The Book-lover

Robert Browning: Pheidippides (poem in “Dramatic Idyls”).

Lloyd: The Age of Pericles (fifth century before Christ).

Cox: The Athenian Empire.

Landor: Pericles and Aspasia (in “Imaginary Conversations”).

Mrs. L. M. Child: Philothea (romance of the time of Pericles).

Curteis: The Macedonian Empire.

Abbott: The History of Alexander the Great.

Butcher: Demosthenes (Classical Writers).

Greenough: Apelles and his Contemporaries (a romance of the time of Alexander).

Dryden: Alexander’s Feast (poem).

Bickersteth: Caubul (poem).

Literature

Mahaffy: History of Greek Literature.

Schlegel: History of Dramatic Literature (first fourteen chapters).

Church: Stories from the Greek Tragedians.

Copleston: Æschylus (Ancient Classics).

Mrs. Browning: Prometheus Bound (an English version of the great tragedy).

Bishop Milman: Agamemnon.

Collins: Sophocles (Ancient Classics).

De Quincey: The Antigone of Sophocles (essay in “Literary Criticism”).

Donne: Euripides (Ancient Classics).

Froude: Sea Studies (essay in “Short Studies on Great Subjects”). Collins: Aristophanes (Ancient Classics).

Mitchell: The Clouds of Aristophanes.

De Quincey: Theory of Greek Tragedy (essay in “Literary Criticism”).

Brodribb: Demosthenes (Ancient Classics).

Collins: Plato (Ancient Classics).

Jowett: The Dialogues of Plato (4 vols.).

The Phædo of Plato (Wisdom Series).

Plato: The Apology of Socrates.

A Day in Athens with Socrates.

Plutarch: On the Dæmon of Socrates (essay in the “Morals”).

Grant: Xenophon (Ancient Classics).

Collins: Thucydides (Ancient Classics).

Life and Manners

For a study of social life and manners in Greece, read or refer to the following —

Becker: Charicles (romance, with copious notes and excursuses).

Mahaffy: Social Life in Greece.

– Old Greek Life.

Guhl and Koner: Life of the Greeks and Romans.

Special Reference

Draper: History of the Intellectual Development of Europe (vol. i.).

Clough: Plutarch’s Lives.

Kaufman: The Young Folks’ Plutarch.

White: Plutarch for Boys and Girls.

It is good exercise, good medicine, the reading of Plutarch’s books, – good for to-day as it was in times preceding ours, salutary for all times. – A. Bronson Alcott.

II. ROMAN HISTORY

For purposes of reference the following books, already mentioned in the course of Greek History, are indispensable —

Anthon: Classical Dictionary.

Smith: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Ginn & Heath: Classical Atlas.

Murray: Manual of Mythology.

General Histories

Smith: Smaller History of Rome.

Merivale: Students’ History of Rome.

Yonge: Young Folks’ History of Rome.

Creighton: History of Rome.

For the period preceding the Empire —

Mommsen: History of Rome (4 vols.).

Abbott: The History of Romulus.

Church: Stories from Virgil.

– Stories from Livy.

Macaulay: Horatius (poem in “Lays of Ancient Rome”).

Arnold: History of Rome.

Ihne: Early Rome.

Shakspeare: The Tragedy of Coriolanus (490 B.C.).

Macaulay: Virginia (poem in “Lays of Ancient Rome,” 459 B.C.).

Abbott: The History of Hannibal.

Smith: Rome and Carthage.

Dale: Regulus before the Senate (poem, 256 B.C.).

Beesly: The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla.

Mrs. Mitchell: Spartacus to the Gladiators (poem, 73 B.C.).

For the period of the Cæsars and the early Empire —

Merivale: History of the Romans (4 vols.).

– The Roman Triumvirates.

Abbott: The History of Julius Cæsar.

Addison: The Tragedy of Cato (drama).

Froude: Cæsar; a Sketch.

Trollope: Life of Cicero.

Ben Jonson: Catiline (drama).

Beaumont and Fletcher: The False One (drama).

