Old book illustrations wordshop

A man amass’d. The thing, we know,
Doth often to a frenzy grow.
No thought had he but of his minted gold–
Stuff void of worth when unemploy’d, I hold.
Now, that this treasure might the safer be,
Our miser’s dwelling had the sea
As guard on every side from every thief.
With pleasure, very small in my belief,
But very great in his, he there
Upon his hoard bestow’d his care.
No respite came of everlasting …Read more »

GERANIUM s. (gr. geranos, crane). Bot. genus of geraniaceae, which includes approximately 70 species of herbaceous plants, cultivated for the most part in pleasure gardens, and remarkable by the shape of the seed-head, which looks like the bill of a crane.
- The name geranium is commonly attributed to plants of the genus pelargonium.
- The main French species are: the hedgerow cranesbill (geranium Pyrenaicum), with purple or light crimson flowers; the shining geranium (geranium lucidum), glabrous, with pink flowers; the round-leaved cranesbill (geranium rotundifolia), with a pubescent calyx; the bloody cranesbill (geranium sanguineum), one of the most beautiful …Read more »

GROSBEAK. s. Ornith. Genus of conirostres passerine birds, which still has to be clearly defined and includes a great number of species with a short, right, conical, very large and pointed bill. In the linnaean classification, the grosbeak or hawfinch belongs to the broad fringilla genus. These birds are to be found all over the known world. The common European grosbeak (coccothraustes vulgaris, Briss.), widespread in all Europe, is rather rare in France. It is approximately 16 cm (6.3 inches) long, and has a wingspread of 25 cm (9.84 inches). It feeds on seeds of various trees (hornbeam, plane tree, pine), on cherries, on hawthorn seeds, on laurel berries and, in the summer, on what is available in gardens, particularly green peas and buds. Its call is pleasant, but plaintive. It can live in couples in our wooded mountains or it can be solitary; in the winter, it flies down to the plains. The female lays from three to five eggs of an ashen white colour …Read more »

The ladder just reached the edge of the cornice, that is to say, the sill of the window; so that, by standing upon the last round but one of the ladder, a man of about the middle height, as the king was, for instance, could easily hold a communication with those who might be in the room. Hardly had the ladder been properly placed, than the king, dropping the assumed part he had been playing in the comedy, began to ascend the rounds of the ladder, which Malicorne held at the bottom. But hardly had he completed half the distance, when a patrol of Swiss guards appeared in the garden, and advanced straight toward them. The king descended with the utmost precipitation, and concealed himself among the trees. Malicorne at once perceived that he must offer himself as a sacrifice; for, if he, too, were to conceal himself, the guard would search everywhere until they had found either himself or the king, perhaps both. It would be far better …Read more »

nce upon a time, there was a king of France who liked beautiful apples so much that he was called the apple king. He had only one daughter, a princess of remarkable beauty.
He made it known all over his kingdom, and even abroad, that he would give his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man, whether he was a prince or the son of a farmer, who would bring him a dozen apples of the most beautiful kind. And so, all the roads were crowded with all sort of people going to the court and carrying apples; kings, princes, dukes, counts, marquis and knights, but also mere farmers and gardeners. A good farmer, named Dagorn, who lived in the region of Tréguier, had superb apples in his orchards. No one in the country could …Read more »