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Facts and Fancies for the Curious

by Charles C. Bombaugh

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  1. 1Epigraph — Preface
  2. 2Americana
  3. 3The Icelandic Sagas
  4. 4Foreknowledge
  5. 5Erikson and Columbus
  6. 6The Cabots
  7. 7The Name America
  8. 8What It Cost to Discover America
  9. 9The American Indians
  10. 10The Landing of the Pilgrims
  11. 11The First Legislative Assembly
  12. 12The Signing of the Declaration
  13. 13The Authorship of the Declaration
  14. 14Eminent Domain — National Sovereignty
  15. 15Gun Flints Wanted
  16. 16The Master Spirit of the Revolution
  17. 17The Constitutional Convention
  18. 18Division of Legislative Authority
  19. 19Progress Toward Position as a World Power
  20. 20Our National Airs
  21. 21Hail Columbia
  22. 22The Star-Spangled Banner
  23. 23The Red, White, and Blue
  24. 24Yankee Doodle
  25. 25Our Historic Characters
  26. 26Franklin
  27. 27Hamilton
  28. 28Jefferson
  29. 29The Portrait of a Good Man by the Most Sublime of Poets, for Your I…
  30. 30A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life
  31. 31Marshall
  32. 32Jackson
  33. 33Webster
  34. 34Lincoln at Gettysburg
  35. 35Grant at Appomattox
  36. 36Last Words
  37. 37Our Wonderlands
  38. 38Our Language
  39. 39The Alphabet
  40. 40Phonetic Changes
  41. 41Americanisms
  42. 42Spelling Exercises
  43. 43A Spelling Lesson
  44. 44Dream of a Spelling-Bee
  45. 45The Longest Words
  46. 46Trifles
  47. 47A Perplexing Word
  48. 48Verbal Conceits
  49. 49Philological Contrarieties
  50. 50The Aspirate
  51. 51Alliterative Tribute to Swinburne
  52. 52Vulcan
  53. 53Compressing the Alphabet
  54. 54Alphabetical Fancies
  55. 55Palindromes
  56. 56Words Wrong, Pronunciation Right
  57. 57The Power of Short Words
  58. 58Legal Verbosity
  59. 59Prayers Constructed With Elaborate Skill
  60. 60Its
  61. 61Rough
  62. 62Either and Neither
  63. 63If
  64. 64Words That Will Not Be Put Down
  65. 65Changes in Pronunciation
  66. 66Pronunciation of Proper Names
  67. 67Bryant’s Index Expurgatorious
  68. 68Stilted Scientific Phraseology
  69. 69Metaphorical Conceits
  70. 70Guess
  71. 71A Message From England
  72. 72First Things
  73. 73First Blood of the Revolution
  74. 74The Oldest Buildings in America
  75. 75First Duel Fought in New England
  76. 76First Person Cremated in America
  77. 77Old-Time Journalism
  78. 78The First American Book
  79. 79The Pioneer Furrier
  80. 80College Papers
  81. 81Damnatus
  82. 82A Virginia Abolitionist
  83. 83Suspension Bridge
  84. 84Millions for Defence
  85. 85Machine Politics
  86. 86Anæsthesia
  87. 87Anthracite Coal
  88. 88Petroleum
  89. 89Photography
  90. 90Old Hickory
  91. 91Eagle, the Emblematic
  92. 92John Bull
  93. 93The First Riddle
  94. 94Boycott
  95. 95Vivisection
  96. 96Auld Kirk
  97. 97Beer
  98. 98Honeymoon
  99. 99Gringo
  100. 100Erasure
  101. 101The Thimble
  102. 102Bank Notes
  103. 103Anno Domini
  104. 104The Oldest Declaration of Independence
  105. 105Punctuation
  106. 106Sleeping-Cars
  107. 107Eve’s Mirror
  108. 108Order of the Garter
  109. 109Coffee
  110. 110Billiards
  111. 111Cheap Postage
  112. 112Postage Stamps
  113. 113A Boston “Merchantman”
  114. 114Theatrical Deadheads
  115. 115Dollar
  116. 116Marriage in Church
  117. 117The Degree of M. D.
