102. REGICIDE JUDGES: in the first part of the seventeenth century the people of England became dissatisfied with their king, Charles I, because of his illegal acts. They revolted, captured the king, put him on trial, and executed him, January 30, 1649. The judges are called regicide, because they tried and condemned a king. The royal party spoke of him as a martyr to the cause. 110. WHEN THE TRUTH-TELLING ACCENTS, etc.: Hawthorne has tried in this last paragraph to emphasize the contrast between the rather sordid real and the imaginary. He is entirely too successful, because he spoils the effect of the story--something for which Poe strove with such singleness of purpose as to permit of no such ending. NOTES TO "THE BIRTHMARK" This story was first published in the March, 1843, number of _The Pioneer_, a magazine edited by James Russell Lowell, and was republished in "Mosses from an Old Manse" in 1846. It belongs to the "moral philosophic" group of Hawthorne's writings (see Introduction). PAGE 112. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY: an old term for physics. SPIRITUAL AFFINITY: in chemistry certain elements show a tendency to combine with others, so an attraction of one human spirit for another, leading generally to marriage, is often called a spiritual affinity. 114. EVE OF POWERS: Hiram Powers (1805-1873). An American sculptor whose statue of Eve is one of his noted works. 118. PYGMALION: in Greek mythology a sculptor who made such a beautiful statue of a woman that he fell in love with it, whereupon in answer to his prayer the goddess Aphrodite gave it life. 121. OPTICAL PHENOMENA: sights which cheat the eye into believing them real. 122. CORROSIVE ACID: a powerful chemical which eats away substance. DYNASTY OF THE ALCHEMISTS: the succession of the early investigators of chemistry who spent most of their energy in seeking what was called the "universal solvent" which would turn every substance into gold. These men were sometimes legitimate investigators, but often cheats who made money out of foolish people. At one time they became so numerous in London that laws were passed against them, but it took Jonson's play "The Alchemist" to laugh away their hold. 123. ELIXIR VITÆ: (Arabic, _el iksir_, plus Latin, _vitæ_) literally, _the philosopher's stone of life_. Another fad of the alchemists. 125. ALBERTUS MAGNUS: "Albert the Great" (1193-1280), a member of the Dominican order of monks. CORNELIUS AGRIPPA: (1486-1535) a student of magic. PARACELSUS: Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541), a physician and alchemist. FRIAR WHO CREATED THE PROPHETIC BRAZEN HEAD: the legendary "Famous History of Friar Bacon" records the construction of such a thing. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY: the volumes containing the discussions of the Royal Society and also the papers read before it. This association was founded about 1660 for the advancement of science. BRET HARTE