Introduction
A Note Book of Valuable and Instructive Matter was written by Edward Patrick Brownson (1843-1864) between February and June of 1860 during his senior year at St. John’s College now Fordham University.
In 1860, St. John’s College was an all-male Jesuit boarding school. The boys who attended St. John’s came from relatively well-off Catholic families. The student body was small and a number of the boys came from South America and the American South. During the American Civil War, St. John’s College graduates joined both Union and Confederate forces. In June 1860, the Jesuits, perhaps from a fear for their land holdings in the slave states, prevented Edward from delivering an anti-slavery graduation speech.
Edward Brownson was a Massachusetts native who had relocated with his parents family to Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1862, with the patronage of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Edward was granted a regular commission as a Captain United States Army with an initial assignment as an officer on the staff of Major General Fremont. Edward subsequently served on the staffs of Generals Casey, Hunt and Hancock. Captain Brownson saw action with Army of the Potomac in every battle from Fredricksburg to theWilderness where he was wounded. Not quite recovered form his wound, he rejoined the Army of the Potomac in the trenches around Petersburg. On August 23, 1864, Edward was mortally wounded at the battle of Ream’s Station while leading a counterattack of reformed elements of the 12th New Jersey after a Confederate breakthrough of the Union position. He was taken from the battlefield to a filed hospital in the rear. He died later that evening in the ambulance that carried him from the field. Captain Brownson is buried in a now unmarked grave in the Bishop’s Cemetery in East Orange, New Jersey.
The Note Book transcribed here provides an insight into Edward’s classical education and into the formation of his character.
Dennis Kelly
February 2011
A Note Book of Valuable and Instructive Matter
by Edward Brownson, Esq.
Fordham, February 1860.
A Note Book of Valuable and Instructive Matter, by Edward Brownson, Esq., Fordham, February 1860
Remarks on the Study and Talents of one who wishes to become an Orator.
Eloquence is the power of persuasion. Rhetoric is how to improve by study and imitation the natural gifts of the orator, so as to make him perfect in the use of eloquence. Conviction is to induce the understanding to coincide with one’s views. Persuasion is to gain over the heart and well so that they move at one’s command. Every discourse depends on three things; the speaker, the subject, and the audience. The requisites of the speaker are, great natural genius, culture, a good voice and figure, and a reputation for virtue. The qualities of the orator’s genius are reason, imagination, sensitiveness and memory. Reason is the power which possesses an intuitive perception of truth. Imagination is the faculty able to embody the most abstruse truths. According to Fenelon, the orator should have the subtlety of dialecticious, the science of philosophers, almost the diction is of poets, the voice and gestures of the most consummate actors. The power of memory should take in both words and things.
The three powers of reason, imagination and memory must be well balanced in the orator; for if one of them outweigh the others there is no true oratory. The cultivation of the orator’s talents consists in acquiring a general knowledge of the sciences; of some more, of others less. The orator, says Cicero, needs philosophy in order to become acquainted with the springs of human action. He must also have virtue, which even the ancients acknowledged, since they defined an orator; “virbonus dicendi peritus.”[1] The moral qualifications of the orator should be; a love of truth, of God, and his fellow men and independence, integrity of action, and strength of heart and will. The orator must have knowledge of the laws and institutions of his country, and if possible of all modern governments.
For an oration, the speaker must find what he has to say, must dispose properly the various parts of his subject, and speak in a becoming manner. The speaker needs a good voice, good person, and an agreeable way of presenting himself. In choosing his subject, the orator must look to his own powers and to the end he has in view; and in his discourse everything must be adapted to these two points.
Three kinds of Certainty
Metaphysical certainty is based on the nature of things, and is such that it cannot lead us into error. Physical certainty is founded on the material order of creation, the laws of which will never lead us astray, since they can only change by a miracle. Moral certainty is founded on the known manners and laws of society; we are never deceived by it unless these laws be subverted; but they depending on the nature of intellectual beings suffer no change. The moral certainty of jurors is nothing more than a high degree of probability.