Abbott: The History of Cleopatra.

Shakspeare: The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar.

– Antony and Cleopatra.

Capes: The Early Empire.

De Quincey: The Cæsars.

Ben Jonson: The Poetaster (drama, time of Augustus).

Wallace: Ben Hur (romance, time of Tiberius).

Longfellow: The Divine Tragedy (poem).

Ben Jonson: Sejanus, his Fall (drama, time of Tiberius).

Becker: Gallus (romance, with notes, time of Tiberius).

Schele De Vere: The Great Empress (romance, time of Nero).

Abbott: The History of Nero.

W. W. Story: Nero (drama).

Hoffman: The Greek Maid at the Court of Nero (romance).

Farrar: Seekers after God (Seneca, Epictetus).

Wiseman: The Church of the Catacombs (romance, time of the Persecutions).

Mrs. Charles: The Victory of the Vanquished (romance).

Church and Brodribb: Pliny’s Letters (Ancient Classics).

Bulwer: The Last Days of Pompeii (romance, time of Vespasian).

Massinger: The Roman Actor (drama, time of Domitian).

– The Virgin Martyr (drama).

Dickinson: The Seed of the Church.

De Mille: Helena’s Household.

Lockhart: Valerius.

The last three works are romances, depicting life and manners in the time of Trajan.

For the period of the later Empire and the decline of the Roman power —

Curteis: History of the Roman Empire (395-800).

Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Ebers: The Emperor (romance, time of Hadrian).

Capes: The Age of the Antonines.

Watson: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

Hodgkin: Italy and her Invaders.

William Ware: Zenobia (romance, A.D. 266).

– Aurelian (romance, A.D. 275).

Ebers: Homo Sum (romance, A.D. 330).

Kouns: Arius the Libyan (romance, A.D. 336).

Aubrey De Vere: Julian the Apostate (drama, A.D. 363).

Beaumont and Fletcher: Valentinian (drama, A.D. 375).

Edward Everett: Alaric the Visigoth; and Mrs. Hemans: Alaric in Italy (poems, A.D. 410).

Kingsley: Hypatia (romance, A.D. 415).

Mrs. Charles: Conquering and to Conquer (romance, A.D. 418).

Mrs. Charles: Maid and Cleon (romance of Alexandria, A.D. 425).

Kingsley: Roman and Teuton.

Church: The Beginning of the Middle Ages.

Literature

Simcox: History of Roman Literature.

Schlegel: History of Dramatic Literature.

Collins: Livy (Ancient Classics).

Mallock: Lucretius (Ancient Classics).

Trollope: Cæsar (Ancient Classics).

Collins: Cicero (Ancient Classics).

Morris: The Æneid of Virgil.

Collins: Virgil, Ovid, Lucian (three volumes of Ancient Classics).

Epictetus: Selections from Epictetus.

Jackson: Apostolic Fathers (Early Christian Literature Primers).

Special Reference

Clough: Plutarch’s Lives.

White: Plutarch for Boys and Girls.

Kaufman: The Young Folks’ Plutarch.

Coulange: The Ancient City.

Draper: History of the Intellectual Development of Europe.

Lecky: History of European Morals.

Milman: History of Christianity.

Stanley: History of the Eastern Church.

Fisher: Beginnings of Christianity.

Döllinger: The First Age of Christianity.

Montalembert: The Monks of the West.

Reber: History of Ancient Art.

Hadley: Lectures on Roman Law.

Maine: Ancient Law.

III. MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN HISTORY

This course has been prepared with special reference to English history. The right-hand column, headed Collateral Reading, will assist students desiring to extend their reading so as to embrace the history of Continental Europe. The figures affixed to some of the titles indicate, as nearly as is thought necessary, the time covered or treated of by the work mentioned. Historical romances and other prose works of fiction are designated thus (*); dramas thus (†; other poems thus (‡).

IV. AMERICAN HISTORYGeneral Histories

Bancroft: History of the United States (12 vols., from the discovery of America to the adoption of the Constitution).