  118. 118The Title of “Reverend”
  119. 119The First Christian Hymn
  120. 120Mother Goose and Mary’s Lamb
  121. 121The Umbrella
  122. 122Equal Mark
  123. 123Cardinal’s Red Hat
  124. 124An Old Proverb
  125. 125The Stereoscope
  126. 126The Dark Horse
  127. 127The First Gold Found in California
  128. 128The Flag of the United States
  129. 129National Political Conventions
  130. 130The First United States Bank
  131. 131The Oldest Living Things
  132. 132Prototypes
  133. 133Figaro
  134. 134The Malaprops
  135. 135The Pen and the Sword
  136. 136The Best Service
  137. 137Mark Twain Accused of Plagiary
  138. 138The Bill of Fare
  139. 139Ancestry
  140. 140Cinderella
  141. 141Crossing the Bar
  142. 142Fourth Estate
  143. 143Ne Sutor Ultra Crepidam
  144. 144Chestnut
  145. 145Milton’s Indebtedness
  146. 146An Expressive Phrase
  147. 147Overstrained Politeness
  148. 148The Next to Godliness
  149. 149Punchinello
  150. 150Workmen’s Strikes
  151. 151The Standing Egg
  152. 152Setting Up to Knock Down
  153. 153The Guilds of London
  154. 154Rip van Winkle
  155. 155Menteith
  156. 156The Christmas-Tree
  157. 157Shallows and Deeps
  158. 158Platform
  159. 159Forecasts
  160. 160The Moons of Mars
  161. 161The Suez Canal
  162. 162The Panama Canal
  163. 163Foreshadowing of the Germ Theory
  164. 164The Telephone
  165. 165Stenography
  166. 166The Great Fire of London
  167. 167The Plague of London
  168. 168The Reformation
  169. 169Emancipation
  170. 170The French Revolution
  171. 171The White Lady
  172. 172Miscellanea Curiosa
  173. 173Singular Expedient
  174. 174Queer Parliamentary Enactment
  175. 175Bolingbroke’s Favorite Desk
  176. 176Fourth of March
  177. 177The Powwow
  178. 178The Flowering Dogwood
  179. 179Offensiveness Punished
  180. 180Ropes Made of Women’s Hair
  181. 181Premonitory Caution
  182. 182Realism
  183. 183He Couldn’t Have Shot Him
  184. 184Cromwell’s Grace
  185. 185The Ocean Depths
  186. 186Pleasant Reading
  187. 187Bismarck in the Language of the Spirits
  188. 188The Age of Niagara Falls
  189. 189Tools of the Pyramid Builders
  190. 190A Distant World
  191. 191A Matter of Form
  192. 192Sweet Auburn
  193. 193Importance of Punctuation
  194. 194Bottled Tears
  195. 195As You Read It
  196. 196A Story of Witchcraft
  197. 197Circumstantial Evidence
  198. 198A Little Beggar’s Charity
  199. 199Jack Sprat
  200. 200Franklin’s Brown Coat
  201. 201Sources of History
  202. 202A Long Name
  203. 203Hero Worship
  204. 204Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
  205. 205None Such
  206. 206The Ants’ Habits
  207. 207Caroline Herschel’s Many Years
  208. 208Constitution of the Early Church
  209. 209“Home, Sweet Home”
  210. 210Marriage in Undress
  211. 211A City in Darkness
  212. 212The Graffiti at Pompeii
  213. 213Superstition
  214. 214An Itemized Bill
  215. 215Latin Pronunciation
  216. 216Prevention Better Than Cure
  217. 217Facetiæ
  218. 218Already Had One
  219. 219Ask Papa
  220. 220Too Mild
  221. 221The Eye of the Fly
  222. 222Yale’s Way
