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Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. It was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The ...
An illustrious Italian poet, son of preceding, born at Sorrento, near Naples; educated at a Jesuit school in Naples, he displayed unusual precocity, and subsequently studied law at the university of Padua, but already devoted to poetry, at 18 published his first poem "Rinaldo," a romance in 12 cantos, the subject-matter of which is drawn from the Charlemagne legends; in 1566 he entered the service of Cardinal Luigi d'Este, by whom he was introduced to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, brother of the cardinal, within whose court he received the needful impulse to begin his great poem "La Gerusalemme Liberata"; for the court stage he wrote his pastoral play "Aminta," a work of high poetic accomplishment, which extended his popularity, and by 1575 his great epic was finished; in the following year the symptoms of mental disease revealed themselves, and after a confinement of a few days he fled from Ferrara, and for two years led the life of a wanderer, the victim of his own brooding, religious melancholy, passing on foot from city to city of Italy; yielding to a pent-up longing to revisit Ferrara he returned, but was coldly received by the duke, and after an outburst of frenzy placed in confinement for seven years; during these years the fame of his epic spread throughout Italy, and the interest created in its author eventually led to his liberation; in 1595 he was summoned by Pope Clement VIII., from a heartless and wandering life, to appear at Rome to be crowned upon the Capitol the poet-laureate of Italy, but, although he reached the city, his worn-out frame succumbed before the ceremony could take place; "One thing," says Settembrini, the literary historian of Italy, "Tasso had, which few in his time possessed, a great heart, and that made him a true and great poet, and a most unhappy man;" Fairfax's translation of the "Jerusalem Delivered" is one of his great translations in the English language (1544-1595).
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An important branch of the Aryan race-stock, comprising a number of European peoples chiefly in East Europe, including the Russians, Bulgarians, Servians, Bohemians, Poles, Croatians, Moravians, Silesians, Pomeranians, etc. At the dawn of history we find them already settled in Europe, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Carpathians, whence they spread N., S., and W., assuming their present position by the 7th century. They are estimated to number now 100,000,000, and the various languages spoken by them are notable, compared with the Teutonic and Celtic tongues, for their rich inflections.
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An important city and river-port of China, on the Pei-ho, 34 m. from its mouth and 80 m. SE. of Peking, of which it is the port; since 1858 has been one of the open treaty ports, and in 1861 a British consulate was established; three months of the year the Pei-ho is frozen over; there is an increasing transit trade with Russia.
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An important city of the Western Soudan, situated at the edge of the Sahara, 8 m. N. of the Upper Niger, at the centre of five caravan routes which lead to all parts of North Africa; carries on a large transit trade, exchanging European goods for native produce; was occupied by the French in 1894.
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An important manufacturing city of Finland, situated on a rapid stream, which drives its cotton, linen, and woollen factories, 50 m. NW. of Tavastehuus.
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An important river of Turkey in Asia; rises in the mountains of Kurdistan, flows SE. to Diarbekir, E. to Til (where it receives the Bitlis), and hence SE. through a flat and arid country, till, after a course of 1100 m., it unites with the Euphrates to form the Shat-el-Arab, which debouches into the Persian Gulf 90 m. lower; is navigable for 500 m. to Bagdad; on its banks are the ruins of Nineveh, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon.
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An important seaport of South Hampshire, 79 m. SW. of London, situated on a small peninsula at the head of Southampton Water (a fine inlet, 11 m. by 2), between the mouths of the Itchen (E.) and the Test (W.); portions of the old town-walls and four gateways still remain; is the head-quarters of the Ordnance Survey; has splendid docks, and is an important steam-packet station for the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa; yacht and ship building and engine-making are flourishing industries.
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An important town and fortress of Prussia, in Brandenburg, at the confluence of the Spree and Havel, 8 m. W. by N. of Berlin; fortifications are of the strongest and most modern kind, and in the "Julius Tower" of the powerful citadel the German war-chest of £6,000,000 is preserved; there is an arsenal and large Government cannon-foundries, powder-factories, etc.
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An inland county, and one of the fairest of England, in the SE. between Kent (E.) and Hampshire (W.), with Sussex on the S., separated from Middlesex on the N. by the Thames; the North Downs traverse the county E. and W., slope gently to the Thames, and precipitously in the S. to the level Weald; generally presents a beautiful prospect of hill and heatherland adorned with splendid woods; the Wey and the Mole are the principal streams; hops are extensively grown round Farnham; largest town is Croydon; the county town, Guildford.
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An inlet of the Aegean Sea, 40 m. in length by 20 m. in breadth, with an excellent anchorage.
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