Hildreth: History of the United States (6 vols., from the discovery of America to 1820).

Bryant and Gay: History of the United States (from the discovery to 1880).

Ridpath: History of the United States.

Higginson: Young People’s History of the United States.

Aboriginal America

Baldwin: Ancient America.

Donnelly: Atlantis.

Foster: Prehistoric Races of the United States.

Short: North Americans of Antiquity.

Ellis: The Red Man and the White Man.

H. H. Bancroft: Native Races of the Pacific States.

Bourke: The Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona.

The Period of the Discovery

Irving: Columbus and his Companions.

Abbott: Christopher Columbus.

– Discovery of America.

Towle: Vasco da Gama.

Helps: The Spanish Conquest of America (4 vols.).

Prescott: The Conquest of Mexico (3 vols.).

Abbott: Hernando Cortez.

Helps: Hernando Cortez.

Eggleston: Montezuma.

Wallace: *The Fair God, or the Last of the ’Tzins.

Prescott: The Conquest of Peru (2 vols.).

Towle: Pizarro.

– Magellan.

Irving: The Conquest of Florida by De Soto.

Abbott: De Soto.

Simms: *Vasconselos (1538).

Towle: Drake, the Sea-King of Devon.

– Sir Walter Ralegh.

Hale: Stories of Discovery.

Simms: *The Lily and the Totem (the story of the Huguenots at St. Augustine).

The Colonial Period

Coffin: Old Times in the Colonies.

Simms: Life of John Smith.

Kingston: *The Settlers (1607).

Eggleston: Pocahontas.

Abbott: The Northern Colonies.

– Miles Standish.

Longfellow: ‡The Courtship of Miles Standish.

Mrs. Child: *The First Settlers of New England.

– *Hobomok.

Cheney: *A Peep at the Pilgrims.

Clay: Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware.

Banvard: Pioneers of the New World.

J. G. Holland: *The Bay Path (1638).

Paulding: *Koningsmarke (a tale of the Swedes on the Delaware).

Arthur: Cabinet History of New York.

Abbott: Peter Stuyvesant.

Irving: *Knickerbocker’s History of New York.

Abbott: King Philip.

Markham: King Philip’s War.

Cooper: *The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (1675).

Palfrey: History of New England (4 vols.).

Hawthorne: *The Scarlet Letter.

Spofford: New England Legends.

Longfellow: ‡New England Tragedies.

Whittier: ‡Ballads of New England.

Hale: Stories of Adventure.

Abbott: Captain Kidd.

Banvard: Southern Explorers.

Abbott: The Southern Colonies.

Arthur: Cabinet History of Virginia.

Simms: *The Cassique of Kiawah (a story of the early settlement of South Carolina, 1684).

De Vere: Romance of American History.

Abbott: Chevalier de la Salle.

Parkman: Discovery of the Great West.

– The Jesuits in North America.

Sparks: Life of Father Marquette.

Shea: Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi.

Parkman: Frontenac, and New France under Louis XIV.

Simms: *The Yemassee (1715).

Longfellow: ‡Evangeline.

Ladd: The Old French War.

Parkman: Wolfe and Montcalm.

– The Conspiracy of Pontiac.

Paulding: *The Dutchman’s Fireside.

Cooper: *The Pathfinder.

– *The Last of the Mohicans.

Kennedy: *Swallow Barn.

Mrs. Stowe: *The Minister’s Wooing.

Thackeray: *The Virginians.

The Period of the Revolution

Abbott: The War of the Revolution.

– George Washington.

Irving: Life of George Washington (5 vols.).

Headley: Washington and his Generals.

Longfellow: ‡Paul Revere’s Ride.

Lowell: ‡Grandmother’s Story of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Coffin: The Boys of ’76.

Cooper: *The Spy.

– *The Pilot.

Neal: *Seventy-Six.

Greene: Life of Nathanael Greene.

Abbott: Life of Benjamin Franklin.

Parton: Life of Benjamin Franklin.

