Login to MoboReader
icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Log out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon
Young Folks' History of England

Young Folks' History of England

Charlotte M. Yonge

5.0
Comment(s)
22
View
46
Chapters

According to Wikipedia: "Charlotte Mary Yonge ( 1823 - 1901), was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print. ... She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 100 works, chiefly novels. ... Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More.... Although Yonge's work is largely out of print today, during her lifetime she was admired and respected by such notable literary figures as Alfred Tennyson and Henry James, and strongly influenced the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, especially William Morris and D. G. Rossetti."

Chapter 1 ITALY.

I am going to tell you next about the most famous nation in the world. Going westward from Greece another peninsula stretches down into the Mediterranean. The Apennine Mountains run like a limb stretching out of the Alps to the south eastward, and on them seems formed that land, shaped somewhat like a leg, which is called Italy.

Round the streams that flowed down from these hills, valleys of fertile soil formed themselves, and a great many different tribes and people took up their abode there, before there was any history to explain their coming. Putting together what can be proved about them, it is plain, however, that most of them came of that old stock from which the Greeks descended, and to which we belong ourselves, and they spoke a language which had the same root as ours and as the Greek. From one of these nations the best known form of this, as it was polished in later times, was called Latin, from the tribe who spoke it.

THE TIBER

About the middle of the peninsula there runs down, westward from the Apennines, a river called the Tiber, flowing rapidly between seven low hills, which recede as it approaches the sea. One, in especial, called the Palatine Hill, rose separately, with a flat top and steep sides, about four hundred yards from the river, and girdled in by the other six. This was the place where the great Roman power grew up from beginnings, the truth of which cannot now be discovered.

CURIOUS POTTERY.

There were several nations living round these hills-the Etruscans, Sabines, and Latins being the chief. The homes of these nations seem to have been in the valleys round the spurs of the Apennines, where they had farms and fed their flocks; but above them was always the hill which they had fortified as strongly as possible, and where they took refuge if their enemies attacked them. The Etruscans built very mighty walls, and also managed the drainage of their cities wonderfully well. Many of their works remain to this day, and, in especial, their monuments have been opened, and the tomb of each chief has been found, adorned with figures of himself, half lying, half sitting; also curious pottery in red and black, from which something of their lives and ways is to be made out. They spoke a different language from what has become Latin, and they had a different religion, believing in one great Soul of the World, and also thinking much of rewards and punishments after death. But we know hardly anything about them, except that their chiefs were called Lucumos, and that they once had a wide power which they had lost before the time of history. The Romans called them Tusci, and Tuscany still keeps its name.

The Latins and the Sabines were more alike, and also more like the Greeks. There were a great many settlements of Greeks in the southern parts of Italy, and they learnt something from them. They had a great many gods. Every house had its own guardian. These were called Lares, or Penates, and were generally represented as little figures of dogs lying by the hearth, or as brass bars with dogs' heads. This is the reason that the bars which close in an open hearth are still called dogs. Whenever there was a meal in the house the master began by pouring out wine to the Lares, and also to his own ancestors, of whom he kept figures; for these natives thought much of their families, and all one family had the same name, like our surname, such as Tullius or Appius, the daughters only changing it by making it end in a instead of us, and the men having separate names standing first, such as Marcus or Lucius, though their sisters were only numbered to distinguish them.