Mortality among Workmen
The average of life in the Sheffield cutlery manufactories is about thirty-two years. The work done here is to round and shape forks, scissors, razors etc. on a stone which is whirled around by steam. As during the process the workman’s head hangs over the stone, the red-hot sparks of steel fly into his eyes, and the dust of the stone fills his lungs so that they become like a piece of india-rubber.
In the English coal mines, life is shorter than in those of the continent. The collier at his work is like one who gets under a table and works above with a pick. Hence his back becomes rounded, his legs almost die away; it is misery for him to stand up-right add to this the respiration of impure air laden with coal dust, and the momentary danger of being strangled by carbonic acid or torn to pieces by carbureted hydrogen. He ascends to the world above by ladders nearly vertical, or by ropes, or in some cases, by platforms lifted by steam; the first breath of the evening breeze brings rheumatism with all its evils. In other parts of Europe, the governments endeavor to lessen the dangers of the poor collier, but yet the mortality is very considerable.
In general, wherever minute particles of any substance, whether of meal, of cloth, or of common dust, are continually floating about, there is always danger. Tailors who live in close rooms, and compositors, as they are higher up, suffer from carbonic acid. Of the three professions, the parson grows oldest, the lawyer dies first. English review.
page 8-9
Origin, traditions, manners, etc. of the Iroquois
The structure, bones, and muscles of the Indian belong to the Caucasian race. The languages of the various tribes have their connections with each other. From the conformity of the physical features and the many dialects of the Indian tribes, it is probable that America was peopled at a very early day and by a single race. Most of the savages have the tradition that there were once two spirits, one of Good, and the other of Evil; and that after a struggle the former overcame the latter.
The sachems of the five great Iroquois nations, of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, and Cayugas, met and formed a confederacy about the year 1540: the Tuscaroras joined it about the year 1714. Among these people, totems did not intermarry. Descent was by the female line. Matrons could propose to the warrior to drop his war-club, without an insult to him. The priests yearly supplied sacred fire to all. Witchcraft was sometimes punished with death.
The Mexicans had a tradition of a being both god and man, called Quetzalcoath, who had been their teacher and benefactor. Like him was the Iroquois Hiawatha or Wiseman, who took the shape and manners of the red man, and lived long among the Onondagas who gained his especial favor and blessing; he united the five Nations. The Cherokees speak of a deluge, from which only one family, having been forewarned, was saved in a ship.
The last council of the Six Nations took place in the year 1845. It lasted three days. In the first session, persons were chosen to fill the vacant offices of the two sachems who had lately died; the other two sessions were taken up by the preaching of Jimmy Johnson. After the sessions followed feasts whereat a primeval grace was said, and dances in which every squaw chose her partner. The census of the Iroquois tribe reports 3753 souls.
Wampum was a string of beads either purple or white; the purple were made from common conch; the white from the pillar of the periwinkle. Wampum passed currency among the early Dutch of New York.
Schoolcraft’s Notes on Iroquois.
Page 9
Death and burial of Henry II of England.
When news was brought that prince John, the favorite son of Henry, had joined in the rebellion of Richard, the king fell into a great fit of passion whereof he soon died. In death his features remained stamped with rage. The corpse, before burial, was stripped and plundered of all its grand royal ornaments, and went down to its last abode with no other marks of the mighty monarch than a worthless ring, an old scepter, and a circlet of gold fringe torn from a lady’s dress for a diadem. Richard entered the abbey while the body yet lay un-interred, when, behold! the nose and mouth of the deceased sovereign began to bleed profusely.
Page 9-10
Rosamond Clifford.
The attachment of Henry II to Rosamond Clifford took its rise in his early life; he was married to her about two years before he assumed Eleanor of Aquitaine for his royal consort. He had two sons by her; William Long-Sword and Geoffrey who was afterwards made a bishop. Queen Eleanor having discovered her rival in one of the powers of Woodstock Castle, the two females had an explanation, the result of which was that the fair Rosamond retired to the cloister of Godstow. Here she ended her days twenty years after.
