OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Jacobsen, Simon

Edition of 1892. No confirmation of this person's existence outside of Appletons' and derived sources has as yet been located, but there is also no verifiable source which states the person is one of Appletons' fictitious entries. Use this information with extra caution.
​JACOBSEN, Simon, Dutch mariner, b. in Maestrich in 1624; d. in Leogane, Hayti, in 1679. He entered the French service, and was employed for several years by the Company of the West Indies, which intrusted him in 1653 with an exploration of the coasts of South America to the Straits of Magellan, with orders to take possession in the name of France of all unoccupied lands; but his ship was wrecked in sight of Buenos Ayres, and he was taken prisoner by the Spanish. On his release he returned to Dieppe, and in 1657 was sent to found a colony in Brazilian Guiana; but the unhealthy climate and the hostility of the Spanish drove away the settlers. The company then bought from Diel du Parquet the southwestern part of the island of Martinique in 1658, and Jacobsen, after conquering the Caribs, founded a prosperous colony of 4,000 inhabitants. He was given the government of Tortugas in 1663 as a reward, and in the following year he assumed also that of Santo Domingo, which he resigned soon afterward, having bought from the company a large tract near Cape Leogane in 1665. He founded there a prosperous city, which he ruled until his death.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Jacobson, Christian

Edition of 1892. No confirmation of this person's existence outside of Appletons' and derived sources has as yet been located, but there is also no verifiable source which states the person is one of Appletons' fictitious entries. Use this information with extra caution. Suspicious due to spelling errors in the titles of the alleged literary works.
​JACOBSON, Christian, Danish explorer, b. in Copenhagen in 1528; d. in Lima, Peru, in 1596. He studied divinity, but he was seized with a desire to go to the New World, and, sailing for San Lucar de Barrameda, joined a cousin who was established as a merchant in Seville. The latter advised him to enter the Roman Catholic church; to which he readily assented, and obtained for him an appointment in the army. He was sent to Peru in 1551, and served in the civil wars in that country. In 1557 he went to Chili, and was made by Hurtado de Mendoza commander of the marines in the expedition of Ladrilleros (q. v.) to the South sea. Resigning his commission in 1564, he went on an exploration across the Cordilleras, reaching Buenos Ayres, after a dangerous journey, in 1565. Thence, sailing again for Peru, he settled in Lima, where he held an office in the audiencia, and devoted his leisure to literary labors. He wrote “Relacion del Viage de Ladrilleros al estrecho de Magellanes” (Seville, 1792); “Historia repertæ navigationis in Oceanum mare” (1779); “Derrotero de Viage” (1794); “Vidas de Españoles celebres” (2 vols., 1776); and several other works.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Jacome, Diego

Edition of 1892.
​JACOME, Diego, Portuguese missionary, b. in Portugal early in the 16th century; d. in Brazil in 1565. He entered the Jesuit order in 1548, and went to Brazil to preach the gospel to the natives. When the plague broke out in Espirito Santo, he devoted himself to the care of the sick, and contracted the disease of which he died. He wrote “Carta escripa do Brazil em 1551, em que trata dos costumes dos Indies, e trabalhos, que os PP. da companhia padecem na sua conversao.” The original is preserved in the convent of St. Roch, Lisbon. It was translated into Italian (Venice, 1559).
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stephens, Henry Louis

Edition of 1900.
​STEPHENS, Henry Louis, book-illustrator, b. in Philadelphia, 11 Feb., 1824; d. in Bayonne, N.J., 13 Dec., 1882. About 1859 he went to New York under an engagement with Frank Leslie, and after a year or so transferred his services to Harper Brothers. Mr. Stephens was a prolific artist, and accomplished a great amount of work for book and magazine illustration. He was well known as a caricaturist, excelling especially in the humorous delineation of animals, and drew cartoons and sketches for "Vanity Fair" (1859-63), "Mrs. Grundy" (1868), "Punchinello" (1870). and other periodicals. He gave some attention also to painting in water-colors, but rarely exhibited his works.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stephens, William

