9. Midas

= a Phrygian king, to whom was granted the wish that whatever he touched might turn into gold.

THE DEACON'S MASTERPIECE

This is the best-known and the most popular of Holmes's humorous pieces. At the Breakfast Table one morning "the young fellow whom they call John" had proposed some conundrums before the Autocrat made his appearance. The Autocrat disapproved of their trifling character. Then, as introductory to the poem: "I am willing, I said, to exercise your ingenuity in a rational and contemplative manner. No, I do not proscribe certain forms of philosophical speculation which involve an approach to the absurd or the ludicrous, such as you may find, for example, in the folio of the Reverend Father Thomas Sanchez, in his famous Disputations, ‘De Sancto Matrimonio.' I will therefore turn this levity of yours to profit by reading you a rhymed problem, wrought out by my friend the Professor."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

HISTORY

JUSTIN WINSOR, "Narrative and Critical History of America."
J. A. DOYLE, "English Colonies in America."

JOHN FISKE, "Old Virginia and Her Neighbors."

JOHN ESTEN COOKE, "Virginia" (Am. Commonwealth Series).
JOHN FISKE, "The Beginnings of New England."
GEORGE BANCROFT, "History of the United States."
JAMES SCHOULER, "History of the United States."
JAMES FORD RHODES, "History of the United States."

HISTORIES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE

MOSES COIT TYLER, "A History of American Literature."
C. F. RICHARDSON, "American Literature."
Barrett WendELL, "A Literary History of America."
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN, "Poets of America."
H. C. VEDDER, "American Writers of To-day."

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIAS

S. A. ALLIBONE, "A Critical Dictionary of British and American Authors." APPLETON, "Cyclopædia of American Biography."

WHITE, "National Cyclopædia of American Biography."

A. N. MARQUIS, "Who's Who in America."

POOLE, "Index to Periodical Literature."

ILLUSTRATIVE SELECTIONS

DUYCKINCK, "Cyclopædia of American Literature."

STEDMAN and HUTCHINSON, "A Library of American Literature."

E. C. STEDMAN, "American Anthology."

G. R. CARPENTER, American Prose."

Library of Southern Literature.

W. J. BRYAN, "The World's Famous Orators."

BIOGRAPHY

HENRY ADAMS, “John Randolph" (Am. Statesmen Series).

A. V. G. ALLEN, "Jonathan Edwards" (Am. Religious Leaders Series).
W. M. BASKERVILLE, "Sidney Lanier" (So. Writers Series).

H. A. BEERS, "N. P. Willis" (Am. Men of Letters Series).

JOHN BIGELOW, "William Cullen Bryant "(Am. Men of Letters Series).
RICHARD M. BURKE, "Life of Walt Whitman."

HELEN CAMPBELL, "Anne Bradstreet and Her Time."

EDWARD CARY, "George William Curtis" (Am. Men of Letters Series).
WILLIAM CLARKE, "Walt Whitman."

M. D. CONWAY, "Nathaniel Hawthorne" (Great Writers Series).

G. W. Cooke, “Life, Writings, and Philosophy of Emerson."

GEO. T. CURTIS, "Life of Daniel Webster."

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, "Autobiography."

RICHARD GARNETT, "Ralph Waldo Emerson" (Great Writers Series).
PARKE GODWIN, "Life and Works of William Cullen Bryant."

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, “Lowell and His Friends."

JULIAN HAWTHORNE, "Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife."

T. W. HIGGINSON, "Margaret Fuller Ossoli" (Am. Men of Letters Series).

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, "Memoir of J. L. Motley."

OLIVER WENDELL Holmes, "Ralph Waldo Emerson " (Am. Men of Letters Series).

H. VON HOLST, "John C. Calhoun" (Am. Statesmen Series).

J. H. INGRAM, "Memoir of Poe."

HENRY JAMES, JR., "Nathaniel Hawthorne" (Eng. Men of Letters Series).

W. J. LINTON, "John Greenleaf Whittier" (Great Writers Series).
HENRY CABOT LODGE, "Alexander Hamilton" (Am. Statesmen Series).
HENRY CABOT LODGE, "Daniel Webster" (Am. Statesmen Series).

T. R. LOUNSBURY, "James Fenimore Cooper" (Am. Men of Letters Series).
J. T. MORSE, "Benjamin Franklin" (Am. Men of Letters Series).

J. T. MORSE, "Thomas Jefferson" (Am. Statesmen Series).

J. T. MORSE, "Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes."
W. S. PAULDING, "Literary Life of J. K. Paulding."

S. T. PICKARD, "Life and Letters of Whittier."

ERIC S. ROBERTSON, "Henry W. Longfellow" (Great Writers Series).
H. S. SALT, "Henry D. Thoreau" (Great Writers Series).

F. B. SANBORN, "Henry D. Thoreau" (Am. Men of Letters Series).
JAMES SCHOULER, "Thomas Jefferson" (Makers of America Series).
ALBERT H. SMYTH, "Bayard Taylor" (Am. Men of Letters Series).
GEORGE TICKNOR, "Life of Prescott."

W. P. TRENT, "William Gilmore Simms" (Am. Men. of Letters Series).

J. H. TWITCHELL, "John Winthrop" (Makers of America Series).

F. H. UNDERWOOD, "John Greenleaf Whittier."

F. H. UNDERWOOD, "James Russell Lowell."

F. H. UNDERWOOD, Henry W. Longfellow."

CHAS. DUDLEY WARNER, "Life of John Smith."

CHAS DUDLEY WARNER, "Washington Irving" (Am. Men of Letters Series). BARRETT WENDELL, "Cotton Mather" (Makers of America Series).

J. G. WILSON, "Life and Letters of Fitz-Greene Halleck.”

G. E. WOODBERRY, "Edgar Allan Poe" (Am. Men of Letters Series).

MISCELLANEOUS

GEO. W. CURTIS, "Literary and Social Essays."

J. T. FIELDS, "Yesterdays with Authors."

O. B. FROTHINGHAM, "Transcendentalism in New England."

F. V. N. PAINTER, "Poets of the South."

F. V. N. PAINTER, "Poets of Virginia."

E. P. WHIPPLE, "Recollections of Eminent Men."
MATTHEW ARNOLD, "Discourses in America."
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, "Emerson the Lecturer."
G. P. LATHROP, "A Study of Hawthorne."
HORACE E. SCUDDER, "Men and Letters."