Page 10
Tooth Sharpening.
Among the African Negroes, there is a certain tribe the people of which are accustomed to sharpen and grind their teeth to a point.
Grecian Marriages.
In the higher Grecian society at the present day, it is the custom for the woman to be given in marriage and to be married without asking her consent. Whilst the ceremony is being performed, the groomsmen, who are generally the god-fathers, hold wreaths or crowns over the couple. The officiating minister afterwards puts these on the head of the twain. A cup of wine (in which, it is said, some bitter ingredient is mingled) is handed to the couple, either of whom drinks half — to signify that they are to share in each other’s joys and ills.
Among the lower classes, the bridegroom must ask the consent of all his future wife’s relations, even to the third cousin. This custom is held to be of such high importance that the violation of it has in some cases cost the offender his life. A man who had made an elopement returned to his native place 30 years after his marriage, and was slain by outraged relations.
Page 11
Armor of the Ancient Grecian Warriors.
The uniform of the ancient Grecian infantry was of bright red; their helmets, breast-plates, cuirasses, greaves and shields were of polished bronze. The shields of the hoplites were about four feet in diameter; a special servant generally had charge of them. The weapons of these troops were short swords and pikes twenty feet in length. Sphicrates introduced the peltastoe, or targeteers, whose armor consisted of a brazen casque and crescent-shaped targets; they also had long swords and spears. Slingers, archers, and javelineers were equipped in brazen helmets and light-shields; this body of the Army soon went out of use.
The Grecian cavalry wore above a buff coat, a heavy bronze cuirass, fitted above with a rim reaching to the nose; over the head was a casque which came down to the ears; the rest of the body to the shins was sheathed in armor; the feet and legs were guarded by heavy boots. The horses had armor on head, sides and back. Altogether the cavalry of the Greeks were attired like the knights of the Middle Ages. They bore two spears, one for hurling, one for close fight, and a curved sword. Machines for casting stones and darts were early in existence.
Superiority of the English language.
The English language is a language which lends itself with ease to the expression of all the wants, thoughts, affections, passions and emotions of the soul, rivaling in pomp and dignity the Spanish, the harmony and sweetness of the Italian, the naturalness and grace of the French, the richness and expressiveness of the German, the philosophical wealth of the Greek, and the majesty of the Latin.
Dr. Brownson.
Page 12
Quotations from Ancient Authors Latin and Greek.
(1) Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor.
(Translation: I see better things, and approve, but I follow worse. Ovid, Metamorphoses, VII, 20)
(2) Pares cum paribus facillime congregantur.
(Translation: Equals with equals easily associate)
(3) Conscia mens recti famae mendacia ridet.
(Translation: A clean conscience will win out over false lies, Ovid)
(4) Aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite Teucri!
(Translation: or some other error lies hidden; do not believe the horse, Trojans)
Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (V. AEn. II)
(Translation: Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even [when they are] bearing gifts)
(5) Parturiunt montes nascetur ridiculus mus. (Hor. Ars Poet.)
(Translation: The mountains are in labor; a ridiculous mouse will be born)
(6) Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines
Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum (Hor.)
(Translation: There is a mean in all things; and, moreover, certain limits on either side of which right cannot be found, Horace—Satires. I. 1. 106)
(7) Mors sola fatetur
(Translation: Death alone proclaims)
Quantula sint hominum corpuscula (Juv. Sat. 10)
(Translation: How small are the puny bodies of humans)
(8) Sero venientibus ossa. (Hor. Ars. Poet.)
(Translation: Bones for those who come late)
(9) Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis tempus eget, non si ipse meus nunc afforet Hector. (V. Aen. II.)
(Translation: Arms are now useless, even though Hector himself were here to use them)
(10) Rarus venit in coeuacula miles. (Juv. Sat. 10.)