  223. 223Canard
  224. 224Sothern’s Practical Joke
  225. 225High Art Advertising
  226. 226An Admissible Explanation
  227. 227Second- or Third-Rate
  228. 228The Wounded Amazon
  229. 229Mr. Evarts’s Jocularity
  230. 230Worse Than Worst
  231. 231A Poet-farmer in a Fix
  232. 232A Venerable Joke
  233. 233The Graduate
  234. 234Coldblooded Criticism
  235. 235Mock Heroics
  236. 236Unwilling Willingness
  237. 237Companion Pictures
  238. 238Juxtaposition
  239. 239Niagara
  240. 240Compliant Courts
  241. 241A Modern Judge on Portia’s Judgment
  242. 242A Legal Dilemma
  243. 243Virgil’s Æneid Dissected
  244. 244Relative Size
  245. 245The Cardinal’s Curse
  246. 246The Berners Street Hoax
  247. 247The Point of View
  248. 248Vicissim
  249. 249Jack and Jill
  250. 250High Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle
  251. 251Mary’s Little Lamb
  252. 252The Meeting
  253. 253Flashes of Repartee
  254. 254Fitting Answers
  255. 255Left-Handed Compliments
  256. 256Not Beyond Reach
  257. 257Limitation of Authority
  258. 258Like Topsy
  259. 259Opposite Effects
  260. 260Maternity — Date of Possession
  261. 261The Old Dominion
  262. 262No Jury Then and There
  263. 263Each His Own Way
  264. 264Nature’s Painting
  265. 265A Boomerang
  266. 266Relationship
  267. 267Decay’s Effacement
  268. 268A Woman’s Revenge
  269. 269Best for Her
  270. 270Ecclesiastical Tit-for-Tat
  271. 271Even Chances
  272. 272A Quick-Witted Damsel
  273. 273Meeting an Emergency
  274. 274Declined With Thanks
  275. 275A Courteous Retort
  276. 276Bearding the Lion
  277. 277Distinction With a Difference
  278. 278Future Provision
  279. 279Sumner’s Legal Learning
  280. 280Walk vs. Conversation
  281. 281The Last Chance
  282. 282Divine Knowledge
  283. 283A Quaint Reproof — Acceptability Without a Dress Suit
  284. 284Marriage in Heaven
  285. 285Force and Argument
  286. 286The Condemned Jester
  287. 287Marjorie
  288. 288The Word-Twisting of the Punsters
  289. 289Clever Hits of the Humorists
  290. 290Toast
  291. 291The Preferred Beverage
  292. 292Identified
  293. 293An Uncivil Retort
  294. 294Unmistakable Legality
  295. 295A Very Long Bill
  296. 296Whittier’s Impromptu
  297. 297Seeing Is Believing — A Killarney Echo
  298. 298Not Rousseau
  299. 299Love of Specie-s
  300. 300His Station
  301. 301Frankness
  302. 302Double X
  303. 303Met the Emergency
  304. 304A Similar Privilege
  305. 305Caderousse’s Wager
  306. 306According to Agreement
  307. 307A Pulpit Wager
  308. 308Rhus Toxicodendron
  309. 309Mark Twain Convinced
  310. 310Motto for a Tavern Sign
  311. 311A New Light
  312. 312Schweininger’s Thrust
  313. 313Significant Change
  314. 314The Remedy
  315. 315Botanical Misnomer
  316. 316Not Interchangeable
  317. 317Business Economy
  318. 318Completing an Unfinished Stanza
  319. 319Sonnet to a Cow
  320. 320Xanthippe Vindicated
  321. 321Democritus at Belfast
  322. 322Christmas Chimes
  323. 323The Nestling Shuttlecock
  324. 324Proverbial Philosophy in New Dress
  325. 325Theory and Practice