Edition of 1900.
​STEPHENS, William, president of the colony of Georgia, b. in the Isle of Wight, England, 28 Jan., 1671; d. in Georgia in August. 1753. He was educated at Winchester school and King's college, Cambridge, and studied law, but. abandoning it for public affairs, was a member of parliament and held several important offices. About 1730 he went to South Carolina for the purpose of surveying a barony of land. He was well pleased with his reception in the colony, became intimate with Gen. James Oglethorpe, and, on the recommendation of the latter, was appointed secretary to the trustees in Georgia in 1837. His duty in this office consisted in supervising the affairs of the colony. He was made president of the county of Savannah in 1741, and of the entire colony in 1743. He held this post up to 1750, when he gave such evidence of mental and physical decline that he was requested to resign. He wrote "A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, beginning October 20, 1737" (3 vols., London, 1742). This work includes "State of the Province," which brings the narrative down to 28 Oct., 1741. The latter was also published separately (London, 1742). The work, which is exceedingly rare, especially the third volume, is believed to be of great importance in connection with the early history of Georgia, His son, Thomas, was the author of "The Castle-Builder, or the History of William Stephens, of the Isle of Wight" (2d ed., London. 1759).
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stephenson, Mathew

Edition of 1900.
​STEPHENSON, Mathew. statesman, b. in Buckingham county, Va., about 1770; d. after 1834. He removed to Washington county, Tenn., and engaged in farming. The constitution of Tennessee, adopted in 1797, gave the right of suffrage to all free men. Under it free colored men voted until 1834, when a convention was called and a new constitution adopted, which deprived them of the right. In that convention the party in favor of restricting the suffrage was boldly opposed by twenty members; thirty-eight voted for the re​striction. Mathew Stephenson led the liberal element. All those that voted with him were natives of slave states, while every native of a free state voted against every proposition looking to- ward the freedom of the slave. The friends of lib- erty sought to have fixed by the constitution a period beyond which slavery should not exist in the state, placing the period in isttli. The points that they made were defended by the Liberals with great power and earnestness, and the journal of the convention shows an advanced sentiment among these men, of whom Mr. Stephenson was the admitted leader.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Sterne, Simon

Edition of 1900.
​STERNE, Simon, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 June, 1839. He was graduated in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1860, and established himself in practice in New York city. In 1862 he was elected lecturer on political economy in Cooper union. He was on the staff of the “Commercial Advertiser” in 1863-'4, was a founder of the American free-trade league in 1864, and in 1865 published the “Social Science Review.” Taking an active part in the movement for the purification of municipal politics, he was chosen secretary of the committee of seventy in 1870, and drafted the charter that was advocated by that committee. In 1876 he was appointed by Gov. Samuel J. Tilden on a commission to devise a plan for the government of cities, in 1879 acted as counsel for the New York board of trade and transportation and chamber of commerce in the investigation of abuses in railroad management, which resulted in the appointment of a board of railroad commissioners for the state of New York. He was also a leader in the movement that resulted in the creation of the inter-state commerce commission, drafting the inter-state commerce bill in conjunction with the committee of the United States senate. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland a commissioner to examine and report on the relations between the railroads and the governments of western Europe. An essay that he read before the American bar association on “Slip-shod Legislation” led to the appointment in 1888 of a committee of the legislature to consider reforms in the drafting of laws. He has been a frequent writer on economical and political subjects, contributed articles on “Cities,” “Legislation,” “Monopolies,” “Railways,” and “Representation” to John J. Lalor's “Cyclopædia of Political Science and United States History” (1881-'3), and is the author of “Representative Government and Personal Representation” (Philadelphia, 1870) and “Constitutional History and Political Development in the United States” (New York, 1882; 4th ed., 1888).
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stetefeldt, Carl August