(Translation: Seldom is it that a soldier came into the dining halls)
(11) Virtus intaminatis fulget honoribus. (Hor. Od.)
(Translation: Virtue shines with unspotted honors)
(12) Vera salus victis, nullam speare salute. (V. AEn. II.)
(Translation: True the only hope for the doomed is no hope at all, Virgil, The Aeneid)
(13) Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio. (Hor. Ars. Poet.)
(Translation: When I labor to be brief, I become obscure, Horace)
(14) Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. (V. AEn.)
(Translation: Perhaps someday it will help, Vergil, Aeneid, Book I)
(15) Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdrim.
(Translation: Wanting to avoid Charybdis, he runs into Scylla)
(16) Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.
(Translation: those whom a god wishes to destroy he first drives mad)
(17) Degeneres animos timor arguit.
(Translation: Fear betrays ignoble souls)
(18) Caret invidia — sobrius aula. (Hor. Od.)
(Translation: whoever loves the golden mean is serene)
(19) Quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.
(Translation: Whatever shall be, every circumstance must be overcome by endurance, Vergil, Aeneid 5.710)
(20) Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres. (Hor. Od. B. I)
(Translation: Pale death knocks at the doors of all alike, be it the pauper’s garret or the king’s tower, Horace, Odes, 1.4.13-14)
Page 16.
Destruction of the Libraries of Alexandria.
While Julius Caesar was in Egypt, the royal Alexandria library of four hundred thousand volumes was burnt. It is said there existed an appendix to this of three hundred thousand volumes in the Serapeum which remained unharmed. That such was the case we have no proof; granted that the books existed they could scarce have survived the fires and pillages of the city which happened eight or nine times under the Roman Emperors. Orosius, a Christian historian of the third century, speaks of seeing empty bookshelves in Alexandria; the volumes which belonged there having been destroyed by his countrymen, the Romans.
If, now, there was by some chance a library in Alexandria in the time of Caliph Omar, we find no contemporary writer to speak of its existence or destruction. Two good historians who mention the occurrences of the city, are silent about any libraries there. Towards the close of the eleventh century, an Arabian chronicler says of the town that he thinks Aristotle taught there, and that there stood the library destroyed by command of Omar. Abulfarahgius (unknown) after him takes up the story and says the books were burnt. A third, in the thirteenth century, lays the scene of this literary catastrophe in Persia, and drowns as well as burns the volumes. With all things considered, we may most safely say that Omar burnt no library in Alexandria.
Paulus Orosius (b. circa 375, d. not before 418),[1] less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Christian historian, theologian and student of Augustine of Hippo from Gallaecia.
Page 17-18.
The Last Words of Socrates.
“Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; do ye however not neglect to repay it.” These were the last words of Socrates, as related by Plato. The debt here mentioned is one peculiar to persons who had recovered from some illness. Socrates, in ordering the sacrifice on his own account, probably alluded to the notion maintained by himself and his followers, that this life is given to us to prepare for another — “to teach us to die.” Socrates looked upon life as an imprisonment or malady of the soul, which is not set free or cured until death.
Antiquity and extent of the Slave-trade.
Slavery and the slave-trade are found to have existed wherever the savage hunter began to assume the habits of pastoral or agricultural life. They pervaded every nation of civilized antiquity. The earliest glimpses of Egyptian history present scenes of bondage. The founder of the Jewish nation was a slave-holder and a purchaser of slaves. A Hebrew father might doom his daughter to bondage. Grecian commerce arose from the piracies of Greeks roving in quest of fellow-beings for slaves. In every Grecian republic, slavery was an indispensable element. The name slaves comes from the Slavonic nation which inundated France with slaves. Negroes were sold as slaves in ancient Greece and Rome. The severities of the Roman law to slaves, and the wideness of bondage throughout the Roman state, hastened the downfall of the Roman commonwealth.
