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    LATEST EXHIBITS, deeds, and chores:

    (not including endless work on Froissart and fixing
    stuff and learning more tech stuff and typing.


November 30, 2006.  Okay, A.J., Chapter IX, The Remaining Historical Books of the Old
Testament is online from An Introduction  to the History of History, by James T.
Shotwell.  It's only partially proofed, though.  So let me know if you see a typo.


November 28, 2006.  The Infernal Marriage, by Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of
Beaconsfield is online.  A funny short novel, that I was eager to find by laughing my head
off at the excerpt I put up already here.

I was also motivated to put it up by hearing from Roger Pearse, who said he had been
reading some Winston Churchill.   I thought he might be in the mood for some funny
stuff written by a politician.


Also online,  a few more early Italian poets from the 13th century, Compiuta Donzalla
and Rustico di Filippo. The poem by this last one has another translator, though
unfortunately not credited, that is already here as well.  Another follows by Jacopo da
Todi, whose work was so influential that it influenced the theater dramatically.

Especially to read aloud to your favorite children, I found this charming poem in
Humorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience, edited by Grenville Kleiser, 1912,  p. 85.


                                         The Fairies' Tea

                  Anonymous



    Five little fairies went out to take tea,
    Under the shade of a juniper tree.
    Each had a cup from an acorn cut,
    And a plate from the rind of a hickory nut.

    The table was spread with a cloth all of lace,
    Woven by spiders the banquet to grace.
    Oh, what good things they all had to eat! ---
    Slices of strawberry, -- my what a treat!

    Honey the sweetest the wild bee could hive,
    And a humming-bird's egg for each of the five.
    Then they drank their host's health in their favorite drink,
    Which was, -- now what was it?  Can anyone think?

    Why the dew-drop that comes from the heart of the rose
    Is the drink of the fairies as everyone knows.




Just in case you are worried that I might be altogether too Pollyannish, here is another
poem from the same book, p. 98:



      WILLIE

        By MAX EHRMANN




    A little boy went forth to school
       One day without his chum.
    The teacher said, "Why, you're alone!
       Why doesn't Willie come?"
    "O Willie!" sobbed the little boy, --
       There ain't no Willie now."
    "What do you mean?" the teacher asked,
       With puzzled, knitted brow.
    "Please, sir," the little boy replied,
       "We made a bet fur fun, --
    Which one could lean the farthest out
       Our attic, -- Willie won."




And from The New Pun Book, p. 26:


    An art-school student recently painted the picture of a dog
    under a tree so life-like that is was impossible to distinguish the
    bark of the tree from that of the dog.



November 27, 2006.  A poem by Rinaldo d' Aquino,  one by Ciacco dell' Anguillaia, and
one also by Guittone de' Arezzo are up, with the Italian text,  English translation and
biographical Notes by Lorna de' Lucchi.  These poets lived in the 13th Century and were  
some of the first poets, whose works we have, in the Italian language.




November 26, 2006.  Pictures for Old-World Love Stories, by Reginald L. Knowles
are online.  The text by Eugene Mason, translated from the Lays of Marie de France have
been up for a while.  Pictures are harder!


From The New Pun Book (found the book!), p. 19:


        "What is the difference between the admission to a dime museum
    and the admission to Sing Sing?"
         "Don't know.  What?"
         "One is ten cents and the other is sentence."


The Letters of Alciphron, by an Anonymous translator are online.  He may have lived in
the 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th Century A.D., nobody knows for sure.  The Contents, Notes
and the Greek text are still to go.  The final proofreading of what's up is done.



November 22, 2006.  Fonthill and Fonthill Abbey, from The Abbeys, Castles and
Ancient Halls of Wales, by John Timbs is online.

A poem, The Excuse,  by Sir Walter Raleigh is online.

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and one of the most enlightened rulers of medieval
Europe wrote some of the earliest poetry in Italian.  A canzone of his is up, in Italian and
English, translated by Lorna de' Lucchi.

Lost The New Pun Book again!

The chapters Charter Horns, and The Old English Sunday, by William Andrews from Old
Church Lore is online.

