More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: goods of any quality or material of a tartan or checked pattern. Also, a garment of tartan or checked woolen cloth of various colors, worn by both sexes of the natives of Scotland, of which country it is an important part of the national costume.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a garment worn by Scotch Highlanders. See Tartan
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Collier's New Encyclopedia: any species of the genus Platanus of which five or six exist. They are tall trees with ponderous trunks, the bark of which peels off annually, leaving the surface smooth and bare. The Oriental plane tree, P. orientalis, an umbrageous tree, 70 to 90 feet high, has palmate leaves like those of the sycamore. It is a native of western Asia and Cashmere. Its smoothgrained wood is used in the East for cabinet making. In India its bruised leaves are applied to the eyes in ophthalmia, and its bark, boiled in vinegar, given in diarrhea. The Occidental or American plane tree, P. occidentalis, has less deeply divided and indented leaves, and no membranous bracts along the female flowers. On the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi there are trees 10 to 16 feet in diameter. Called, also, in the United States, buttonwood and water beech, and sycamore, and in Canada, cotton tree. A third species, often confounded with this one, is the maple-leaved plane, P. acerifolia, the species sometimes with giant trunk, culsaraads tivated in some London squares. The Scotch or mock plane tree is Acer pseudo-platanus.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Sycamore
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Collier's New Encyclopedia: T. MACCIUS, a Roman comic poet; born in Umbria, probably about 255 B. C. He spent the greater part of his life at Rome, where at one time he is said to have been reduced to the necessity of grinding_corn with a handmill for a baker. He began to write plays about 220, and gained immense popularity with his countrymen by his numerous comedies. Twenty of his comedies are still extant out of the 21 pronounced genuine by Varro. One hundred and thirty were current under his name. His plays were still acted in the reign of Domitian, and some of them have been imitated by modern dramatists. He died 184 b. c.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a Roman comedian. Born about 254 B. C. His parents were peasants. He appears to have come to Rome to find employment as a stage carpenter. He is credited with 130 comedies. Twenty are still extant. English names for some of his plays are Pot of Gold, Comedy of Errors, Threepenny Bit, The Carpetbag. These names are such as would have suited a London audience 2,000 years later. Plautus' Captivi is a favorite college classic. A few quotations from Plautus may be of interest: What is yours is mine. Patience is the best remedy. To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy. Whom the gods favor dies in youth.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Aiton's Encyclopedia: in classical mythology, the god of the lower world. An earlier Greek title was Hades, the Unseen, still preserved as the name of his dwelling place. By the Romans he was called usually Tartarus, Orcus, or Dis. Pluto means bestower of riches. It was given to this god as the patron of the mines. He was the brother of Zeus. His wife was Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. The Greek conception of the ruler of the dead was very different from the Christian conception of the devil. It was his duty simply to keep order in the lower world. He was in no way the subduer and seducer of mankind. He was stern and pitiless in the maintenance of discipline, but he was in no sense the enemy of the human race. As in the case of the devil, however, his appropriate color was black. Black cattle were sacrificed in his honor. See Demeter ; Hades
1000 Classical Characters: Known to the Greeks as Hades . Son of Saturn and Ops, who inherited his father's kingdom with his brothers, Jupiter and Neptune. He received as his portion the kingdom of the infernal regions, of death, and funerals. He seized Proserpine as she was gathering flowers, and, carrying her away on his chariot, she became his wife and queen of the infernal regions.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and 1000 Classical Characters
1000 Classical Characters: The god of riches, the son of Jason , or Jasius, and Ceres . Pluvius (The Sender of Rain). A surname of Jupiter among the Romans, to whom sacrifices were offered during long-protracted droughts. woda gajed Polias (The Goddess Protecting the City). A surname of Athena at Athens , where she was worshipped as the protecting divinity of the Acropolis. Pollio, C. Asinius. A Roman consul in the reign of Augustus who distinguished himself equally by his eloquence and exploits in war. He wrote a history and some tragedies, and died in his eightieth year, A. D. 4. 2026 Editor's Note: Plutus is the son of Demeter and the mortal Iasion, not Jason or Jasius as stated here. He is the title character of Aristophanes' comedy Plutus (388 BC), a political satire on contemporary Athens. (Ed: BR 2026-07-16)
Aiton's Encyclopedia: in Greek mythology, the personification of wealth. As he was in the habit of bestowing riches upon the good only, Zeus caused him to become blind, so that his favors might be given to the good and bad indifferently. According to tradition, Plutus, that is to say, wealth, comes to man slowly, as if lame, but leaves him on swift wing. In art Plutus is pictured as a boy with a cornucopia or horn of plenty. The name appears in the word plutocrat.
Covered by 1000 Classical Characters and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Collier's New Encyclopedia: an office in the sovereigns of Great household of the having its ori- Britain, the appellation the English universigin in a custom of to 1512, of preties, which continued leaf to graduates in senting a laurel versification, the king's rhetoric and graduated rhetorician "laureate" being a king. The first apin the service of the laureate dates from pointment of a poet II., the first patent the reign of Charles It was formerly being granted in 1670. laureate to write the duty of the poet of the monarch, an ode on the birthday been discontinued but this custom has III. Among since the reign of George office may be those who have held this Wordsworth, mentioned Dryden, Southey, Robert Bridges was apand Tennyson. pointed in 1913.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: po'et law're-at, a poet appointed by the sovereign of England to be in readiness to celebrate notable events. The position is largely honorary, although there is a salary of $1,800 to go with it. Ben Jonson was appointed in the reign of James I. If we omit the names of those unknown to fame, the position has been occupied by Jonson, Dryden, Southey, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. Alfred Austin is the present incumbent (1910).
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia