COLCHOS was a country somewhere on the eastern shore of the Euxine, now the Black Sea. It was celebrated in Greek mythology as the place to which Jason and his associates went in the Argonautic expedition, which they undertook in search of the golden fleece. Written also Colchis.

SIBYLLA, or SIBYL, was one of several prophetesses in the ancient mythology, who were represented as old and wrinkled, but very wise.

DIANA was a female deity in the resented as never having married.

light and of hunting.

ancient mythology, rep

She was the goddess of

ABRAHAM was the ancestor of the Hebrew nation, and was eminent for his faith in God and his trust in the divine promises, and also for his obedience to the divine commands. See an account of him in the book of Genesis, from the 11th chapter to the 23rd, inclusive.

RIALTO is a bridge across the Grand Canal in Venice, and is the most beautiful in the city. Merchants were accustomed

to meet upon it for the transaction of business.

EXERCISE XCI.

JOHN PIERPONT, an American clergyman and poet, was born in 1785, at Litchfield, Conn. Much of his poetry is characterized by great beauty of thought, and smoothness of versification. He has been largely identified with antislavery and temperance enterprises.

LEXINGTON is a town about eleven miles northwest from Boston, famous as the scene of the first conflict in the Revolutionary war.

THE BATTLE MONUMENT at Baltimore is a fine structure erected in memory of those who fell in defending that city against the British, in Sept., 1814.

For THEMISTOCLES, see Note on EXERCISE XXXII.

SALAMIS is an island in the Ægean Sea, ten miles west of Athens. It is famous for the naval victory won by the Greeks over the Persians, in 480 B. C., through the skill and courage of Themistocles.

PATROCLUS was one of the Grecian heroes in the Trojan

war.

TROY, according to the legend, was a city near the eastern coast of the Hellespont. It was taken and destroyed by the Greeks after a war of ten years.

EXERCISE XCII.

OPHIR is mentioned in the Old Testament Scriptures as a region rich in gold. Its location is very uncertain.

HERNANDO CORTES, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, was born in 1485, and died in 1547. He possessed high abilities, indomitable courage and perseverance, but was totally unprincipled and unscrupulous. The great battle that decided the fate of Mexico was fought in July, 1520.

MONTEZUMA was the native emperor of Mexico at the time of Cortes's arrival in the country. The people whom he governed were far in advance of the ordinary nations of North America in civilization.

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, an American historian, was born in Salem, Mass., in 1796, and died in Boston in 1859. He was a laborious and highly successful writer of histories, having reference mostly to Spain and her American conquests. His style is clear and pleasing, and his temper impartial. His works are universally regarded as valuable additions to our literature. For many of his later years he was nearly blind, on account of an accident during his college life; and his literary labor was, in consequence, performed under great disadvantages. Among his works are, The Conquest of Mexico, The Conquest of Peru, and Philip II.

EXERCISE XCIII.

ELISHA KENT KANE, an American explorer, was born in Philadelphia in 1820, and died in Havana, Cuba, in 1857. He was a man of great energy and persistence of purpose. He traveled largely in various parts of the world, but his fame chiefly rests upon his arctic explorations, and especially upon the discovery of an open sea around the North Pole. The expedition during which this discovery was made, was undertaken for the purpose of finding Sir John Franklin, an English explorer, who had attempted to find a "Northwest Passage" between North America and the Arctic Ocean. Dr. Kane and his men were subjected to the severest hardships during the voyage, which lasted from May, 1853, to October, 1855. No traces of Franklin were found.

EXERCISES XCIV AND XCV.

For JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, see Note on EXERCISE VIII.

EXERCISE XCVI.

WASHINGTON IRVING, an American author, was born in New York in 1783, and died in 1859. He stands very high among literary men, and his works are eminently worthy of perusal, for the grace and correctness of their style, their genial and kindly humor, and their moral purity. Mr. Irving was the first American who, as an author, commanded the respect and admiration of European readers. Some of his works are unique in plan and execution, as the Knickerbocker History of New York. His longest and last production is his Life of Washington, a work of the highest merit, both as to style and historical accuracy.

EXERCISE XCVII.

For THOMAS HOOD, see Note on EXERCISE XXVIII.

EXERCISE XCVIII.

WILLIAM DOUGLAS JERROLD, an English author, was born in 1803, and died in 1857. His fame rests upon his humorous productions. For many years he was a regular writer for Punch, a weekly humorous publication in London.

EXERCISE XCIX.

For OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, see Note on EXERCISE VI. "This metropolis" is Boston. The author's birthplace was Cambridge.

EXERCISE CI.

JAMES MONTGOMERY, an English author and poet, was born in 1771, and died in 1854. He is famous chiefly for his sacred poetry, though he wrote much of a secular character. He was a man of gentle yet earnest character, and the style of his writings is a model of clearness and simplicity. He was earnest in his efforts in behalf of the abolition of slavery; and of liberal measures in the government of England. He was twice, in 1794 and 1796, imprisoned for articles published in the paper he edited,-articles of which few would now think of complaining.

EXERCISE CII.

CORNELIUS C. FELTON, an American author, and president of Harvard college, was born in 1807, and died in 1862. He was eminent for his attainments in the Greek language, and in the history of the Greek people. For many years he was Eliot Professor of the Greek language and literature in Harvard college, and he is the author of many works bearing upon that subject. He was held in high repute as a man, and filled many honorable positions. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and one of the regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The extracts from his writings, in this book, are from his Letters from Europe.

EXERCISE CIII.

BURGUNDIANS were the inhabitants of an ancient province of France called Burgundy, situated in the eastern part of what is now France. Charles the Bold, who was killed in 1477, was its last duke or sovereign. At his death the

territory was annexed to France.

EXERCISE CIV.

NEWTON BATEMAN, an American educator, is the superintendent of public instruction for the state of Illinois. His able reports to the governor on the condition of schools in the state have given him a very high position among the educators of the country.

EXERCISE CVI.

LOUIS AGASSIZ, an American naturalist, was born in Switzerland in 1807. He was for some years professor of natural history in the Academy of Neufchatel, in Switzerland. Since 1846 he has resided at or near Cambridge, Mass. Since 1847 he has been professor of zoölogy and geology in the Lawrence scientific school in Cambridge. He is now engaged in a scientific exploration of Brazil. Professor Agassiz has made many contributions to science, any one of which would secure fame to most savants. Among his most important labors have been, his investigation of the freshwater fishes of Europe, his researches upon fossil fishes, his observations on the Alpine glaciers, his examinations of the region of Lake Superior and of the territory covered by the Eastern and Southern United States. In his work on fossil fishes he proposed a new principle of classifying animals, which has since been generally accepted. He is now engaged in publishing contributions to the natural history of the United States, in ten large volumes, magnificently illustrated. The subscription list includes 2,500 names. Prof. Agassiz is doubtless the first of living naturalists.