in, 10, 21, 25. 
 
 cuts, lessons on, 46. 
 
 Cynics, 82. 
 
 Dead Sea, the, 43. 
 demean (—behave), 82. 
 diminutives, 30. 
 dramatic form in ballads, 69. 
 
 drap-dc-bure, 30. 
 Druidism, 42. 
 
 Elmo, Saint, 66. 
 English, history of, 6, 58. 
 English literature, 7. 
 English, speaking, 3. 
 English, writing. 4. 
 exceeding (adverb), 79. 
 excellent (adverb), 79. 
 exclamation, 17. 
 eyne, 66. 
 
 fairy food, 69. 
 fairy mythology, 68. 
 fathom (plural), 79. 
 figurative language, n, 22, 26. 
 French and Saxon, 34. 
 French, Norman, 35, 58. 
 Furies, the, 74. 
 
 Gaul, the, 17. 
 grammar, errors in, 36. 
 grammar, obsolete forms in, 31. 
 grammar, technical, 4. 
 grammar text-books, 6. 
 green (fairy color), 69. 
 
 halcyon days, 74. 
 
 hanging, drawing, and quartering, 43. 
 
 history and poetry, 54. 
 
 history in Shakespeare, 53. 
 
 history, Macaulayon, 53. 
 
 history, teaching of, 50. 
 
 hyperbole, 73. 
 
 iambic measure, 64. 
 iland, 46. 
 irony, 80. 
 islet, 30. 
 
 Keltic race, 57. 
 kindly (=natural), 66. 
 
 lapwing (figurative). 80. 
 liver (seat of love), 80. 
 Lochiell, 67. 
 lubbard, 30. 
 
86 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Mab, Queen, 68. 
 
 Macaulay's Lays, 52. 
 
 make (old uses), 82. 
 
 may (= white hawthorn), 46. 
 
 me (reflexive), 34. 
 
 metaphor, 15, 22, 24, 25. 
 
 metonymy, 29. 
 
 metre, 11, 40. 
 
 mettled, 28. 
 
 minion, 29. 
 
 minstrels, 63. 
 
 Miserere, the, 65. 
 
 mythology, 68. 
 
 Neck (water-elf), 72. 
 news (number), "66. 
 nouns, participial, 31. 
 nouns, verbal, 31, 65. 
 
 ocean (trisyllable), 74. 
 on fire, etc., 65. 
 
 poesy (=posy), 81. 
 
 poetry and history, 51. 
 
 posies in rings, 81. 
 
 possessive, apostrophe omitted, 45. 
 
 proof (of armor), 29. 
 
 proper (ironical), 80. 
 
 Proteus, 81. 
 
 questions, variety in, 16. 
 
 recks, 28. 
 
 Red-cross knight, 44. 
 
 rede, 66. 
 
 Regnar Lodbrog, 20. 
 
 rhetoric, training in, 11. 
 
 rhyme, 41. 
 
 Rialto, the, 8r. 
 
 Robin Goodfellow, 70. 
 
 Saint Elmo's lights, 65. 
 simile, 16, 22, 25, 80. 
 skeely, 64. 
 skipper (accent), 64. 
 songster (feminine), 82. 
 sound and sense, 18. 
 spelling, old, 45. 
 spinners (=sjnders), 68. 
 spinster, 82. 
 strength (concrete), 29. 
 subject, inversion of, 39. 
 subject omitted, 33. 
 sword, swearing by, 80. 
 
 taking the assay, 66. 
 taste, cultivation of, 9. 
 taster (officer), 66. 
 thou (to inferiors), 36. 
 to (r=for), 29. 
 toadstone, 81. 
 towery strand, 44. 
 
 up and spake, 64. 
 
 Vallombrosa, 66. 
 verbal nouns, 31, 65. 
 versification, 11, 40. 
 virtuous (= powerful), 71. 
 vulgarisms (once good English), 36. 
 
 webster, 82. 
 
 we were best, 33. 
 
 which (=who), 31, 36. 
 
 who (=which), 31, 36. 
 
 will (wrongly used), 38. 
 
 with (=by), 68. 
 
 words, Anglo-Saxon, 35, 59. 
 
 words, classes of, 27. 
 
 words with no rhyme, 41. 
 
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