The Moors carried on an extensive traffic in Ethiopian slaves, dating from the eleventh century; Europeans were largely engaged in the same work in the fifteenth. The enslavement of American Indians lasted about 200 years. Decrees of Spanish sovereigns authorized the importation of slaves into Hispaniola; the Popes in vain cursed it. Elizabeth was a smuggler and a slave merchant.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S. Vol. X.
Page 18.
Pronunciation of the French u.
La voix u se forme en allongeant les deux lévres en dehors, comme si vous faisiez la moue.
(Translation: The u sound is formed by extending the two lips apart, as if you were making a face.)
L’humeur des Anglais.
(Translation: The mood of the English)
Les peuples du continent out remarqué qion arrive rarément un Anglais deux jours de suite de la même humeur. (Pouqueville.)
(Translation: The peoples of the continent noticed that an Englishman was rarely in the same mood for two days.)
La crainte national.
(Translation: The national fear.)
Chaque peuple a sou objet de crainte particulier. En Espagne, ou craint par-dessus tout, l’enfer; en Italie, la mort; en Angleterre la servitude et la pauvreté; en France, la ridicule et le déshoumeur. (Comte de Ségur)
(Translation: Every people has a particular fear; in Spain the greatest fear is hell; in Italy, death; servitude and poverty in England, and ridicule and dishonor in France.)
Προςμνειν & λατρεμειν.
The word Προςμνειν is rendered by adore in the sense of honoring or worshiping: λατρεμειν means to give supreme adoration such as is reserved to God alone; the Latin adorare is properly used only in the same sense as λατρεμειν.
Page 19.
Quotations from the moderns.
We are as near to heaven by sea as by land. (Sir Humph.Gilbert.)
Nature having made no slaves, all men have an equal right to liberty. (Pope Alexand. III.)
Not the Christian religion only, but nature herself, cries out against the state of slavery. (Pope Leo X.)
The man in power has all the virtues of an epitaph; but let him meet with adversity and he is worse than the prodigal son himself. (De Balzac).
In misfortune look upon everything as below you; in virtue and silence, as above you. (St. Martin)
Four things come not back: the spoken word; the sped arrow; the past life, and the neglected opportunity. (Arab Maxim.).
There are deeds which should not pass away,
And names which should not wither.
Page 21.
Enfranchisement of slaves under the Roman law.
Under the ancient Roman law, slaves could be enfranchised only in presence of the praetors or consuls, and with long formalities. Constantine the Great enjoined that a slave might be enfranchised in any Church in presence of the bishops and Christian body, with the sole formality of an attestation signed by the ministers of the Church.
Pages 21-22.
Discussion of Bad Popes.
Stefan VII, often accounted an intruder, offered indignities to the corpse of Formosus[2].
Sergius III, Lando[3], John X, John XI, John XII, have been falsely accused and defamed by Luitprand[4], a partisan of the anti-Pope Leo VIII, because the Emperor Otho[5] had no influence in their election.
Benedict IX, was an intruder and a sorry character whom the Romans frequently ousted.
Pascal II, worn out in prison under Henry V granted the privilege of investitures which he afterwards revoked in council.
Boniface VIII was free from usurpation and ambition.
Clement Vis accused by Villani[6] an enemy of the Pontiffs.
Clement VI was extravagant and pompous.
Boniface IX, is unjustly charged with simony.
Paul III, seemed inconsistent in politics but was not so in reality; nor was he licentious, but he was addicted to nepotism.
Sixtus IV, the same as Paul III in his conduct, though not in the nepotic.
Leo X had a gay court but was not bad. Gregory XIII was bad in early life.
John XV was accused by some, but is vindicated by his epitaph.
Alexander VI licentious before being Pope, not known to be at his election, not so after it, was given sadly to nepotism.
Julius II was bad in early life, but performed; he too was nepotic.
Innocent VIII, Callistus III, Julius III, Innocent X, were given to enriching their relatives.
Page 22.
Pelasgic[7] and Chinese works.
