Thomas Bulfinch was a native of Boston, Mass., where he was born in 1796. His boyhood was spent in that city, and he prepared for college in the Boston schools. He finished his scholastic7 training at Harvard College, and after taking his degree was for a period a teacher in his home city. For a long time later in life he was employed as an accountant in the Boston Merchants’ Bank. His leisure time he used for further pursuit of the classical studies which he had begun at Harvard, and his chief pleasure in life lay in writing out the results of his reading, in simple, condensed form for young or busy readers. The plan he followed in this work, to give it the greatest possible usefulness, is set forth8 in the Author’s Preface.
“The Age of Fable,” First Edition, 1855; “The Age of Chivalry,” 1858; “The Boy Inventor,” 1860; “Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages,” 1863; “Poetry of the Age of Fable,” 1863; “Oregon and Eldorado, or Romance of the Rivers,” 1860.
In this complete edition of his mythological9 and legendary10 lore11 “The Age of Fable,” “The Age of Chivalry,” and “Legends of Charlemagne” are included. Scrupulous12 care has been taken to follow the original text of Bulfinch, but attention should be called to some additional sections which have been inserted to add to the rounded completeness of the work, and which the publishers believe would meet with the sanction of the author himself, as in no way intruding13 upon his original plan but simply carrying it out in more complete detail. The section on Northern Mythology14 has been enlarged by a retelling of the epic15 of the “Nibelungen Lied,” together with a summary of Wagner’s version of the legend in his series of music-dramas. Under the head of “Hero Myths of the British Race” have been included outlines of the stories of Beowulf, Cuchulain, Hereward the Wake, and Robin3 Hood6. Of the verse extracts which occur throughout the text, thirty or more have been added from literature which has appeared since Bulfinch’s time, extracts that he would have been likely to quote had he personally supervised the new edition.
Finally, the index has been thoroughly16 overhauled17 and, indeed, remade. All the proper names in the work have been entered, with references to the pages where they occur, and a concise18 explanation or definition of each has been given. Thus what was a mere19 list of names in the original has been enlarged into a small classical and mythological dictionary, which it is hoped will prove valuable for reference purposes not necessarily connected with “The Age of Fable.”
Acknowledgments are due the writings of Dr. Oliver Huckel for information on the point of Wagner’s rendering20 of the Nibelungen legend, and M. I. Ebbutt’s authoritative21 volume on “Hero Myths and Legends of the British Race,” from which much of the information concerning the British heroes has been obtained.
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1 painstaking | |
adj.苦干的;艰苦的,费力的,刻苦的 | |
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2 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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3 robin | |
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
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4 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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5 perusal | |
n.细读,熟读;目测 | |
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6 hood | |
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 | |
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7 scholastic | |
adj.学校的,学院的,学术上的 | |
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8 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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9 mythological | |
adj.神话的 | |
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10 legendary | |
adj.传奇(中)的,闻名遐迩的;n.传奇(文学) | |
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11 lore | |
n.传说;学问,经验,知识 | |
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12 scrupulous | |
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的 | |
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13 intruding | |
v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的现在分词);把…强加于 | |
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14 mythology | |
n.神话,神话学,神话集 | |
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15 epic | |
n.史诗,叙事诗;adj.史诗般的,壮丽的 | |
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16 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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17 overhauled | |
v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 );大修;赶上;超越 | |
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18 concise | |
adj.简洁的,简明的 | |
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19 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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20 rendering | |
n.表现,描写 | |
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21 authoritative | |
adj.有权威的,可相信的;命令式的;官方的 | |
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