JUPITER

Each city had a guardian spirit, each stream its nymph, each wood its faun; also there were gods to whom the boundary stones of estates were dedicated. There was a goddess of fruits called Pomona, and a god of fruits named Vertumnus. In their names the fields and the crops were solemnly blest, and all were sacred to Saturn. He, according to the old legends, had first taught husbandry, and when he reigned in Italy there was a golden age, when every one had his own field, lived by his own handiwork, and kept no slaves. There was a feast in honor of this time every year called the Saturnalia, when for a few days the slaves were all allowed to act as if they were free, and have all kinds of wild sports and merriment. Afterwards, when Greek learning came in, Saturn was mixed up with the Greek Kronos, or Time, who devours his offspring, and the reaping-hook his figures used to carry for harvest became Time's scythe. The sky-god, Zeus or Deus Pater (or father), was shortened into Jupiter; Juno was his wife, and Mars was god of war, and in Greek times was supposed to be the same as Ares; Pallas Athene was joined with the Latin Minerva; Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, was called Vesta; and, in truth, we talk of the Greek gods by their Latin names. The old Greek tales were not known to the Latins in their first times, but only afterwards learnt from the Greeks. They seem to have thought of their gods as graver, higher beings, further off, and less capricious and fanciful than the legends about the weather had made them seem to the Greeks. Indeed, these Latins were a harder, tougher, graver, fiercer, more business-like race altogether than the Greeks; not so clever, thoughtful, or poetical, but with more of what we should now call sterling stuff in them.

At least so it was with that great nation which spoke their language, and seems to have been an offshoot from them. Rome, the name of which is said to mean the famous, is thought to have been at first a cluster of little villages, with forts to protect them on the hills, and temples in the forts. Jupiter had a temple on the Capitoline Hill, with cells for his worship, and that of Juno and Minerva; and the two-faced Janus, the god of gates, had his upon the Janicular Hill. Besides these, there were the Palatine, the Esquiline, the Aventine, the C?lian, and the Quirinal. The people of these villages called themselves Quirites, or spearmen, when they formed themselves into an army and made war on their neighbors, the Sabines and Latins, and by-and-by built a wall enclosing all the seven hills, and with a strip of ground within, free from houses, where sacrifices were offered and omens sought for.

The history of these people was not written till long after they had grown to be a mighty and terrible power, and had also picked up many Greek notions. Then they seem to have made their history backwards, and worked up their old stories and songs to explain the names and customs they found among them, and the tales they told were formed into a great history by one Titus Livius. It is needful to know these stories which every one used to believe to be really history; so we will tell them first, beginning, however, with a story told by the poet Virgil.

* * *

Continue Reading

Other books by Charlotte M. Yonge

More

You'll also like

After Divorce: Loved By The Secret Billionaire CEO

After Divorce: Loved By The Secret Billionaire CEO

Romance

4.8

After a devastating divorce with the man she had been married to for over three years, Rachel thought her life was over. Her family disowned her, they wanted nothing to do with her anymore and she couldn't blame them. She had just divorced David Hart, one of the top successful bachelors in the country and heir to the Hart industries. But they would never understand that she didn't divorce him, he divorced her after she caught him cheating on her with her god-damned best friend! Rachel was just about to end everything by jumping off a bridge when she was saved by the most unexpected person. The boy she once bullied severally in highschool because he always wore ugly glass and was from a poor background, how come that glass make him so hot now? Why was he helping her get revenge on ex-husband who is trying to make her life even more miserable? And most important how did he get so handsome? What exactly does he want from her? ... No, you must want something, anything. If you can really help me get revenge on David and Lana, I can't just let you do it for free". Ethan went quiet for a while. I held my breath waiting for what his request might be. If it was something money could buy, I'll try my best to get it for him even though I was somehow broke right now. "You're right I do want something". He said after thinking for few minutes "What?" I asked slowly. " Until you get your revenge on David, Lana and every other person you want, you will live here". Live here as in...?  " Wha... What are you saying? ". I stammered hoping he wasn't saying what I thought he was saying. I tried to step back but I missed a step and almost fell on the bed but Ethan caught me holding me in his muscular arms.  Ethan moved his face closer to mine be was so close, our nose almost touched. " I want you to be with me! ".

