1594THE RAPE OF LUCRECEby William ShakespeareDEDICATIONTO THERIGHT HONOURABLEHENRY WRIOTHESLEY,EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND BARONOF TITCHFIELDThe love I dedicate to your lordship is without end: whereof thispamphlet, without beginning is but a superfluous moiety. The warrant Ihave of your honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored...　

Miss or Mrs.?Miss or Mrs.?by Wilkie Collins1- Page 2-Miss or Mrs.?PERSONS OF THE STORY.Sir Joseph Graybrooke. . . . . . . . . .(Knight) Richard Turlington . . . .(Of the Levant Trade) Launcelot Linzie . .(Of the College of Surgeons)James Dicas. . . . . .(Of the Roll of Attorneys) ThomasWildfang. . . . . .(Superannuated Seaman) Miss Graybrooke. . . . . . (Sir...　

The Marriage Contractby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Rossini.THE MARRIAGE CONTRACTCHAPTER IPRO AND CONMonsieur de Manerville, the father, was a worthy Norman gentleman,well known to the Marechael de Richelieu, who married him to one ofthe richest heiresses of Bordeaux in the days when the old dukereigned in Guienne as governor. The Norman then sold the estate heowned in Bessin, and became a Gascon, allured by the beauty of thechateau de Lanstrac, a delightful residence owned by his wife. During...　

A Sappho of Green Springsby Bret HarteCONTENTSA SAPPHO OF GREEN SPRINGSTHE CHATELAINE OF BURNT RIDGETHROUGH THE SANTA CLARA WHEATA MAECENAS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPEA SAPPHO OF GREEN SPRINGSCHAPTER I"Come in," said the editor.The door of the editorial room of the "Excelsior Magazine" began tocreak painfully under the hesitating pressure of an uncertain andunfamiliar hand. This continued until with a start of irritationthe editor faced directly about, throwing his leg over the arm of...　

Agesilausby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsDedicated ToRev. B. Jowett, M.A.Master of Balliol CollegeRegius Professor of Greek in the University of OxfordXenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was apupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him landand property in Scillus, where he lived for manyyears before having to move once more, to settlein Corinth. He died in 354 B.C....　

420 BCTHE KNIGHTSby Aristophanesanonymous translatorCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYDEMOSTHENESNICIASAGORACRITUS, a Sausage-SellerCLEONDEMOSCHORUS OF KNIGHTSKNIGHTS(SCENE:-The Orchestra represents the Pnyx at Athens; in the back-ground is the house of DEMOS.)DEMOSTHENESOh! alas! alas! alas! Oh! woe! oh! woe! Miserable Paphlagonian!may the gods destroy both him and his cursed advice! Since that evil...　

THE GOLDEN BRANCHONCE upon a time there was a King who was so morose anddisagreeable that he was feared by all his subjects, and withgood reason, as for the most trifling offences he would have theirheads cut off. This King Grumpy, as he was called, had oneson, who was as different from his father as he could possibly be.No prince equalled him in cleverness and kindness of heart, butunfortunately he was most terribly ugly. He had crooked legs andsquinting eyes, a large mouth all on one side, and a hunchback.Never was there a beautiful soul in such a frightful little body, but...　

Mark Twain, A Biography, 1866-1875By Albert Bigelow PaineVOLUME I, Part 2: 1866-1875LIVTHE LECTURERIt was not easy to take up the daily struggle again, but it wasnecessary. [Clemens once declared he had been so blue at this periodthat one morning he put a loaded pistol to his head, but found he lackedcourage to pull the trigger.] Out of the ruck of possibilities (hisbrain always thronged with plans) he constructed three or four resolves.The chief of these was the trip around the world; but that lay monthsahead, and in the mean time ways and means must be provided. Another...　

410 BCTHE BIRDSby Aristophanesanonymous translatorCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYEUELPIDESPITHETAERUSTROCHILUS, Servant to EpopsEpops (the Hoopoe)A BIRDA HERALDA PRIESTA POETAN ORACLE-MONGERMETON, a GeometricianAN INSPECTORA DEALER IN DECREESIRISA PARRICIDECINESIAS, a Dithyrambic PoetAN INFORMERPROMETHEUS...　

To be Read at Duskby Charles DickensOne, two, three, four, five. There were five of them.Five couriers, sitting on a bench outside the convent on the summitof the Great St. Bernard in Switzerland, looking at the remoteheights, stained by the setting sun as if a mighty quantity of redwine had been broached upon the mountain top, and had not yet hadtime to sink into the snow.This is not my simile. It was made for the occasion by thestoutest courier, who was a German. None of the others took anymore notice of it than they took of me, sitting on another bench on...　

　　IT WAS THE PIVOTAL TEACHING of Pluthero Quexos, the most celebrated dramatist of the Second Dominion, that in any fiction, no matter how ambitious its scope or profound its theme, there was only ever room for three players. Between warring kings, a peacemaker; between adoring spouses, a seducer or a child. Between twins, the spirit of the womb. Between lovers, Death. Greater numbers might drift through the drama, of course-thousands in fact-but they could only ever be phantoms, agents, or, on rare occasions, reflections of the three real and self-willed beings who stood at the center. And e　

THE RIDDLE HOUSEThe villagers of Little Hangleron still called it "the Riddle House," even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there. It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from its roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face. Once a fine-looking manor, and easily the largest and grandest building for miles around, the Riddle House was now damp, derelict, and unoccupied.The Little Hagletons all agreed that the old house was "creepy." Half a century ago, something strange and horrible had happened there, somethi　

A Vindication of the Rights of Womanby Mary Wollstonecraft [Godwin]WITH STRICTURES ON POLITICAL AND MORAL SUBJECTS,BY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR.CONTENTS.INTRODUCTION.CHAPTER 1. THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED.CHAPTER 2. THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED.CHAPTER 3. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.CHAPTER 4. OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH WOMANIS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES.CHAPTER 5. ANIMADVERSIONS ON SOME OF THE WRITERS WHO HAVE RENDEREDWOMEN OBJECTS OF PITY, BORDERING ON CONTEMPT....　

THE SEVENTH LETTERby Platotranslated by J. HarwardPLATO TO THE RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF DION. WELFARE.You write to me that I must consider your views the same as those ofDion, and you urge me to aid your cause so far as I can in word anddeed. My answer is that, if you have the same opinion and desire as hehad, I consent to aid your cause; but if not, I shall think morethan once about it. Now what his purpose and desire was, I caninform you from no mere conjecture but from positive knowledge. For...　

Faustby Johann W. GeotheTranslated by Anna Swanwick ( 1808 )Introductory NoteJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest of German men of letters, wasborn at Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 28, 1749. His father was a man ofmeans and position, and he personally supervised the early education of hisson. The young Goethe studied at the universities of Leipsig and Strasburg,and in 1772 entered upon the practise of law at Wetzlar. At the invitation ofKarl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, he went in 1775 to live in Weimar,...　

Father Damienby Robert Louis StevensonAN OPEN LETTER TO THE REVEREND DR. HYDE OF HONOLULUSYDNEY,FEBRUARY 25, 1890.Sir, - It may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited,and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember thatyou have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to begrateful. But there are duties which come before gratitude, andoffences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Yourletter to the Reverend H. B. Gage is a document which, in my sight,if you had filled me with bread when I was starving, if you had sat...