The Seneca chieftain "laid the ax at the root" of a great evil in his pertinent observation: "If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said." MODJESKA This noted Polish actress, after achieving renown upon the stage, died in 1911. Few examples offer a more striking illustration of the triumphs of self-sacrifice than does the life of Helen Modjeska. She had met with important successes, in a limited way, as a child and also as an adult actress prior to her coming to America. Frances Willard, in explaining her differences with the head of a college with which she was at one time connected, used to say: "When the immovable comes in contact with the indestructible, something must happen." It is not obstinacy, it is rather the fixed determination of an heroic soul to live. 193. Exigencies, emergencies; 193. poignant, painful; 194. innate, inborn; 196. extraction, descent; 198. cues, words memorized by an actor from the close of a speech preceding his own entrance and retained by him to remind him when to go on; 200. knownothingism, the doctrines of the know-nothings, a secret political organization existing in 1853-6, whose chief purpose was to keep foreigners out of this country by repealing the naturalization laws. The title rose from the habit of the members of the party answering "I don't know" when asked anything about the party. 200. insular, pertaining to an island, hence narrow; 201. exotic, foreign; 202. Anglomania, a mania for all things English; 202. the Prince of Wales, the late King Edward VII, ever the friend of struggling artists. VOLTAIRE'S DEATH Voltaire died in March, 1778, in Paris. This wonderful eulogium was delivered in Paris in 1878, just following the return from Guernsey, whither Hugo had gone after his expulsion from Britain along with other French refugees who feared the wrath of Louis Napoleon. Victor Hugo has rendered here as fine a tribute, perhaps, as may be found in the annals of biography. The extreme of compliment reminds one of the studied attempt of Latin historians to deify the Cæsars. Hugo's extraordinary array of forceful factors challenges the admiration of every one. The tribute to Voltaire's serenity in particular finds few parallels in all the realms of literature. The passages should be read and reread until the student catches the vision of the author, even though faintly. Hugo, driven from pillar to post because of abnormal political conditions, became a "swift witness" for Voltaire. History has not yet accorded him the exalted place at which the author here places him. 206. Apogee, culmination; 206. Louis XIV, whose court far outshone that of any other European monarch; 206. Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XIV, king of France during the Revolution, and guillotined on the charge of being an enemy to the French people; 208. amnesty, a general pardon; 208. sanguinary, bloody; 209. Jean Jacques. Hugo refers to Jean Jacques Rousseau (rōō'-sō), an eminent philosopher and writer, a radical reformer. 209. Diderot (dē'de-rō), another French philosopher and writer of radical utterance; 209. Montesquieu (mŏn-těs-kū'), a French writer of satire upon the manners, customs, political and religious institutions of his own age and country; 209. phantoms, spirits. THE DESERTED VILLAGE The author of this famous poem was an English poet and novelist born in 1728; he died in 1774. His best-known work in prose is The Vicar of Wakefield, a genial satire on English country life. 210. Swain, a young countryman; 210. cot, cottage; 210. sleights, tricks; 211. bittern, a wading bird of the heron species, with a peculiar call; 212. rood, a provincial English measure, the fourth part of an acre; 214. fluctuate, to move as a wave; 214. forty pounds, a little less than two hundred dollars; 216. reverend champion, soldier of Christ; 216. boding, fearing; 217. the royal game of goose, played with counters on a board divided into compartments, in some of which a goose was depicted; 218. mantling, spreading like a mantle; 219. equipage (e'-qui-page), carriage; 220. vistas, distant beautiful views; 220. gibbet (jib'-bět), a kind of gallows; 221. main, sea; 222. insidious, slowly stealing; 222. devastation, desolation, laying waste; 223. inclement, unkind, rough. VISIT OF LAFAYETTE TO AMERICA In 1824-25. As set forth in the narrative, it was an event of exceptional interest to every American. Lafayette was the guest of the whole people. More, perhaps, than in any other early happening, did the spontaneous good-will of all classes manifest itself. The great firmness of the young soldier must impress itself upon the admiration of all as extraordinary. Less determined natures would have recoiled from such an undertaking. Washington's personal invitation to Lafayette was all the text claims for it. At Mount Vernon a room was always kept ready for Lafayette's coming, be the hour announced or unannounced. This room is still furnished in the old mansion just as it was when it was occasionally occupied by the distinguished young patriot. The incident of Lafayette's meeting with Huger is thrilling in the extreme. Lafayette's ship had made landing in the mouth of a South Carolina river. Seeing a light glittering from a farm-house window (it was early in the evening), the sea-worn adventurers made their way to it. This was the home of Huger's father. Through the long evening the country child-a lad of tender years-heard with inexpressible delight Lafayette's recital of the incidents of the voyage. The child was profoundly impressed with the stranger friend of liberty. Years afterward, when Lafayette was a prisoner at Olmutz, Austria, in close confinement, and when the world had lost sight of him, Huger learned of it and journeyed to Austria to liberate him. Denied opportunity