  326. 326The Hits of the Satirists
  327. 327Battle Prayer
  328. 328Silly Newspaper Queries
  329. 329Puffery Extraordinary
  330. 330Beaconsfield
  331. 331Burns’s Impromptu
  332. 332The Prince Regent
  333. 333The American Eagle
  334. 334The Drama as an Instrumentality
  335. 335Compliments to Boswell
  336. 336Forbidden Fruit
  337. 337A Statesman as a Scientist
  338. 338Lardner’s Mistaken Prediction
  339. 339The Lawyers and the Playwrights
  340. 340Bancroft as a Historian
  341. 341Unsuspected Turns
  342. 342Plain Speaking
  343. 343Stanhope
  344. 344Pens Dipped in Gall
  345. 345Samuel Rogers
  346. 346Junius on the Duke of Bedford
  347. 347Ruskin on the Bicycle
  348. 348A Serious Interruption
  349. 349Imitation of Shakespeare’s Commentators
  350. 350Wordsworth’s Horse
  351. 351A Sylvan Reverie
  352. 352Carlyle as a Masquerader
  353. 353Evasions of Ambiguity
  354. 354The Religion of Wise Men
  355. 355A Deceiver
  356. 356An Acknowledgment
  357. 357An Artful Dodger
  358. 358Rouge
  359. 359A Difference
  360. 360Which?
  361. 361Divine Service
  362. 362Doubtful Compliment
  363. 363King or Pretender?
  364. 364A Legal Question
  365. 365A Judge Like Solomon
  366. 366The Butchers
  367. 367Meeting the Difficulty
  368. 368A Tough Witness
  369. 369Shifting Responsibility
  370. 370Erskine’s Pleasantry
  371. 371Mortuary Word-Play
  372. 372Comical Blunders
  373. 373The Wrong Man Made a Count
  374. 374Stiefel
  375. 375A Happy Thought
  376. 376Couldn’t Fool Him
  377. 377Gibson’s Venus
  378. 378Highgate
  379. 379Both Sides
  380. 380A Hopeless Case
  381. 381A Question of Capacity
  382. 382An Unexpected Reception
  383. 383Half-Truths
  384. 384The Happening of the Unexpected
  385. 385A Great Mind
  386. 386Psoriasis
  387. 387Exchanging Errors
  388. 388Betting on the Lord’s Prayer
  389. 389Contradictory Phraseology
  390. 390Individuals
  391. 391Infelicities
  392. 392A “Sufficient” Guide-Post
  393. 393Faux Pas
  394. 394One Form of Vanity
  395. 395“Beats,” Not Turnips
  396. 396Reasonable Excuse
  397. 397Sending a Postscript
  398. 398Didn’t Understand Quakerese
  399. 399John the Baptist
  400. 400A German Pickwick
  401. 401Not a Chiropodist
  402. 402Unfamiliar Familiarity
  403. 403Alleged Danger of Rapid Movement
  404. 404Aaron and Hur
  405. 405Twenty Dunkards With an R
  406. 406The Economy of Nature
  407. 407Desirable Uniformity
  408. 408False Doctrine
  409. 409Poor Children
  410. 410Help From Above
  411. 411Minding One’s Business
  412. 412Direct Information
  413. 413Mistranslation
  414. 414Misplaced Zeal
  415. 415Before Railroads
  416. 416The Wrong Word
  417. 417Missing the Point of the Jokes
  418. 418Even Homer Sometimes Nods — Jugurtha
  419. 419Completing a Sentence
  420. 420Racine vs. Voltaire
  421. 421A Chinese Cycle
  422. 422Watts vs. Cowper
  423. 423Bret Harte’s Astronomy
  424. 424Wolseley’s Mistake
  425. 425Johnson’s Error
  426. 426Milton’s Italian
  427. 427Milton as a Botanist
  428. 428Dante as a Naturalist
  429. 429Cassio or Iago?