Sleeping With My Ex-boyfriend's Father

Sleeping With My Ex-boyfriend's Father

Billionaires

5.0

Andrea Deciding that I was going to skip a day at work so I could have first time sex with my boyfriend seemed like the most absurd decision I could ever make. Or at least that was what I'd thought. Until I'd walked in on my said boyfriend cheating on me with some redhead and decided to get my revenge by losing my virginity to his wealthy billionaire father instead. Crazy, right? Trust me, I know. Like that's not enough, things take a drastic turn for the worst after I realized I was in love with him and pregnant with his child. Before I could get the chance to come clean about every including my feelings formhim and the pregnancy, he finds out about my trickery. Alejandro's not one to condone being lied to and deceived so he immediately tells me he doesn't want to see me again. So what do I do? I pack up and leave the country. But it seems like the universe isn't done with us just yet. . . Alejandro I should have known better than to get involved with someone way younger than me. It was something I've never done before. But like the saying goes, there's a first time for everything. The first time I met Andrea I was captivated by her beauty. More than that there was this innocence in her that called out to me like a moth to a flame. I ignored all the warnings in my head and went after what I wanted. And what I wanted was her. Unfortunately what she wanted was revenge against my son. I told myself that it had to be some kind of mistake. There was no way she had been playing with my feelings and planning some silly revenge this whole time. But she had. It had taken a surprise visit from my son for me to find out her true intentions. Even then it had been hard to believe it. But I couldn't deny that she'd fooled me real good alright. So naturally I cut ties with her. And that's supposed to be the end, right? Wrong. Turns out that our story was never destined to end just there. . .

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Young Folks' History of England
1

Chapter 1 ITALY.

01/12/2017

2

Chapter 2 THE WANDERINGS OF NEAS.

01/12/2017

3

Chapter 3 THE FOUNDING OF ROME.

01/12/2017

4

Chapter 4 NUMA AND TULLUS.

01/12/2017

5

Chapter 5 THE DRIVING OUT OF THE TARQUINS.

01/12/2017

6

Chapter 6 THE WAR WITH PORSENA.

01/12/2017

7

Chapter 7 THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT.

01/12/2017

8

Chapter 8 MENENIUS AGRIPPA'S FABLE.

01/12/2017

9

Chapter 9 CORIOLANUS AND CINCINNATUS.

01/12/2017

10

Chapter 10 THE DECEMVIRS.

01/12/2017

11

Chapter 11 CAMILLUS' BANISHMENT.

01/12/2017

12

Chapter 12 THE SACK OF ROME.

01/12/2017

13

Chapter 13 THE PLEBEIAN CONSULATE.

01/12/2017

14

Chapter 14 THE DEVOTION OF DECIUS.

01/12/2017

15

Chapter 15 THE SAMNITE WARS.

01/12/2017

16

Chapter 16 THE WAR WITH PYRRHUS.

01/12/2017

17

Chapter 17 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.

01/12/2017

18

Chapter 18 CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL.

01/12/2017

19

Chapter 19 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

01/12/2017

20

Chapter 20 THE FIRST EASTERN WAR.

01/12/2017

21

Chapter 21 THE CONQUEST OF GREECE, CORINTH, AND CARTHAGE.

01/12/2017

22

Chapter 22 THE GRACCHI.

01/12/2017

23

Chapter 23 THE WARS OF MARIUS.

01/12/2017

24

Chapter 24 THE ADVENTURES OF MARIUS.

01/12/2017

25

Chapter 25 SULLA'S PROSCRIPTION.

01/12/2017

26

Chapter 26 THE CAREER OF POMPEIUS.

01/12/2017

27

Chapter 27 POMPEIUS AND C SAR.

01/12/2017

28

Chapter 28 JULIUS C SAR.

01/12/2017

29

Chapter 29 THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE.

01/12/2017

30

Chapter 30 C SAR AUGUSTUS.

01/12/2017

31

Chapter 31 TIBERIUS AND CALIGULA.

01/12/2017

32

Chapter 32 CLAUDIUS AND NERO.

01/12/2017

33

Chapter 33 THE FLAVIAN FAMILY.

01/12/2017

34

Chapter 34 THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES.

01/12/2017

35

Chapter 35 THE PR TORIAN INFLUENCE.

01/12/2017

36

Chapter 36 THE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE.

01/12/2017

37

Chapter 37 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.

01/12/2017

38

Chapter 38 CONSTANTIUS.

01/12/2017

39

Chapter 39 VALENTINIAN AND HIS FAMILY.

01/12/2017

40

Chapter 40 THEODOSIUS THE GREAT.

01/12/2017