The pelasgic remains consist of monuments of huge stones fitting tightly into other stones. Commodore Perry[8] notices the same kind of structures among the Chinese.
Great men an index of their era.
The history of great men, in whatever age or country they lived, will usually be found to be an exponent or index of the manners and ideas prevalent in their times and among their countrymen. Thus Alexander conquering Persia embodies the favorite design of the Greeks; his vices show the vices of his age. The same is true of Alfred and others.
Elizabeth Patterson.[9]
Mrs. E. Patterson of Baltimore was married by Archbishop Carroll to Jerome Bonaparte[10]. A year after they went to Europe, but Mrs. B. was not received by Napoleon, and so was forced to retire to England. Her grandson is now a captain in the French army.
Pages 23-24.
Napoleonic ideas of Prussia, developed in M. About’s Pamphlet[11].
France has a fellow feeling, a love for Germany.
France, which has aided the Ottoman Empire, the Christians in Turkey, and now aids Italian unity and independence in Greece, is capable of helping Germany.
Germany ever desires unity. Unity raised her to her greatest glory in 1815. Frederick William disappointed the German patriots in 1849; but those patriots still live, as we saw on Schiller’s festival.
France wishes to see Germany united.
Austria or Prussia alone can bring about this union.
Austria will not, for she is despotic, addicted to clerical authority, opposed to progress, and has been made up of nations allied by the marriages of their rulers not by the people’s consent. Austria finds favor only with the squirearchy, for she most of all aids young nobles to rise in military rank. Germany does not love Austria, for it is closed to German manufacturers; nor does she sympathize with Austria — as we beheld in 1859. Austria’s government is the despotism of Divine right; Prussia presents greater freedom of conscience, greater political rights, etc. Germany loves Prussia, and will follow the example of Italy, if Prussia will play the Sardinian deliverer.
Europe is divided between the two principles Divine right and popular right — between hereditary right and the right to reign by universal suffrage. The national assembly offered the crown to the King of Prussia in 1849; but he decided for Divine right and persecuted those who drove out the King of Saxony. Frederick William ought to be the testamentary executor of the Parliament of 1849, just as Napoleon is of the French Revolution.
Napoleon with absolute power strives to raise France to greater prosperity. Frenchmen obey the Emperor because they obey in common; not as Prussians. The French army belongs to the nation; the Prussian army to the king. In France the liberty of the press is postponed, but can be demanded by petition. If Prussian printers be restricted how can they claim their rights?
France is magnanimous. The Prussian police are rascals.
Prussia is exhorted to act as Sardinian has done.
Pages 24-25
Florence and the Medici.
From the beginning of the eleventh century Florence may be considered a republic. It was presided over by ten chief magistrates with a Standard-Bearer chosen every two months at their head. The Medici in the first part of the fifteenth century began to have great influence in the government, in as much as they either enjoyed the highest offices themselves, or had their friends elected to them. Cosmo di Medici, who in 1425 inherited this influence from his father, was an eminent patron of letters and brought about a great revival in literature. Lorenzo, his grandson, himself a poet, offered every aid and inducement to art and artists.
Paper Making.
The rags are first washed. When dry, they are put into a machine constructed with a large roller whose sharp steel teeth tear the rags into such fine pieces that they become like pulp. This part is shaped in moulds with wire crossings for the bottom, and a narrow rim about the sides. It is then put into queries and pressed for the last time.
Fulminating Powders.
Three parts chlorate of potash, and one of sulfur separately pulverized and carefully mixed may be exploded by striking. Six of the chlorate, one of charcoal, and one of sulfur explodes in the same way, but with greater violence.
Printing types, Bells, etc.
Printing types are an alloy of three parts lead and one part antimony. The best bell metal is 80 of copper to 20 of tin. Bronze has about the same composition as bell metal.
Silver for coining contains one 1/13 of copper; gold contains 1/12 copper.
State of the Universe.
Stones grow; plants grow and live; animals grow, feel and live; man grows, feels, lives, and has intelligence.
