[37] St. Brandan was an Irish monk, living at the close of the sixth century; he founded the Monastery of Clonfert, and is commemorated on May 16. His voyage seems to be founded on that of Sinbad, and is full of absurdities. It has been republished by M. Jubinal from MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris, 8vo. 1836; the earliest printed English edition is that of Wynkyn de Worde, London, 1516.
[38] Compare with this the death of Sir Galahad in the “Morte d’Arthur” of Sir Thomas Malory.
THE END.
The Genius of Solitude.
THE SOLITUDES OF NATURE AND OF MAN; or, The Loneliness of Human Life. By Wm. Rounseville Alger.
CONTENTS.
The Solitudes of Nature.
The Solitudes of Man.
The Morals of Solitude.
Sketches of Lonely Characters: or, Personal Illustrations of the Good and Evil of Solitude.
Summary of the Subject.
In one handsome volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $2.00.
“This volume is the result of much investigation, much meditation, and much experience; and is very comprehensive in its scope.... The author has shown the influence of solitude on every grade of mind and character, has discriminated its beneficent form and its morbid action, and has shown how it nurtures lofty thoughts as well as how it pampers self-will, and, in the throng of his personal illustrations, has indicated its effect on representative men of genius in almost every department of human effort.”—Boston Transcript.
“We know of no work like it, and question whether any of its size has appeared in this generation with an equal amount of intellectual enrichment and stimulus, moral nutriment, and invaluable ethical instruction.”—The Liberal Christian.
“This book is a worthy mate to Burton’s famous Anatomy of Melancholy. The fortunate reader may learn from it how to win the benefits and shun the evils of being alone.”—N. Y. Express.
“We envy the heart of no one who, unmoved, and with tearless eye, can read them (The Solitude of the Ruin and the Solitude of Death).”—West. Missionary.
——
Mailed, post paid, to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.
Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame Récamier.
TRANSLATED and Edited by Miss Luyster. 1 vol., 16mo., with a finely engraved Portrait. Price $2.00.
“The diversified contents of this volume can hardly fail to gain for it a wide perusal. It has the interest, in a greater or less degree, of history and romance; of truth stranger than fiction; of personal sketches; of the curious phases of an exceptional social life; of singular admixtures of piety and folly, of greatness and profligacy, fidelity and intrigue, all mingling or revealed in connection with the prolonged career of one who was, in certain respects, the most remarkable woman of her time.”—Boston Transcript.
“With nothing like the talents which immortalized the author of Corinne, Madame Récamier won herself a place of not less social influence among the men and women of her day. We must clearly look elsewhere than either to intellect, wealth, beauty, or all three combined, for the secret of that witchery which was so distinctive of her. There was something, we are led to infer, in her constitutional temperament, which, even beyond her delicate and indefinable tact, may afford the real clew to much of her mysterious ascendency. Love seems to have existed in her as a yearning of the soul almost entirely free from those elements of passion which are grounded in the difference of the sexes. There was in it not so much of the desire which centres in a single object, as of the emotion which seeks to diffuse itself over the very widest sphere of objects. It could thus be warm and deep, while pure and inaccessible to evil. Sainte-Beuve’s remark, that she had carried the art of friendship to perfection, helps us here to give the true key to her character. A warm and constant friend, she never admitted, never showed herself, a lover. Satisfied with the arrangement which gave her from an early age nothing more than the name and status of a wife, she could let her natural affection range with freedom and security wherever it met with a response that left intact her dignity and self-respect. Such coquetry as she showed arose rather from an instinctive desire to please and attract, than from anything approaching to a vicious instinct, or a silly desire to swell the list of her conquests. What seemed to begin in flirtation never went to the point of danger, and men who at first sight loved her passionately usually ended by becoming her true friends.”—The London Saturday Review.
——
Mailed, post paid, to any address, by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.
Transcriber's Note
Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Variable spelling is also preserved as printed, where both forms are recognised; for example, Gervase/Gervais of Tilbury, Sir John Mandeville/Maundevil.
Unk-Khan is given as another name for Prester John. There is one instance of Un-Khan; however, this is in quoted material, and so is preserved as printed.
Page 46 includes the phrase, "it was Saterday in Wyttson woke"; the word 'woke' may be a typographic error for 'weke', but as it cannot be ascertained for certain, it is preserved as printed.
At page 118, Hemingr is described as throwing a spear rather than shooting an arrow as challenged. This is presumably an error in the story, but is preserved as printed.
Page 168 includes "He will rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, and making the Holy City the great capital of the world." The 'and making' may be an error for 'and make' or simply 'making'; as it is impossible to be sure, it is preserved as printed.
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent.
The following amendments have been made:
Page 21—Labavius amended to Libavius—"... Libavius declares that he would sooner believe ..."
Page 88—repeated 'a' deleted—"... possibly a little imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; ..."
Page 118—it at amended to at it—"... and aim at it from precisely the same distance."
Page 175—Wolffii amended to Wolfii—"This fragment is preserved in “Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium centenarii, XVI.:” ..."
Page 215—omitted word 'on' added—"Helgi and his brother Thorstein went on a cruise ..."
Page 222—multiplication sign changed to plus—"... but the sum of the digits 1 + 8 = 9."
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the front matter. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph.
Advertising material has been moved from the beginning of the book to the end.