Louis Lambertby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara Bell and James WaringDEDICATION"Et nunc et semper dilectoe dicatum."LOUIS LAMBERTLouis Lambert was born at Montoire, a little town in the Vendomois,where his father owned a tannery of no great magnitude, and intendedthat his son should succeed him; but his precocious bent for studymodified the paternal decision. For, indeed, the tanner and his wifeadored Louis, their only child, and never contradicted him inanything.At the age of five Louis had begun by reading the Old and NewTestaments; and these two Books, including so many books, had seal　

MRS. BULLFROGIt makes me melancholy to see how like fools some very sensiblepeople act in the matter of choosing wives. They perplex theirjudgments by a most undue attention to little niceties ofpersonal appearance, habits, disposition, and other trifles whichconcern nobody but the lady herself. An unhappy gentleman,resolving to wed nothing short of perfection, keeps his heart andhand till both get so old and withered that no tolerable womanwill accept them. Now this is the very height of absurdity. Akind Providence has so skilfully adapted sex to sex and the mass...　

The Sorrows of Young Wertherby J.W. von GoetheTranslated by Thomas Carlyle and R.D. BoylanPREFACEI have carefully collected whatever I have been able to learn ofthe story of poor Werther, and here present it to you, knowingthat you will thank me for it. To his spirit and character youcannot refuse your admiration and love: to his fate you will notdeny your tears.And thou, good soul, who sufferest the same distress as he enduredonce, draw comfort from his sorrows; and let this little book bethy friend, if, owing to fortune or through thine own fault, thou...　

The Jacket (Star-Rover)by Jack LondonCHAPTER IAll my life I have had an awareness of other times and places. Ihave been aware of other persons in me.Oh, and trust me, so haveyou, my reader that is to be. Read back into your childhood, andthis sense of awareness I speak of will be remembered as anexperience of your childhood. You were then not fixed, notcrystallized. You were plastic, a soul in flux, a consciousness andan identity in the process of formingay, of forming andforgetting.You have forgotten much, my reader, and yet, as you read these...　

The Rise and Progress of Palaeontologyby Thomas Henry HuxleyThat application of the sciences of biology and geology, whichis commonly known as palaeontology, took its origin in the mindof the first person who, finding something like a shell, or abone, naturally imbedded in gravel or rock, indulged inspeculations upon the nature of this thing which he had dug outthis "fossil"and upon the causes which had brought it intosuch a position. In this rudimentary form, a high antiquity maysafely be ascribed to palaeontology, inasmuch as we know that,...　

Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding DavisA REMEMBRANCER OF BRITTANY FOR THE BEST FELLOW-TRAVELLER IN THE WORLDFRANCES WALDEAUX CHAPTER IIn another minute the Kaiser Wilhelm would push off from her pier in Hoboken. The last bell had rung, the last uniformed officer and white-jacketed steward had scurried up the gangway. The pier was massed with people who had come to bid their friends good-by. They were all Germans, and there had been unlimited embracing and kissing and sobs of "Ach! mein lieber Sckatz!" and "Gott bewahre Dick!"Now they stood looking up to the crowded decks, shouting out l　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MENby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleTHE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MENHolmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thinback curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing aparticularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast,and he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, withdull gray plumage and a black top-knot."So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest inSouth African securities?"...　

The Crusade of the Excelsiorby Bret HarteCONTENTS.PART I.IN BONDS.CHAPTER I.A CRUSADER AND A SIGNCHAPTER II.ANOTHER PORTENTCHAPTER III."VIGILANCIA"CHAPTER IV.IN THE FOGCHAPTER V.TODOS SANTOSCHAPTER VI."HAIL AND FAREWELL"CHAPTER VII.THE GENTLE CASTAWAYSCHAPTER VIII.IN SANCTUARYCHAPTER IX.AN OPEN-AIR PRISONCHAPTER X.TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY...　

Riders of the Purple Sageby Zane GreyCHAPTER I. LASSITERA sharp clip-crop of iron-shod hoofs deadened and died away, and clouds of yellow dust drifted from under the cottonwoods out over the sage.Jane Withersteen gazed down the wide purple slope with dreamy and troubled eyes. A rider had just left her and it was his message that held her thoughtful and almost sad, awaiting the churchmen who were coming to resent and attack her right to befriend a Gentile.She wondered if the unrest and strife that had lately come to the little village of Cottonwoods was to involve her. And then she sighed, rem　

Northanger AbbeyJane Austen- Page 2-ELECBOOK CLASSICSebc0045. Jane Austen: Northanger AbbeyThis file is free for individual use only. It must not be altered or resold.Organisations wishing to use it must first obtain a licence.Low cost licenses are available. Contact us through our web site(C) The Electric Book Co 1998The Electric Book Company Ltd20 Cambridge Drive, London SE12 8AJ, UK+44 (0)181 488 3872 www.elecbook...　

The Hand of Ethelbertaby Thomas HardyPREFACEThis somewhat frivolous narrative was produced as an interludebetween stories of a more sober design, and it was given the sub-title of a comedy to indicatethough not quite accuratelythe aimof the performance. A high degree of probability was not attemptedin the arrangement of the incidents, and there was expected of thereader a certain lightness of mood, which should inform him with agood-natured willingness to accept the production in the spirit inwhich it was offered. The characters themselves, however, were...　

TWICE-TOLD TALESTHE BIRTHMARKby Nathaniel HawthorneIN THE LATTER PART of the last century, there lived a man ofscience- an eminent proficient in every branch of naturalphilosophy- who, not long before our story opens, had madeexperience of a spiritual affinity, more attractive than anychemical one. He had left his laboratory to the care of anassistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace-smoke, washedthe stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman...　

A Cumberland Vendettaby John Fox Jr.TO MINERVA AND ELIZABETHA Cumberland VendettaITHE cave had been their hiding-place as children; it was a secret refuge now against hunger or darkness when they were hunting in the woods. The primitive meal was finished; ashes were raked over the red coals; the slice of bacon and the little bag of meal were hung high against the rock wall; and the two stepped from the cavern into a thicket of rhododendrons.Parting the bushes toward the dim light, they stood on a massive shoulder of the mountain, the river girding it far below, and the afternoon shadows at th　

THE WITCH [28][28] From the Russian.Once upon a time there was a peasant whose wife died, leaving himwith two childrentwinsa boy and a girl. For some years thepoor man lived on alone with the children, caring for them asbest he could; but everything in the house seemed to go wrongwithout a woman to look after it, and at last he made up his mindto marry again, feeling that a wife would bring peace and orderto his household and take care of his motherless children. So hemarried, and in the following years several children were born tohim; but peace and order did not come to the household. Fo　

The Yellow Crayonby E. Phillips OppenheimCHAPTER IIt was late summer-time, and the perfume of flowers stole into thedarkened room through the half-opened window. The sunlight forcedits way through a chink in the blind, and stretched across the floorin strange zigzag fashion. From without came the pleasant murmurof bees and many lazier insects floating over the gorgeous flowerbeds, resting for a while on the clematis which had made the piazzaa blaze of purple splendour. And inside, in a high-backed chair,there sat a man, his arms folded, his eyes fixed steadily upon...　

The Memorabiliaor Recollections of Socratesby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsXenophon 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.The Memorabilia is a recollection of Socrates inword and deed, to show his character as the bestand happiest of men.BOOK III have often wondered by what arguments those who indicted[1] Socrates...