  430. 430In Time of Peace Prepare for War
  431. 431Collins vs. Prior
  432. 432Gladstone’s Heber
  433. 433Balboa
  434. 434Cenotaph
  435. 435Bishop Ken’s Doxology
  436. 436St. Paul to the Ephesians
  437. 437Byron’s Greek
  438. 438Triple Error
  439. 439Mistakes of Our Best Writers
  440. 440The Stretches of Poetic License
  441. 441Misquotation
  442. 442Falsities and Fallacies
  443. 443The Lentulus Letter
  444. 444Scott’s Fabrications
  445. 445William Tell
  446. 446The Finding of Moses
  447. 447A Historic Phrase Disputed
  448. 448The Maelstrom
  449. 449Don’t Give Up the Ship
  450. 450Specific Gravity
  451. 451Pocahontas
  452. 452The Penn Treaty
  453. 453The Good Old Times
  454. 454Shakespeare’s Defiance of Historical Fact
  455. 455The Bacon Humbug
  456. 456Stratford-on-Avon
  457. 457L — E. L. Assumes a Virtue
  458. 458The Burning of Rome, A.D. 54
  459. 459Mummy Wheat
  460. 460Anglo-Saxon as a Race Term
  461. 461Guillotin
  462. 462Legendary Lore
  463. 463A Marred Destiny
  464. 464Robinson Crusoe
  465. 465Macaulay in the Role of a Pickpocket
  466. 466A Minister’s Messenger and What He Saw
  467. 467Tobacco in Diplomacy
  468. 468The Mystery of the Dauphin
  469. 469The Sistine Madonna and la Fornarina
  470. 470The Letter M
  471. 471The Iron Maiden
  472. 472The Value of Practical Knowledge
  473. 473The Marseillaise
  474. 474Shakespeare and Burbage
  475. 475A Circassian Legend
  476. 476General Grouchy at Waterloo
  477. 477Acadia
  478. 478Wolfe at Quebec
  479. 479The Chien d’Or
  480. 480Maximilian at Queretaro
  481. 481The Thieves’ Market
  482. 482Amulets and Talismans
  483. 483Christmas Observances
  484. 484What Language Did Jesus Speak?
  485. 485Royalty’s Family Names
  486. 486Parallel Passages
  487. 487Shakespeare’s Repetitions
  488. 488Children
  489. 489Calumny
  490. 490Boabdils
  491. 491Compulsion
  492. 492Effect of Ill News
  493. 493Resignation — Allusion to an Old Proverb
  494. 494Prayer
  495. 495Early Hours
  496. 496Fortitude
  497. 497Posthumous Fame
  498. 498Mercy
  499. 499Madness
  500. 500The King’s Name
  501. 501Object of Imitation
  502. 502Woman
  503. 503“Bad Epitaph and Ill Report”
  504. 504Remembrance of Past Feats
  505. 505Perverted Reason — Deceit
  506. 506Thereby Hangs a Tale
  507. 507Duo Che Insieme Vanno — Dante
  508. 508The Wit of the Epigrammatists
  509. 509Whewell
  510. 510The Four Georges
  511. 511The Ladies
  512. 512Sarcastic
  513. 513Gay With One Leg
  514. 514“Never Cut Themselves”
  515. 515Jenner’s Quacks
  516. 516Loud Snoring
  517. 517Bacon and Shakespeare
  518. 518History
  519. 519Fitness
  520. 520Concerning Welsh Poets
  521. 521Bulwer Lytton
  522. 522Hic, Hæc, Hoc
  523. 523Complimentary
  524. 524A Crier
  525. 525A Double Prize
  526. 526War and Peace
  527. 527Not Conclusive
  528. 528Appropriate Petition
  529. 529Expectancy
  530. 530Keenness of Edge
  531. 531Revenons à Nos Moutons
  532. 532The Division of Labor
  533. 533A Contrast
  534. 534Lis et Victoria Mutua
  535. 535The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
  536. 536Horse-Breaker and Gray Mare
  537. 537Washington
  538. 538On Mackintosh
