[676] Goethe's Tasso. A play by the German poet Goethe, founded on the belief that the imprisonment of Tasso was due to his aspiration to the hand of Leonora d'Este, sister of the duke of Ferrara. Tasso was a famous Italian poet of the seventeenth century.
[677] Richard III. An English king, the last of the Plantagenet line, the hero—or villain—of Shakespeare's historical play, Richard III.
[678] Bifold. Give a simpler word that means the same.
[679] Cæsar. Why is Cæsar the great Roman ruler, given as a type of greatness?
[680] Job. Why is Job, the hero of the Old Testament book of the same name, given as a type of misery?
[681] Poor Richard. Poor Richard's Almanac, published (1732-1757) by Benjamin Franklin was a collection of maxims inculcating prudence and thrift. These were given as the sayings of "Poor Richard."
[682] State Street. A street in Boston, Massachusetts, noted as a financial center.
[683] Stick in a tree between whiles, etc. "Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping."—Scott's Heart of Midlothian. It is said that these were the words of a dying Scotchman to his son.
[684] Minor virtues. Emerson suggests that punctuality and regard for a promise are two of these. Can you name others?
[685] The Latin proverb says, etc. This is quoted from Tacitus, the famous Roman historian.