Boskovich’s Theory of Atoms — Postulates.
Postulates: 1. All matter consists of indivisible and unextended atoms. 2. These atoms are endowed with attractive and repulsive forces, varying both in intensity and direction by change of distance; so that at one distance two atoms attract, at another repel each other.
3. This law of variations is the same in all atoms.
4. At all considerable and sensible distances, these mutual forces are attractive and sensibly proportional to the square of the distances inversely. This is the attraction called gravitation. 5. At very small distances there a many alternations of attraction and repulsion according as the distance of the atoms is changed. Consequently there are many situations within this narrow limit in which two atoms neither attract nor repel each other.
6. The force which is exerted between two atoms when their distance is diminished so as almost to banish, is an insuperable repulsion, such that no force can press the atoms into mathematical contact.
Philosophy of History.
The Philosophy of History is the knowledge of the laws which govern human affairs, deduced from the history of mankind in general and families in particular.
Bosquet calls Revelation the Magna Charta of giving us liberty, and Providence the king ordaining the affairs of the world.
From here below.
— “Since in wailing
There’s naught availing,
But death unfailing
Must strike the blow;
Then for this reason
And for a season
Let us be merry before we go.”
Proof that the Etruscans were Celts.
The writing on four brass plates hung up in Ireland by the Phoenicians, being similar to that on Etruscan tombs, establishes the fact that the Etruscans were Celts.
Meagher.
English in Ireland, at the time of Edward II.
By the English established in Ireland up to the reign of Edward II, is understood an aggregate mass of adventurers from different countries, from England, Wales and Guienne[12]; men, or the descendents of men, of desperate fortunes at home, who had depended on themselves to carve new fortunes abroad. They professed fealty to the English crown; but their fealty was a mere sound. King John chastised them, at the same time that he received the submission of many of the Irish kings
Lingard[13], Life of Edward and John;
The following memos are found at the end of the book: (editor)
Capt. Edward P. Brownson D.
To. O. A. Brownson L.L D.
To cash for suit of clothes $40
To cash for trunk $10
To cash for traveling and other expenses $10
To cash for sword and on account for sash $15
Total $75
Elizabeth, June 11, 1862.
Mem. I expect Mr. Howell to refund at an early day the last of the above items ($15.00), thus transferring to him my debt otherwise to Dr. Brownson
Mem. The above $40.00 due Dr. Brownson being the cash just rec’d by him as a present from a friend, I do not feel an obligation to pay it before a reasonable convenience of mine. The rest I shall if in my power pay within two months from date.
Capt. Edward Brownson
Aide de Camp to Gen. Fremont
Mem.
In case of any accident fatal to my life, my sister, S. N. Brownson is authorized to examine and dispose of all my effects, as she shall deem just and fit,
June 11, 1862, Edward P. Brownson
[1] “a good man, skilled in speaking.”
[2] Pope c.816-896.
[3] Pope, 913-914.
[4] Bishop and historian, c900-after 970.
[5] Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, 912-973.
[6] Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348, was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica (New Chronicles) on the history of Florence.
[7] Prehistoric people mentioned by ancient Greek authors and believed to have lived in, variously, Greece, Asia Minor, and the Aegean Islands.
[8] Matthew C. Perry (1794 – 1858) was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
[9] Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (Baltimore, Maryland, 6 February 1785 – Baltimore, Maryland, 4 April 1879), known as “Betsy”, was the daughter of a Baltimore, Maryland merchant, and was the first wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, and sister-in-law of Emperor Napoleon I of France.
[10] Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort (15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia (1807–1813). After 1848, when his nephew Louis Napoleon became President of the French Republic, he served in several official roles.
[11] M. Edmond About, “L’Empereur Napoleon III et la Prusse.”
[12] Aquitaine
[13] Dr. John Lingard (1771 – 1851) was an English Catholic priest, and the author of The History Of England, an 8-volume work published in 1819.
