The Trouveres were the minstrels of the north of France in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The language they employed was the "Walloon" or "Langue d'oil." The themes they sang were satires and romances, tales of knavery and adventure, legends and historical traditions.

There are 753 periodicals and newspapers in Russia, which contains a population of one hundred millions. According to the statistics of 1892 there were 19,573 in this country, and a population of say sixty-five millions. The newspapers in Russia, however, are misnamed. They dare not print the news.

The artistic representation in continuous narrative of the life and character of a particular individual is called a Biography. It may be either a mere curriculum vitce, detailing only the historical sequence of the incidents of a man's life, or it may be an elaborate attempt at an analysis of his character and a complete reconstruction of the whole motives of his actions.

Biblical students take much interest in "Bel and the Dragon," an apocryphal book of the Old Testament in which the writer aims to warn some of his brethren against the sin of idolatry. Appearing first in the Septuagint, there is no evidence that it was ever accepted by the Jews as inspired. Jerome considered it a fable, but the Council of Trent declared the book canonical in 1546.

The Ancient Mariner is the hero of a poem by Coleridge. For the crime of having shot an albatross (a bird of good omen to seamen), terrible sufferings are visited upon him, which are finally remitted through his repentance; but he is doomed to wander over the earth, and to repeat his story to others as a warning lesson.

Aladdin is the name of the hero of one of the tales of the " Arabian Nights." He is presented with a "wonderful lamp," the genius of which appears whenever desired, and performs miraculous services. By means of this lamp Aladdin explores a vast cave, obtains enormous wealth, and marries the daughter of the Sultan.

Tennyson's beautiful poem, "Enoch Arden," has an interesting plot. The hero is a seaman wrecked on a desert island, who returns home after the absence of several years, and finds his wife married to another. Seeing her both happy and prosperous, Enoch resolves not to mar her domestic peace, so he leaves her undisturbed, and dies of a broken heart.

A club was organized at Venice in 1400, by some ladies and gentlemen who wore blue stockings, and thus came to be known as the Blue Stocking club. It appeared in France in 1590 as the bas bleu, and in 1780 was transported to England. The name "blue stocking" is still given to women who are vain and pedantic at the expense of womanly duty and grace.

Grub Street is thus described in Dr. Johnson's "Dictionary": "Originally the name of a street near Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called Grub-street." Andrew Marvell used the name in its opprobrious sense, which later was freely used by Pope, Swift and the rest.

Any two lines which rhyme together may be called a couplet; but the term is more frequently used to denote two lines which contain the complete expression of an idea. Pope, as has been said, reasons in couplets. For example:

'Tis with our judgments as our watches, noneGo just alike, yet each believes his own.

A Madrigal is a short lyric poem, generally on the subject of love, and characterized by some epigrammatic terseness or quaintness. It was written, as a rule, in iambic meter, contained not less than six or more than thirteen lines, and ran chiefly upon three rhymes. The name is also applied to the music for a simple song sung in a rich, artistic style, but without musical accompaniment.

The term Black Letter (Black Letter) came into use about 1600, and is now applied to the types that are most generally known as Gothic. The first printed books imitated every peculiarity of the contemporary manuscripts; and as printing was first practised in Germany and the Netherlands, the first types were copies of the letters in use in those countries in the middle of the fifteenth century.

The art of foretelling the future by opening the Bible at random, and placing the finger on a chance passage, which is supposed to apply to the person pointing to it, is called Bibliomancy. In the fifth century its use was prohibited by the Council of Vannes, and again in the sixth century by the Councils of Agde and Orleans. It is said to have been introduced into England after the Norman Conquest. It is referred to by Tennyson in Enoch Arden.

The Minnesingers were love-poets, contemporary in Germany with the House of Hohenstauffen. Though called love-singers some of their poems were national ballads, and some were extended romances. Walter of Vogelweide was by far the best of the lyrists; Heinrich of Veldig was the most naive and ingenuous; Hartman the most classical; Wolfram the most sublime, and Gottfried the most licentious.

The original "Maid of Athens," rendered famous by Byron's song, "Maid of Athens, fare thee well!" was Theresa Macri. Twenty-four years after this song was written, an Englishman sought out "the Athenian maid," and found a beggar without a single vestige of beauty. She was married and had a large family; but the struggle of her life was to find bread to keep herself and family from positive starvation.

The expressive title of Lyric has been given to a certain species of poetry because originally accompanied by the music of the lyre. It is rapid in movement, as befitting the expression of the mind in its emotional and impassioned moments, and naturally its principal themes are love, devotion, patriotism, friendship, and the Bacchanalian spirit. It was a favorite form among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The Iliad is the tale of the siege of Troy, an epic poem in twenty-four books, by Homer. Menelaos, king of Sparta, received as a guest Paris, a son of Priam, king of Troy. Paris eloped with Helen, his host's wife, and Menelaos induced the Greeks to lay siege to Troy, to avenge the perfidy. The siege lasted ten years, when Troy was taken and burnt to the ground. Homer's poem is confined to the last year of the siege.