Word: athenaeums
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...when FitzGerald was 44, he published, at his own expense, his translation of six works by Spanish Playwright Calderon (which the Athenaeum considered "quite unnecessary to treat as a serious work"). Then a friend introduced him to what FitzGerald dubbed "the Sweetmeat, Childish, Oriental World" of the Persian language. Three years later, he braved the critics with a rendition of the Persian poem, Salaman and Absal...
...Dahl's Boston," wrote Morton in an aside, "is essentially a village, not a city. ... Its physical center is the village green, or Boston Common. It has a bandstand, Symphony Hall; a library, the Athenaeum." Morton could not resist a jab at its press: "Its newspapers are dailies instead of weeklies, but in other respects they are reasonably to be compared with the lesser journals of Berkshire County, rural Indiana, and Long Island...
...pious, peculiar-have inhabited Boston and its environs almost as long as any other white men, and left their mark more indelibly than most. There have been Lowells commercial enough to take fortunes out of distilleries and cotton mills, Lowells august enough to serve as trustees of the Boston Athenaeum, Lowells literate enough to be represented on many a U.S. bookshelf...
Unfortunately for the prophet, in 1844 he had to revise the calculation and his fickle flock deserted him. A group of prominent Bostonians bought the building and converted it into an opera house after changing the name to the "Howard Athenaeum." There, in 1846, genuine Italian Opera had its New England premiere with a performance of Verdi's "Ernani," and Sheridan's "Rivals" played to toney audiences from Beacon Hill until a fire gutted the wooden auditorium...
After the days of the proud, heavily-gilded, soft-cushion Athenaeum, the Howard sunk to playing cheap variety shows in 1868. Ever since the name Old Howard has been used. For years the blue-lighted anatomical soloes have brought the crowds past the box office...