The Olden Time Series, Vol. 6: Literary Curiosities: Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, MassachusettsBrooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
History
The Olden Time Series, Vol. 6: Literary Curiosities: Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts
Brooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
Literary curiosa; New England -- Social life and customs
_Biographical Correctness_.--As a specimen of the accurate
way in which Biographical Dictionaries are made up, the
Enquirer refers to Dr. Watkins' volume, in which he writes
down that John Adams "died in 1803."--And yet for 23 years
after this date, the old patriarch was living in health and
happiness. A still more ludicrous blunder appeared a few
years since in a French Biographical Dictionary, in which it
was stated that the now venerable John Jay, who yet lives
full of years and full of honors, was a Frenchman, who,
after having framed the Constitution of the State of
New-York, and witnessed the close of the American
revolution, returned to France--became a member of the
French Convention, and was finally brought to the
guillotine!--_N.Y. Com. Adv._
_Essex Register,_ Sept. 18, 1826.
The works of John Paul Richter are almost unintelligible to
any but Germans, and even to some of them. A worthy German,
just before Richter's death, edited a complete edition of
his works, in which one particular passage fairly puzzled
him. Determined to have it explained at the source, he went
to John Paul himself and asked him what was the meaning of
the mysterious passage.--John Paul's reply was very German
and characteristic: "My good friend," said he, "when I wrote
that passage, God and I knew what it meant; it is possible
that God knows it still; but as for me, I have totally
forgotten."
_Essex Register,_ Oct. 9, 1826.
* * * * *
ORIGIN OF "FOOLSCAP" PAPER. It is known that Charles I. of
England, granted numerous monopolies for the support of his
government. Among others was the privilege of manufacturing
paper. The water mark of the finest sort was the royal arms
of England. The consumption of this article was great at
this time, and large fortunes were made by those who had
purchased the exclusive right to vend it. This, among other
monopolies, was set aside by the parliament that brought
Charles to the scaffold, and by way of showing their
contempt for the king, they ordered the royal arms to be
taken from the paper, and a fool, with his cap and bells, to
be substituted. It is now more than an hundred and
seventy-five years since the fool's cap and bells were taken
from the paper, but still, paper of the size which the Rump
Parliament ordered for the journals bears the name of the
water mark then ordered as an indignity to Charles.
* * * * *
A new version of "Yankee Doodle," from the "Salem Gazette,"
July, 1811.
YANKEY SONG.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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