objects of interest- and unaccompanied by any explanation —of which a very well-informed person might excusably be ignorant, and concerning which he has no ready means of obtaining information, unless through the medium of a book like this. The rapid increase of travel, bringing with, it acquaintance with foreign treasures of art, together with the growing taste for photographic and heliotype reproductions of works of art, have made many persons familiar with the names of pictures, statues, and buildings, while, at the same time, they may be ignorant of the artists, or the situations of the objects. As the number of objects, in the classes above mentioned, to which reference is made in books, newspapers, and conversation, is almost innumerable, the task of selection has been very difficult. As a rule, institutions, buildings, and other objects which bear names closely identified with those of the places where they are situated, have been excluded, for the reason that information in regard to such can be found with comparative ease by any ordinary reader. Geographical names have also been, for the most part, excluded; it not being the intention to encroach to any considerable extent upon the province of the gazetteer or geography. Some purely geographical objects, however, which are the subject of frequent allusion in literature, have been included. Names in foreign languages have been frequently omitted, and the objects entered under the English equivalents, as the latter are more generally known to the ordinary reader. This is the case particularly with the names of works of art. As regards the insertion of names which may possibly be considered by some of minor importance, the words of the preface to the companion volume (the "Noted Names of Fiction") are precisely applicable here, and will explain the principle which has governed the compilers' action: "To what extent names of secondary importance should be included, was a question difficult to determine. . . . Some favored a selected list of the more important names only; others, and the greater number, recommended a much wider scope. A middle course is the one that has been actually followed. It is evident that many articles which may seem to one person of very questionable importance, if not wholly unworthy of insertion, will be held by another to be of special value, as throwing light upon passages which to him would otherwise be perplexing or obscure." The sources of the information used in the preparation of this Dictionary are far too numerous to be here specified. Whenever a statement has been taken in great part from any one author, it has been carefully collated and verified with information obtained from independent sources, and has been changed and abridged according to circumstances. No hesitation has been felt, however, in the occasional use of an author's exact language when the desired information has been found already stated in what seemed the form best suited to the requirements of the case. It is evident that a work of this kind, which, like its predecessor, is believed to be unique, and which, like that volume, must be compiled without having the advantage of any similar work upon which it might be based, and from which materials might be drawn, must of necessity be more or less imperfect. No pretence is made to completeness, for the field of survey is indefinitely large, while the size of the book is definitely limited; but it is hoped and confidently believed that there will be found comparatively few omissions of the most noteworthy objects of interest in the several classes which are treated. BOSTON, June, 1881. CHARLES G. WHEELER. CITY OF NEW YORK FAMILIAR ALLUSIONS. A. Aaron's Tomb. The time-honored tomb of the Hebrew highpriest is situated upon Mount Hor, in Arabia Petræa. The present tomb is of comparatively' modern date, but is composed of the ruins of an older structure. The place has been held sacred for many centuries, and unbroken tradition tends to substantiate the belief that this is really the place where Aaron died and was buried. Abbaye. [Fr. Frison de l'Abbaye.] A military prison, Lear St. Germain des Prés, in Paris, built in 1522, and demolished in 1854. Here the French Guards who had refused to fire on the people were imprisoned in 1789, but soon released by the mob. One of the well-known revolutionary cries was "À l'Abbaye!" Here 164 prisoners were murdered in September, 1792, by infuriated republicans under Maillard. Scott's ambition to attempt to revive old times in this mansion on the Tweed, and to play the part of one of those feudal lords whom, he has so well portrayed in his works. Viewed as a mere speculation, or, for aught I know, as an architecturál effort, this building may perhaps be counted as a mistake and a failure. I observe that it is quite customary to speak of it; among some, as a pity that he ever undertook it. But viewed as a development of his inner life, as a working out in wood and stone of favorite fancies and cherished ideas, the building has to me a deep interest. The gentle-hearted poet delighted himself in it; this house, was his stone and wood poem, as regular perhaps, and as contrary to any established rule, as his Lay of the Last Minstrel,' but stili wild and poetic. The building bas this interest, that it was throughcut his own conception, thought, and choice; that he expressed himself in every stone that was laid, and made it a kind of shrine, into which he wove all his treasures of antiquity, and where he imitated, from the beautiful old mouldering ruins of Scotland, the parts that had touched him most deeply. The walls of one room were of carved oak from the Dunfermline Abbey; the ceiling of another imitated from Roslin Castle; here a fireplace was wrought in the image of a favorite niche in Melrose; and there the ancient pulpit of Erskine was wrought into a wall. To him, doubtless, every object in the house was suggestive of poetic fancies." Mrs. H. B. Stowe, Abbey. For names beginning with the word ABBEY, see the next prominent word of the title. Abbotsford. The residence of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), near Melrose in Scotland. It is on the banks of the Tweed, but does not command a fine view. It is interesting chiefly from its connection with the great novelist, and because it contains some valuable relics. The expense of the purchase and building of Abbotsford, and the extended hospitality which Scott practised there, was the chief source of his subsequent Abooseer. See ROCK OF ABOO. pecuniary difficulties. It was Abelard and Eloise. See TOMB SEER. 1 Aboo-Simbel. See TEMPLE OF Aboshek, Lady of. See LADY OF Abraham, Heights (or Plains) of. To many the rock over which Wolfe climbed to the Plains of Abraham, and on the summit of which he fell in the hour of victory, gives to Quebec its chiefest charm. Anthony Trollope. Abraham's House. The name Abraham's Oak. An ancient oak monument near Jerusalem, popu- "The capitals and frieze are so distinctly late Roman, that we can feel no hesitation as to the date being either of the age of Herod, or subsequent to that time." Fergusson. Abydos, Tablet of. See TABLET his famous school, B.C. 388. The See there the olive grove of Academe, No round-robin signed by the whole main-deck of the Academy or the Porch. De Quincey Nearer and dearer to the poet's heart, Academy, Académie, or Accade- Academy of Design. See NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN. Académie Française. [French Academy.] One of the five academies embraced in the Institut, the most important learned society of France. It is devoted to matters relative to the French language, and particularly to the composition of its Dictionary. This celebrated society owes its origin to the Cardinal Richelieu. The first edition of the Dictionary appeared in 1694, the last in 1835. The Academy is composed of forty members, called the forty Immortels. In consequence of often having recruited its numbers from the ranks of those literary men whose careers were ended, the Academy has been sometimes called the Hôtel des Invalides of literature. Acadia. The original name of [Field of Blood.] The reputed site of the "field of blood," bought with the "thirty pieces of silver," the price of the |