Sparks: The Works of Benjamin Franklin.

– Treason of Benedict Arnold.

Arnold: Life of Benedict Arnold.

Campbell: ‡Gertrude of Wyoming.

Mrs. Child: *The Rebels.

Paulding: *The Old Continentals.

– *The Bulls and the Jonathans.

Simms: *Eutaw.

Kennedy: *Horse-Shoe Robinson.

Grace Greenwood: *The Forest Tragedy.

Lossing: Field Book of the Revolution.

Carrington: Battles of the Revolution.

Wirt: The Life of Patrick Henry.

Dwight: Lives of the Signers.

Magoon: Orators of the American Revolution.

Greene: Historical View of the American Revolution.

From the Close of the Revolution

McMaster: History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War.

Frothingham: Rise of the Republic in the United States.

Curtis: History of the Constitution.

Von Holst: Constitutional History of the United States.

Nordhoff: Politics for Young Americans.

Coffin: Building of the Nation.

Lodge: Life of Alexander Hamilton.

Parton: Life of John Adams.

– Life of Jefferson.

Abbott: Life of Daniel Boone.

John Esten Cooke: *Leatherstocking and Silk (1800).

Cable: *The Grandissimes.

Cooper: *The Prairie.

Simms: *Beauchampe, or the Kentucky Tragedy.

Parton: Life of Aaron Burr.

Hale: *Philip Nolan’s Friends.

– *The Man without a Country.

Pioneer Life in the West.

Lewis and Clarke’s Journey across the Rocky Mountains.

Irving: Astoria.

– Adventures of Captain Bonneville.

Eggleston: Brant and Red Jacket.

Johnson: The War of 1812.

Lossing: Field Book of the War of 1812.

Iron: *The Double Hero.

Gleig: *The Subaltern.

Cooper: History of the American Navy.

Rives: Life of James Madison.

Gilman: Life of James Monroe.

Morse: Life of J. Q. Adams.

Parton: Life of Andrew Jackson.

Curtis: Life of Daniel Webster.

Whipple: Webster’s Best Speeches.

Schmucker: Life and Times of Henry Clay.

Ripley: The War with Mexico.

Kendall: The Santa Fé Expedition.

Wilson: History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America.

King: The Great South.

Olmsted: The Sea-Board Slave States.

Mrs. Stowe: *Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Hildreth: *The White Slave.

Whittier: ‡Voices of Freedom.

Greeley: The American Conflict.

Lossing: The Civil War in the United States.

Draper: History of the American Civil War.

Stephens: Constitutional History of the War between the States (Southern view).

Harper’s Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion.

Young Folks’ History of the Rebellion.

Coffin: The Boys of ’61.

– *Winning His Way.

Hale: Stories of War.

Richardson: Field, Dungeon, and Escape.

Swinton: Twelve Decisive Battles of the War.

Cooke: Life of General Lee.

Whittier: ‡In War Time.

Lester: Our First Hundred Years.

Lossing: The American Centenary.

Tourgee: *A Fool’s Errand.

– *Bricks without Straw.

Headley: Heroes of the Rebellion (6 vols.).

CHAPTER VIII

Courses of Reading in Geography and Natural History

GEOGRAPHY is learned best by the careful reading of books of travel. Pupils would derive infinitely more knowledge by the use, under judicious instructors, of a library of this sort, than by years of drudging through those masses of inanity known as School Geographies. The following list is designed chiefly to aid teachers in the selection of books suitable for geographical study at school, and to assist private readers in the choice of useful and entertaining works on the various subjects of interest in our own and foreign countries.

A good atlas is the first desideratum, and is an indispensable auxiliary to the course of reading here indicated. Rand, McNally, & Co.’s Atlas is one of the latest publications, and perhaps the most accurate and complete in the market. Among other very good works of this kind we may mention Gray’s, Johnson’s, Colton’s, and Zell’s, any one of which will answer all the ordinary purposes of the reader. When no complete work is available, the maps in the larger school geographies will render very fair service.

The World

Coffin: Our New Way round the World.