to see Lafayette, Huger contrived to slip to the distinguished prisoner a note with these words: “Compliments of Francis J. Huger. I trust you may read this with some warmth." Lafayette, surprised beyond measure at the note, and pondering upon its strange phraseology, decided to interpret it literally. He held it, when the guards were not alert, near the fire, whereupon, there appeared a detailed account of a plan for his liberation from the prison where he had been held for months with the whole world thinking him dead. Huger had used ink invisible except when heat was applied. The next day, when the guards took Lafayette out for a drive, for he was in frail health, the attempt was made by Huger to liberate him, but it failed. Both Lafayette and Huger were then incarcerated; but Huger's bold attempt disclosed to the world Lafayette's hiding-place, and his wife and daughters from Paris immediately joined him, sharing his cell with all its discomforts. 225. Chimerical, shadowy; 226. retinue, train; 228. unsullied, without blemish; 228. convocation, convention; 228. Bastile, an ancient and famous prison in Paris; 229. sans-cullottes (sǎnz' kū-lõt'), ragged fellows, a name of reproach given in the French Revolution to the extreme repub licans; 230. cavalcade, a formal march of horsemen; 233; redoubt, a small fort; 233. marquee (mär-kē'), a large field tent. MAGNANIMITY OF SALADIN Saladin was the leader of the Mohammedan armies opposing the Crusaders under Richard the Lion Hearted of England. Richard was perhaps the most remarkable monarch of his day, and one of the most brilliant of all time. He was noted for his physical and moral prowess. One can easily understand the impatience of a nature like Richard's, thus to be hindered by disease when the exigencies of the situation demanded every minute of his time. That Saladin could successfully resist Richard, as he was doing, nettled the iron man. Not infrequently did sovereigns meet death by poison at the hand of a pretended friend. Such cases are still reported in these days of limited monarchies. 241. Insalubrious, unhealthful; 242. augmented, increased; 243. emir (ē'-mer), an Arabian military commander; 243. melee (mā-lā), a confused conflict; 243. atabals (ǎt'ä-băls), a kettledrum used by the Moors; 244. recant, revoke; 246. coffers, chests; 246. byzants (biz ănt), a gold coin made at Byzantium. THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CÆSAR Act I Scene I. 248. without the sign. There does not appear to have been any law to this effect in Elizabethan England or in ancient Rome. There were, however, sumptuary laws in England up to the reign of James I, requiring men to dress in accordance with their rank, and perhaps custom supplemented this by requiring that artisans should on working days show by clear external signs what trade they belonged to. 248. naughty, wicked or worthless; 249. recover, keeps up the metaphor, as it means "restore to health" as well as to mend; 250. Lupercal (lōō'per-căl), a festival celebrated at Rome, February 15, in honor of Lupercus, the god who defended sheep against wolves. Scene II. 250. Antonius, the Latin form of Antony; 250. course, the race through the city that took place at the festival of Lupercal; 251. Ides, in the ancient Roman calendar, the fifteenth of March, May, July and October, and the thirteenth of the other months; 252. By means whereof, on account of which misunderstanding; 254. our great ancestor, Æneas was considered to be the ancestor of the Romans generally; 255. Rome indeed. Rome was pronounced like "room," which gives occasion to the play of words. 256. That you do love me, etc. I do not at all doubt your affection for me. 258. marry, a corruption of Mary, was an oath by the Virgin Mary; 258. coronets, according to Plutarch, “a diadem wreathed about with laurel; 258. chopped hands, cracked and scarred with manual labor; 259. the falling sickness, epilepsy, so called because those who have it suddenly fall down; 259. we have, etc. Cassius means that in a deeper sense, they have the falling sickness because they have fallen to the position of underlings. 259. man of any occupation, a workman; 259. he spoke Greek. Cicero knew Greek almost as well as his mother tongue. From the smile that followed his remark we may suppose it was one of the biting sarcasms for which he was famous. Scene III. 261. lion. There was at the time in Rome many lions imported for the sports of the ampitheater. 262. climate, country; 262. the thunder-stone, an imaginary product of the thunder; 264. hinds, deer. The word also suggests the contemptuous meaning of "menial.” 265. fleering, grinning, sneering; 265. be factious, form a party, be active; 265. Pompey's porch, one of the porches around the great stone theater built by Pompey; 265. one incorporate to our attempt, one united with us in our undertaking; 265. prætor, a civil magistrate among the ancient Romans; 266. conceited, imagined. Act II Scene I. 266. Orchard. In Shakespeare's time the word was used in the general sense of gardens. 267. no personal cause, in Act III, Scene II, "no private grief." On the contrary, Brutus had a strong personal cause for gratitude, as Cæsar spared his life after Pharsalia and made him governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 46 and city prætor in 44 B. C. 267. Fashion it thus. Brutus is trying to put such a construction on the deed as will satisfy his own conscience. 268. exhalations, meteors; 269. brother, for brotherin-law. Cassius married Junia, the sister of Brutus. 269. moe, more; 269. their hats. Ancient Romans of high rank generally went about bareheaded, but they would naturally cover their heads at this early hour of morning. 269. if thou path, thy native semblance on, if thou goest about |