Edition of 1900.
​STETEFELDT, Carl August, mining engineer, b. in Holzhausen, near Gotha, Germany, 28 Sept., 1838. He was educated at the gymnasium in Gotha, the University of Göttingen, and at the mining-school in Clausthal, where he was graduated in 1861. Soon afterward he came to this country, and since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession as a mining engineer and metallurgist. At present (1888) he devotes himself principally to consultation, and has his office in New York. He is widely known through the mining districts by his invention of the Stetefeldt furnace, which is extensively used in the west for the roasting of silver ores preparatory to the extraction of the metal by either amalgamation or lixiviation. Mr. Stetefeldt has been a member of the American institute of mining engineers since 1881, and was its vice-president in 1885-7. Besides technical papers he has written “The Lixiviation of Silver Ores with Hyposulphite Solutions” (New York, 1888).
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stetson, Charles Augustus

Edition of 1900.
​STETSON, Charles Augustus, hotel-proprietor, b. in Newburyport, Mass., 1 April, 1810; d. in Reading, Pa., 29 March, 1888. His father was proprietor of a hotel in Newburyport. The son adopted the same calling, and after taking charge of the Tremont house, Boston, in 1830, and Barnum's hotel, Baltimore, in 1833, became proprietor of the Astor house, New York, in 1837, and kept it till 1875, for the first twenty years of this period in partnership with Robert B. Coleman. In 1851 he was quartermaster-general of New York, and he was usually known by his military title. Gen. Stetson acquired a wide reputation as a hotel-keeper in the days when the Astor house was almost the only large hotel in New York, and became intimate with many eminent men, including Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Rufus Choate, and William H. Seward. The Astor house was the scene of all the great public dinners of those times, and the regular resting-place of congressmen from the eastern states in going to and returning from Washington. During the civil war Gen. Stetson showed many acts of kindness to soldiers on their way through New York, and he was publicly thanked by Gov. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Steuart, Richard Sprigg

Edition of 1900.
​STEUART, Richard Sprigg, physician, b. in Baltimore, Md., 1 Nov., 1797; d. there, 13 July, 1876. He was educated at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, and studied medicine at the University of Maryland, receiving his degree in 1822. Beginning practice in Baltimore, he was elected in 1828 president of the Maryland hospital for the insane, which he reorganized, and of which he was president till his death. He was an active coadjutor of Dorothea L. Dix in her efforts to improve the condition and treatment of the insane, occupied a good position among the alienists of the country, and lectured to the public on the subject of insanity. Mainly through his efforts the Spring Grove insane asylum was built for the state of Maryland at a cost of $850,000. the result of public and private contributions. — His son, James Aloysius, physician, b. in Baltimore, Md., 3 April, 1828, was graduated at St. Mary's college in 1847 and at the school of medicine of the University of Maryland in 1850. He established himself in practice in Baltimore, and became physician to the city general dispensary, and assistant physician to the Maryland hospital for the insane. Since 1875 he has been health commissioner, registrar of vital statistics, and president of the city board of health. Under his management the health department has been reorganized, and the annual death-rate has been reduced from 26 to 19 per thousand. He checked an incipient outbreak of yellow fever in 1886, and has aided in suppressing two epidemics of small-pox.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 246

246.—SCHUMANN'S FAILURE.
One of the fortunate accidents of musical history was that which occurred to Robert Schumann in his early days. Schumann had a great ambition to become a fine pianist, and had already made great strides in that direction, when his eagerness to hastily acquire a command of his instrument led him to make an unfortunate experiment. He found, as every one else finds, that a pianist is greatly hampered by the third fingers being bound down by extra tendons. This makes these fingers unwieldy and very slow of training. So Schumann, in order to more quickly acquire the necessary digital dexterity, rigged up a contrivance which should hold the unruly member quiet while he played with the other fingers. This ​treatment he carried to such excess that it resulted in an incurable lameness. By this, his career as a virtuoso was nipped in the bud.
For a while he was cast down by this misfortune, but soon determined to turn his energies to composition, and the result is that we have in his works a series of compositions second only in value to those of Beethoven.
This experience of Schumann's embittered him against all contrivances for aiding the pupil to more quickly acquire piano technic; and in his "Rules for Young Musicians" he warns all against mechanical apparatus. But because he made a failure of his clumsy contrivance is no reason why the student of to-day should be prejudiced against the contrivances which modern thought and skill have arranged to more quickly assist him toward his goal, at the same time saving him and his neighbors many hours of painful sounds.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 247

