The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-06-05
The Scribe's Report.


in season but for delay in the mails.
We are sorry that we have only room
now for brief extracts from these
answers. The first one gives the fol-
lowing additional facts concerning
Canute: He at first shared the SOW
ereignty of England with the Saxon
king, Edward Ironside, who ruled
over the south, while Canute was
monarch of the north of England. The
death of Edmund, in 1917, made Canute
sole ruler until his death, in 1885. He
was born in $685." Here are also
some points of interest concerning
Bacon which have not been mentioned:
Bacon (Francis, Lord Verulam,
viscount of st. Albans) was born in
London in 1861. His mother was the
learned Anne Cooke. He finally be-
came the greatest of modern philoso-
pliers and philosophical writers. Ba-
cons life was not as upright as the
lives of some great authors and think
ers. Burke characterized him as the
wisest, wittiest, meanest of man.
kind" His court life did not tend to
make him any better, for the court of
Elizabeth was anything but place of
purity, both in manners and practices, as
regards morals or statecraft. We have,
however, in Bacon's essays book of
the profoundest wisdom concerning life
and its relations to other lives, material
things and'the universe of God. They
are as applicable and valuable to-day as
they were at the time of their COM
position, over two centuries ago.
Bacon has become known in recent
times as the ego of the character
known in literature as Shakespear.
The matter started years ago with Miss
Bacon, relative of the philosopher.
Carlyle exploded the whole doctrine
by saying that " Bacon could have
created this planet as easily as he could
have written Hamlet"
Concerning the controversy here al
luded to, something more may be said
while we are studying about Shake
spear. OF the paragraph quoted May
s which contained the word {" got " so
many times, successful revisions have
been received from Dannie," Edna
B. Dana and Marion O. Scott. The
three are almost exactly alike; yet
each of them has in one or two in
stances a somewhat better word than
the others to substitute for "got."
Hence we will give the paragraph, re-
vised as they have it, choosing the
words that seem to fit best where the
three differ:
" was on horseback within ten min
utes after received your letter. When
l arrived at Canterbury l obtained
chaise for town; but | was wet through
before l arrived at Canterbury and |
caught such cold as l shall not re-
cover from in hurry. When
l arose in the morning | ate my break
fast and then dressed myself, that l
might 60 out in time to obtain an
answer to my memorial. AS soon as
received it | jumped into the chaise
and went. back to Canterbury, and about
tea-time | reached home"
"Dannie" suggests that 81 the COM
position might be improved, but the
Scribe did not ask for that (which is
all very true.
Answers to two of the question of
May have been received from Edna
B. Dana, and the following complete
BET from I" Cousin Polly"
"O The twelve books of the
Faerie Queene were to represent the
twelve moral virtues, each personifed
in knight who was to conquer the
sins and errors that were at war with
the virtue he represented. The Mag
nificence of the whole of virtue was
personified in King Arthur, who was
seeking union with the Faerie Queene.
The poem abounds in legends of
dwarfs, fairies and giants and in stories
of the wonders of the New World.
(2) Some authorities give the date of
the publication of the Authorized YER
sion of the Bible as 1910, but it is gem
orally given 1911. CD Fifty-four per-
sons were elected by King James to
make new translation OF the whole
Bible. Forty-seven of the men APP
pointed began the work in 1907. They
formed into committees, to each of
which was given a portion to translate,
and after three years labor each had
completed the part assigned him. They
then met together to revise and cor
rect the whole, and to settle, by con-
sultation, any difficulty that had been
met in the translating."
The Faerie Queene was to have
consisted of twelve books, as stated in
these answers, but only six of them
were completed. This poem has moi
been so widely read as its merits cause
it to deserve. This is owing in part to
its ANTICIPATED diction and is in part be