Aunt Pen's Funeral, by Harriet P. Spofford is online.



November 21, 2006. All proofed --Some Impressions of an Irish R.M., by Somerville and
Ross.  Needs the illustrations still,  and the Title pages, though.


November 19, 2006.  Proofed three more chapters of Some Impressions of an Irish R.
M., by Somerville and Ross.  I talked to an English book-dealer today, who said that this
book is still read aloud on radio shows frequently.  


This is not a surprise.  Much of the literature in the 19th and 20th century written in
magazines and newspapers was specifically written to be read aloud. A magazine or
newspaper was not all that common, and a luxury to boot.  As seen in The Sparrowgrass
Papers, for example, the description of books read aloud by the father to the whole
family was a big part of the social life.  That is what happens when there are no
televisions or radios.   


Ta-Da! -- Online now (except table of contents),  Il Novellino, The Hundred Old Tales,
translated by Edward Storer.  This is the first short story collection created in Italian,
from the 1200's.   A few of these short stories are already on Elfinspell, translated by
Thomas Roscoe.  


There are a hundred, alright, but 4 or 5 have been taken from a later manuscript to
make up for the four or five indecent novella that are always excluded from the
publications of this work.  How indecent could they be, I wonder?  Drat it all.  By today's
standards, they are probably tame.  There is little possibility of me coming across one of
the eight manuscripts left in the world to find the expurgated novellas.



November 15, 2006.  I am reminded once again of how thankful I am for the goodness
of those people who share their expertise generously and charitably (for free).   Today,
that means specifically the geniuses at w3.org.   

These folk who set the standards for the Internet, have, besides a lot of great advice,
three invaluable tools: a link checker (HTML tidy), a CSS checker  (CSS validator) and an
html checker (HTML validator).   All of these tools are worth their weight in gold for
anybody trying to make web pages.  Look at the table of contents on the left side of
their home page to find them.




November 14, 2006.  Added Captain Davis: A California Ballad and Captain Belgrave, by
Frederic S. Cozzens, which completes the online text of The Sparrowgrass Papers.  The
Ballad makes fun of an outrageous newspaper story, obviously grossly exaggerated.  
The ballad employs every cliché of the Wild West known to commemorate (satirically)
this tall tale disguised as "news."  What is amazing is reading that all the same myths
prejudices and clichés that popularized the cowboy culture, the dime novels and the
Westerns of these last decades were all alive when this was written -- before the Civil
War!

Captain Belgrave is a spoof of a melodrama in the style of the short novels in magazines
of the same time.

(These last two are only partially proofed, the Sparrowgrass Papers are pert near
perfect!)



November 13, 2006.  Finally solved, a coding problem, not perfectly, but good enough.  
So have put the Final Essay, Homes for Old Men, by Frederic Cozzens online, thus
completing that text,  Sayings, Wise and Otherwise, which also contains everything,
except the Preface, in The Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker and Other Learned Men,

Also up, a fragment of one of the earliest examples of Italian, from Sicily, in the early part
of the 13th century , by Cielo dal Camo, and translated by Lorna de' Lucchi.

Chapels on Bridges, by William Andrews from Old Church Lore is up.

Some excerpts from Tacitus and Julius Caesar on The Early Germans is online, from
Frederic A. Ogg's A Source Book of Medieval History.

The first 2 chapters of Some Experiences of an Irish R.M., by Somerville and Ross are
proofed.  (The rest is al there but only partially proofed.)

From Half Hours With the Best Humorous Authors, (1889):

The Old Clock, by James Nack,

Maidenly Culture  (all Anonymous)
A Girl of the Period
Educational Courtship
Awfully Lovely Philosophy

By Charles F. Browne (aka Artemus Ward), who was an early editor for Vanity Fair,
Essay on Animals
A Mormon Romance -- Reginald Gloverson



From The New Pun Book, p. 124:


    _____


         "Did you hear that there was a skeleton in Smith's family?" asked
    Jones.
         "You don't say so!": exclaimed his wife.  "Where?"
         "Inside of Smith of course."

    _____


         A young woman who married a one-legged man says it doesn't
    take much to make her husband hopping mad.