Curtis: Dottings round the Circle.

Dana: Two Years before the Mast.

Hall: Drifting Round the World.

Gerstacker: A Journey round the World.

Prime: Around the World.

Pumpelly: Across America and Asia.

Smiles: A Boy’s Journey round the World.

Nordhoff: Man-of-War Life.

Knox: The Young Nimrods around the World.

Hale: Stories of the Sea, told by Sailors.

Verne: Famous Travels and Travellers.

– The Great Navigators.

– The Explorers of the Nineteenth Century.

Figuier: The Ocean World.

– The Insect World.

Mrs. Brassey: Voyage in the Sunbeam.

Ainsworth: All round the World.

Harper: What Darwin Saw.

Humboldt: Cosmos.

North America

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in the Occident.

Knox: The Young Nimrods in North America.

Rideing: Boys in the Mountains.

Hawthorne: American Nights’ Entertainment.

Ingersoll: Friends Worth Knowing; Glimpses of American Natural History.

Hale: Stories of Discovery.

Say: Insects of North America.

Drake: Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast.

Flagg: The Woods and By-Ways of New England.

Nordhoff: *Cape Cod and all along Shore.

Thoreau: The Maine Woods.

– A Week on the Concord.

– Cape Cod.

– Excursions in Field and Forest.

Samuels: The Birds of New England.

Scudder: The Bodleys Afoot.

Drake: Around the Hub; A Boy’s Book about Boston.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxvi.

Murray: Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp Life in the Adirondacks.

Warner: The Adirondacks Verified.

Bromfield: Picturesque Journeys in America.

Jordan: Vertebrates of the Northern States.

Appleton: Picturesque America.

– Our Native Land.

Howells: *Their Wedding Journey.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxvii.

King: The Great South.

Olmsted: The Sea-Board Slave States.

Baldwin: The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi.

Pollard: The Virginia Tourist. Twain: Life on the Mississippi.

Lanier: Florida; its Scenery.

Porte Crayon: Virginia Illustrated.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxviii.

Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition across the Rocky Mountains.

Irving: Astoria.

– Adventures of Captain Bonneville.

– A Tour on the Prairies.

Meline: Two Thousand Miles on Horseback.

Richardson: Beyond the Mississippi.

Browne: Crusoe’s Island.

Nordhoff: Northern California.

Taylor: Eldorado.

Codman: The Round Trip.

Bird: A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.

Ingersoll: Knocking round the Rockies.

Cozzens: The Marvellous Country; or, Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico.

Browne: The Apache Country.

Taylor: Colorado; A Summer Trip.

Richardson: Wonders of the Yellowstone.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxix.

Robinson: The Great Fur Land.

Butler: The Great Lone Land.

– The Wild North Land.

Hartwig: The Polar World.

Hayes: The Land of Desolation.

Blake: Arctic Experiences.

Nourse: American Explorations in the Ice Zones.

Burton: Ultima Thule.

Stephens: Off To the Geysers.

Haven: Our Next-Door Neighbor.

Wilson: Mexico; its Peasants and Priests.

Ruxton: Adventures in Mexico.

Stephens: Travels in Yucatan.

– Travels in Central America.

Squier: The States of Central America.

Ober: *The Silver City.

Kingsley: A Christmas in the West Indies.

Hurlbert: Gan Eden; or, Pictures of Cuba.

Dana: To Cuba and Back.

South America

Holton: New Granada.

Orton: The Andes and Amazon.

Agassiz: Journey in Brazil.

Ewbank: Life in Brazil.

Fletcher: Brazil and the Brazilians.

Bishop: A Thousand Miles’ Walk across South America.

Marcoy: Travels across South America.

Hassaurek: Four Years among Spanish Americans.

Squier: Peru.

Orton: *The Secret of the Andes.

Stephens: On the Amazons.

Dixie: Across Patagonia.

Reid: *The Land of Fire.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xxx.

Europe

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Europe.

Champney: Three Vassar Girls Abroad.

Scudder: The English Bodley Family.