247.—GENIUS DISCOVERED BY PUNISHMENT.
Madame Mara, one of the greatest singers Germany has produced, had her musical talent brought to light by a peculiar incident when she was a child.
Her father, besides teaching music, was a repairer of instruments. Frequently the little girl would perch herself on a high stool and gravely watch him while he mended some broken violin. One day he left a repaired instrument lying on his bench, and the inquisitive child undertook to play it and try to get from it the music she had heard others bring from the same source. But in her ignorance she broke one of the strings.
On her father's return she was roundly scolded and promised that a recurrence of such meddling would bring severe punishment. For some days this threat had the desired effect, but the wish to again produce the attractive tones made the little one forget the admonition, and again she tried her hand at playing, but this time she was caught in the act.
​To punish her, the father declared he would make her learn to play the instrument she had tampered with. He expected she would shrink from this as a heavy punishment, but was greatly surprised to see her run eagerly to the violin and draw from it a series of smooth and pleasant musical tones.
Being a sensible man, he resolved to cultivate this faculty, and in due time Mara became a brilliant violinist, and later, winning great renown as a singer, the father was able to lay aside the repairing of voices and instruments.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 253

253.—NASAL.
A peculiarity about the singing of French artists is a tendency toward a nasal quality of tone. This probably owes its origin to the language and, perhaps, somewhat to the French school of singing. So whenever Frenchmen condemn a singer for using a nasal quality we may be sure the peculiarity was quite pronounced. Such was the case with a singer of the last century named Larivee who sinned so much in this nasal respect that when he appeared he was frequently greeted with the remark, "That nose has really a fine voice."
How many noses we may listen to in the average congregation that can hardly be said to have good voices; or, perchance, we might put it, how many voices which have defective noses.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 245

245.—THE "PRISON JOSEPHS."
Contemporaneous with Stradivarius was a family named Guarnerius, one of whom, Joseph (1683–1745), achieved great fame from the excellence of his instruments. This man, in order to distinguish his works from those of a cousin bearing the same name, generally added to his name on the tickets inserted in his instruments the cross and the letters, "I.H.S." These are supposed to be the initials of some religious society of which he was a member. From this addition to his name he is known as Guarnerius "del Jesu." His grandfather, Andrew, was a pupil of Nicholas Amati, but the instruments of the elder Guarnerius, and those of three of his descendants are not particularly noticeable; the fourth, Joseph, "del Jesu," whom I have mentioned above, turned out some violins which were quite the equals of those of Stradivarius when at his best.
His model is not quite so large nor the bouts quite so long as with Stradivarius, but the shape is most elegant, and no fault could be found with the wood or varnish. It is even said that some of his best specimens are more pleasing to the eye than those of Stradivarius. But during his later years there was a remarkable change. The wood became defective, the work careless, and the varnish poor. The exact cause for this decadence is not known, although a very pretty story is frequently told, which, fortunately for the reputation of Joseph, seems to be founded more on fancy than on fact.
The story runs that he was an impecunious and idle rascal, and that he was imprisoned for some unknown cause; also, that the jailor's daughter supplied him with rude tools and material and bought the varnish from various makers who were in the enjoyment of their liberty. This would have made a pretty good story as it was, but the romancers have added additional details. This fair damsel, so we are told, taking pity on Joseph's ​condition, took out the completed fiddles and hawked them about, selling them for whatever offered, and buying with the proceeds necessities and comforts for the prisoner, who, it should be added, was a married man. (It is best to omit this latter fact in telling the story. It sounds better.)
Unfortunately for the story, the archives of Cremona make no record of a prisoner named Guarnerius, and for an idle man he turned out a remarkable number of valuable violins. This tale has obtained so much credence that the rougher of the "del Jesu" fiddles are called "Prison Josephs."
It must have been a peculiar combination of circumstances that led him to send out inferior violins at this time of life, but the above story is admirably concocted to fill the niche. Another peculiar thing is, that after this poor work he made at least one violin the excellence of which has hardly been equaled. This is the one played so long and loved so dearly by Paganini, and at his death bequeathed to his native city, Genoa, where it still lies in its glass case. This noble instrument was made in 1743, and its maker died two years afterward.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 249