  539. 539Ended in Smoke
  540. 540Dryness
  541. 541Debtor and Creditor
  542. 542Why No Last Will and Testament
  543. 543From the Dutch of Huijgens — Three Sportive Fishers
  544. 544Ghosts
  545. 545A Gamester’s Marriage — Changed Conditions
  546. 546Distinction With a Difference
  547. 547Better Late Than Never
  548. 548None Missing
  549. 549Four Kinds
  550. 550To the Pretty Girl Who Lent Me a Candle
  551. 551On “Quodcunque Infundis Ascescit”
  552. 552Two Watering Places
  553. 553Glen Urquhart
  554. 554A Friend in Need — Retaliation
  555. 555Not Distinguishable
  556. 556A Bar Sinister
  557. 557Communism — The Busy Bee
  558. 558The Winning Team
  559. 559Spirits
  560. 560Enigmas — Charles James Fox’s
  561. 561Hallam’s
  562. 562Lord Macaulay’s
  563. 563Dr. S. Weir Mitchell’s
  564. 564Miss Seward’s
  565. 565Palindromic Enigma
  566. 566A Fugitive Sigh
  567. 567Arithmetical Puzzle
  568. 568What Becomes of the Pins?
  569. 569Charades
  570. 570Richard Porson’s Charades
  571. 571Genealogical Puzzle
  572. 572Marigold
  573. 573Sir Hilary’s Prayer
  574. 574Voices From God’s Acre
  575. 575The Blue and the Gray
  576. 576George Eliot
  577. 577Scott
  578. 578Queen Elizabeth
  579. 579Samuel Johnson
  580. 580Beust — Elihu Yale
  581. 581John Harvard
  582. 582Cheyne
  583. 583Huxley
  584. 584André
  585. 585Stevenson
  586. 586Prince Christian
  587. 587Condell and Heminge
  588. 588Shakespeare’s Doctor
  589. 589Little Ruth
  590. 590Longfellow and Brooks
  591. 591Grateful Memory
  592. 592From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
  593. 593Somebody’s Darling
  594. 594Bismarck
  595. 595A Husbandman
  596. 596The Honeyed Phrase of Compliment
  597. 597The Mazes of Obscurity
  598. 598Ideal Physical Proportions
  599. 599Grecian and American Standards
  600. 600The Venus de Medici a Questionable Type
  601. 601Famous Beauties — Cleopatra
  602. 602Phryne
  603. 603Isabella of Castile
  604. 604Diana of Poitiers
  605. 605Ninon de L’Enclos
  606. 606Mary Stuart
  607. 607Pompadour
  608. 608Eugénie
  609. 609Female Poisoners
  610. 610Brevities
  611. 611Toasts and Mottoes
  612. 612Independence Day — Our Country
  613. 613The American Commonwealth — The President of the United States
  614. 614The Flag of Our Union
  615. 615The Army
  616. 616The Navy
  617. 617The City
  618. 618The Pulpit
  619. 619The Law
  620. 620Medicine
  621. 621Woman
  622. 622Christian Charity
  623. 623Sexual Affinity
  624. 624Temperance — The Press
  625. 625Modern Transportation
  626. 626Erskine’s Toast — Our Dead
  627. 627Good-Night
  628. 628Finis Coronat Opus
  629. 629The Loved and Lost
  630. 630At Last
  631. 631Auld Lang Syne
  632. 632In a Rose Garden
  633. 633“Now I Lay Me”
  634. 634Thanatopsis
  635. 635Immortality
  636. 636M — Guizot’s Confession of Faith
  637. 637Thiers’s Faith
  638. 638Patrick Henry’s Legacy
  639. 639Goethe’s Last Words
  640. 640A Rational View
  641. 641Avoidance
  642. 642A Scene at Old Hickory’s Death-bed
  643. 643Imperator Augustus
  644. 644Mary Stuart’s Prayer
  645. 645Into the World and Out
  646. 646Patientia
  647. 647Death

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