    _____


       "What was the trouble?"
         "He couldn't swim."
         "What has that to do with his failure?"
         "He got into a company where the stock was all water."

    _____


         'It takes Tom a day and a night to tell a story."
         "He'd make a good bookkeeper, I should think."
         "Why?"
         'Never short in his account."



    November 7, 2006.  Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 of The Life of Poggio Bracciolini by
    William Shepherd is now online and partially proofed.

    For Bill, James and Brian, a poem by Pietro Bembo, who like you all,  lost a
    well-loved friend.  Pliny knows Italian from Bill, but the English, by Lorna de' Lucci
    is there for you other two.

    Laudas Creaturarum, a  poetic prayer by St. Francis of Assisi, in English and
    Italian, also translated by Lorna de' Lucchi.  This seems an extremely easy poem to
    learn Italian from, since it has so many words similar to the same ones in English. It
    is also quite nice.

    And some poems by Lodovico Ariosto, in both languages, again by Lorna de'
    Lucchi.  These can add to the list of his work in English begun with Ariosto's prose
    extracts also on Elfinspell here.

    The poems are barely proofed.  Typing Italian was bad enough!




    November 5, 2006.  The play, La Cortigiana or The Courtezan, by Pietro
    Aretino is online.  This, except for the table of contents, completes Volume I of the
    Works of Pietro Aretino, translated into English from the original Italian, with a
    critical and biographical essay by Samuel Putnam.  The pictures by Marquis de
    Bayros are up as well. Once again, many thanks to Hilary Putnam, his son, for
    permission to put his father's special work on Elfinspell.

    Chapter VI of The Life of Poggio Bracciolini by William Shepherd is online and
    partially proofed.


    From The New Pun Book, p. 133:



        "Betty, why do you sit up at this hour of the night darning your
    stockings?" said mother, sharply; "don't you know it's 12 o'clock?"

         "Oh, yes," laughed Betty, "but it's never too late to mend!"

    _____


         "Now, why," remarked the little dog, in speaking to the tree,
         Would you say that the heart of you is like the tail of me?"
         The tree gave the conundrum up.  The pup, with wisdom dark,
         Explained the matter saying, "It is farthest from the bark."

    _____


         BUTCHER -- I need a boy about your size, and will give you $1 a
    week.
         APPLICANT -- Will I have a chance to rise?
         BUTCHER -- Yes; I want you to be here at four o'clock in the
    morning.

    _____


         A prominent man called to condone with a lady on the death of
    her husband, and concluded by saying, "Did he leave you much?"
         "Nearly every night," was the reply.




    November 4, 2006.  Chapter 5 of The Life of Poggio Bracciolini, by William
    Shepherd is online and partially proofed.


    November 3, 2006.  Thanks A.J., for pointing out the bad link! All fixed
    now.               
    Here's your present, from The New Pun Book, p. 105,


    Doctors are like cockroaches.  When you once get them into the
    house, it is terribly difficult to get them out again.


    Another sort of medical 'gag' on the same page:


    Fogg says his sister Ann will talk culture till he falls asleep.  He says
    she is a sort of Ann æsthetic.


    ... and one from p. 33:


    "There is but one thing," said the professor of medicine, gravely, "that
    we know about death."
    "And that is, sir?" queried the student.
    "It is always fatal."


    Chapter 4, of The Life of Poggio Bracciolini by William Shepherd is online and,
    of course, partially proofed.


    November 1, 2006.  Chapter III of William Shepherd's Life of Poggio is online
    and partially proofed.  The portrait of Aretino by Titian and the pictures by Marquis
    de Bayros used in the Dialogues of Pietro Aretino translated by Samuel Putnam
    (used with permission by his son Hilary Putnam) are up as well.


    From The New Pun Book, p. 16:


    Oh, the sadness of her sadness when she's sad!
    Oh, the gladness of her gladness when she's glad!
         But the sadness of her sadness,
         And the gladness of her gladness,
    Are nothing to her madness when she's mad!





    Go to the Archives for the chronological record of the
    additions for the past 2 years.