249.—A LITTLE TRICK OF PAGANINI'S.
The most brilliant period of Paganini's life was from 1814 to 1818. He was in high favor in Italy and was then more free with his talent than later in life. He was poor at that time and was largely occupied with gambling and with falling in love, but at the same time he was prodigal with his music, whether it be in the palatial dwellings of the aristocracy or on the streets.
Together with an excellent guitar player named Lea, he would wander all night long playing under the windows of their friends and improvising the most fascinating duets. Then when tired they would drop into the nearest inn and refresh themselves in a way not unheard of by many other musicians.
One evening a rich gentleman begged the pair, ​Paganini and Lea, together with a 'cellist named Zeffrini, to serenade his lady-love. They consented. Before beginning to play Paganini quietly tied an open penknife to his right arm. Then they commenced. Soon the "E" string snapped.
"That is owing to the damp air," said the violinist, and kept on playing on the other three strings.
A few moments later the "A" broke and Paganini exclaimed, "Just see what the dampness is doing this evening!" But he went on playing. Finally the "D" snapped, and the love-sick swain began to be fearful for the success of his serenade. For what could Paganini do with only one string on his violin. But Paganini simply smiled and went on with the music with the same facility and strength of tone that he had previously used on all four cords.
The penknife was more to blame than the dampness of the air.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 248

248.—RICHARD WAGNER AND THE NUMBER "13."
If the number "13" is, as many people believe, an unlucky one, certainly the life of Richard Wagner must have been full of ill-luck; for this cabalistic set of figures turns up at all times and places in his biography. While Wagner had, during some periods of his life, a hard battle with the non-appreciation of his fellow-musicians, we would hardly like to believe, after reading the last thirty years of his biography, that his life was an utter failure! So perhaps there is not so much bad fortune in the number "13" as the superstitious Scotchmen would have us believe. But the recurrence of this number so frequently is a peculiar coincidence.
A statistically inclined writer has made the following list:—
Wagner was born in 1813 and died on the 13th of the month; there are 13 letters in his name, and the sum of the figures in 1813 equals 13. The full date of his death was the 13th day of the second month in '83; it makes 13 twice viz., first 13, and again 2+8+3=13. He composed 13 operas or "music-dramas." His first and determining impression in favor of a dramatic career was formed on the 13th of the month. He was influenced in his choice emphatically by hearing Weber's "Freischütz," and by Wilhelmine Shröder-Devrient. The latter went ​upon the stage on the 13th of October, 1819, and the "Freischütz" was completed on May 13, 1820, and first performed in Dresden, Wagner's home, in 1822 (1+8+2+2=13). Weber died in Wagner's 13th year. Wagner's first public appearance as a musical personage dates from the year 1831 (1+8+3+1=13), being at this time a music student in the Leipzig University.
The stage at Riga, where he became a director, was opened on the 13th day of September, 1837, and he there began the composition of "Rienzi" which he completed in Paris in 1840 (1+8+4=13). On the 13th of April, 1844, he completed his "Tannhauser," and it was performed in Paris on March 13, 1861, and on the 13th of August, 1876, he began the first presentation of his "Baireuth dramas," the "Nibelungen Ring."
Wagner was exiled from Saxony for 13 years. The 13th of September, 1882, was his last day at "Baireuth" before leaving for Venice. Wagner saw Liszt for the last time in Venice on January 13, 1883, and finally he died on the 13th of February, in the 13th year of the new German confederation.