Hawthorne: Our Old Home.

Taine: Notes on England.

Escott: England.

Miller: First Impressions of England and its People.

Emerson: English Traits.

Hoppin: Old England; Its Scenery, Art, and People.

Abbott: A Summer in Scotland.

Miller: Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.

White: Natural History of Selborne.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. i. – v.

Longfellow: Outre Mer.

Taylor: Views Afoot.

Macquoid: Through Normandy.

Hamerton: Round My House.

Hale: A Family Flight through France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Walworth: The Old World seen through Young Eyes.

Bulwer: France, Literary, Social, and Political.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. vi. – x.

Taine: Tour through the Pyrenees.

Hale: A Family Flight through Spain.

De Amicis: Spain and the Spaniards.

Bodfish: Through Spain on Donkey-Back.

Hare: Wanderings in Spain.

Hay: Castilian Days.

Irving: The Alhambra.

– Spanish Papers.

Andersen: Pictures of Travel.

Latouche: Travels in Portugal.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xiv., xv.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands.

Browne: Yusef; Travels on the Shores of the Mediterranean.

Eustis: Classical Tour through Italy.

Dickens: Pictures from Italy.

Hare: Cities of Northern and Central Italy.

– Days near Rome.

Hawthorne: English and Italian Notes.

Howells: Italian Journeys.

– Venetian Life.

Taine: Italy (Florence and Venice).

– Italy (Rome and Naples).

Di Cesnola: Cyprus.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xi. – xiii.

Stephens: Travels in Greece and Turkey.

Mahaffy: Rambles and Studies in Greece.

Baird: Modern Greece.

Townsend: A Cruise in the Bosphorus.

De Amicis: Constantinople.

Gautier: Constantinople.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vol. xix.

Waring: Tyrol and the Skirt of the Alps.

Whymper: Scrambles among the Alps.

Taylor: The By-Ways of Europe.

Hugo: Tour on the Rhine.

Browne: An American Family in Germany.

Hawthorne: Saxon Studies.

Hugo: Home-Life in Germany.

Baring-Gould: Germany, Past and Present.

De Amicis: Holland.

Scudder: The Bodleys in Holland.

Dodge: *Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates.

Havard: Picturesque Holland.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands.

Taylor: Northern Europe.

Browne: Land of Thor.

Du Chaillu: The Land of the Midnight Sun.

Andersen: Pictures of Travel in Sweden.

MacGregor: Rob Roy on the Baltic.

Longfellow: Poems of Places, vols. xvii., xviii.

Butterworth: Zigzag Journeys in the Orient.

Gautier: A Winter in Russia.

Wallace: Russia.

Richardson: Ralph’s Year in Russia.

Morley: Sketches of Russian Life.

Dixon: Free Russia.

Asia

Kennan: Tent Life in Siberia.

McGahan: Campaigning on the Oxus.

Burnaby: A Ride to Khiva.

Schuyler: Turkistan.

Taylor: Central Asia.

Arnold: Through Persia by Caravan.

Stack: Six Months in Persia.

Vámbéry: Travels in Central Asia.

O’Donovan: The Merv Oasis.

Curtis: The Howadji in Syria.

Kinglake: Eöthen.

MacGregor: Rob Roy on the Jordan.

Prime: Tent Life in the Holy Land.

Taylor: Travels in Arabia.

Blunt: The Bedouin Tribes.

Keane: Six Months in Mecca.

Baker: Rifle and Hound in Ceylon.

Butler: The Land of the Vedas.

French: Our Boys in India.

Knox: The Boy Travellers in India and Ceylon.

– The Boy Travellers in Siam and Java.

Vincent: The Land of the White Elephant.

Leonowens: An English Governess at the Siamese Court.

Kingston: *In Eastern Seas.

Wilson: The Abode of Snow.

Markham: Thibet.

Gordon: The Roof of the World.

Williams: The Middle Kingdom.

Taylor: India, China, and Japan.

French: Our Boys in China.

Eden: China, Japan, and India.