[Original Dedication of First Essay, Omitted in subsequent Editions,]To William Wilberforce, Esq., MPMY DEAR SIR In contemplating, the public characters of the day, no one among them appears to have more nearly adopted in practice the principles which this Essay develops than yourself. In all the most important questions which have come before the senate since you became a legislator, you have not allowed the mistaken considerations of sect or party to influence your decisions; so far as an unbiased judgement can be formed of them, they appear generally to have been dictated by compre¡¡

DEDICATION OF PART IITO THE COUNT OF LEMOS:THESE days past, when sending Your Excellency my plays, that hadappeared in print before being shown on the stage, I said, if Iremember well, that Don Quixote was putting on his spurs to go andrender homage to Your Excellency. Now I say that "with his spurs, heis on his way." Should he reach destination methinks I shall haverendered some service to Your Excellency, as from many parts I amurged to send him off, so as to dispel the loathing and disgust causedby another Don Quixote who, under the name of Second Part, has run...¡¡

Passages from an Old Volume of Lifeby Oliver W. HolmesPAGES FROM AN OLD VOLUME OF LIFE.A COLLECTION OF ESSAYSBY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMESCONTENTS:BREAD AND THE NEWSPAPERMY HUNT AFTER "THE CAPTAIN"THE INEVITABLE TRIALCINDERS FROM ASHESTHE PULPIT AND THE PEWBREAD AND THE NEWSPAPER.(September, 1861.)This is the new version of the Panem et Circenses of the Roman populace. It is our ultimatum, as that was theirs. They must have something to eat, and the circus-shows to look at. We must have something to eat, and the papers to read....¡¡

The Princeby Nicolo MachiavelliTranslated by W. K. MarriottNicolo Machiavelli, born at Florence on 3rd May 1469. From 1494 to 1512 held an official post at Florence which included diplomatic missions to various European courts. Imprisoned in Florence, 1512; later exiled and returned to San Casciano. Died at Florence on 22nd June 1527.INTRODUCTIONNicolo Machiavelli was born at Florence on 3rd May 1469. He was the second son of Bernardo di Nicolo Machiavelli, a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli, his wife. Both parents were members of the old Florentine nobility....¡¡

The Crown of ThornsA token for the sorrowingby E. H. ChapinPREFACE.One of the discourses in this volume-"The Mission of Little Children"was written just after the death of a dear son, and was published in pamphlet form. The edition having become exhausted sooner than the demand, it was deemed advisable to reprint it; and accordingly it is now presented to the reader, accompanied by others of a similar cast, most of them growing out of the same experience. This fact will account for any repetition of sentiment which may appear in these discourses, especially as they were written without any ¡¡

Ferragusby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Hector Berlioz.PREFACEThirteen men were banded together in Paris under the Empire, allimbued with one and the same sentiment, all gifted with sufficientenergy to be faithful to the same thought, with sufficient honor amongthemselves never to betray one another even if their interestsclashed; and sufficiently wily and politic to conceal the sacred tiesthat united them, sufficiently strong to maintain themselves above thelaw, bold enough to undertake all things, and fortunate enough to...¡¡

The Essays of Montaigne, V8by Michel de MontaigneTranslated by Charles CottonEdited by William Carew Hazilitt1877CONTENTS OF VOLUME 8.XLVIII. Of war-horses, or destriers.XLIX. Of ancient customs.L. Of Democritus and Heraclitus.LI. Of the vanity of words.LII. Of the parsimony of the Ancients.LIII. Of a saying of Caesar.LIV. Of vain subtleties.LV. Of smells.LVI. Of prayers.LVII. Of age.CHAPTER XLVIIIOF WAR HORSES, OR DESTRIERSI here have become a grammarian, I who never learned any language but by...¡¡

Ernest HemingwayWith a variety of themes and moods, dynamic action scenes andunexpectedlya rich and ribald sense of humor, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM tells a story closely resembling Hemingway¡¦s life.¡@Thomas Hudson is ¡§a good painter.¡¨ His solitary life of artistic self-discipline on the lush Caribbean island of Bimini is interrupted by a visit from his three lively sons. In a thrilling descriptive scene, David, the middle boy, shows his courage when attacked by a shark and his endurance while fighting a thousand-pound swordfish. It is an initiation into manhood.¡@Years later, Hudson is in Cuba mou¡¡

The Patricianby John GalsworthyCHAPTER ILight, entering the vast rooma room so high that its carved ceilingrefused itself to exact scrutinytravelled, with the wistful, coldcuriosity of the dawn, over a fantastic storehouse of Time. Light,unaccompanied by the prejudice of human eyes, made strange revelationof incongruities, as though illuminating the dispassionate march ofhistory.For in this dining hallone of the finest in Englandthe Caradocfamily had for centuries assembled the trophies and records of theirexistence. Round about this dining hall they had built and pulled...¡¡

THE COMPARISON OF LUCULLUS WITH CIMONby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenONE might bless the end of Lucullus, which was so timed as to lethim die before the great revolution, which fate, by intestine wars,was already effecting against the established government, and to closehis life in a free though troubled commonwealth. And in this, aboveall other things, Cimon and he are alike. For he died also when Greecewas as yet undisordered, in its highest felicity; though in thefield at the head of his army, not recalled, nor out of his mind,...¡¡

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOODTHERE were formerly a king and a queen, who were sosorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannotbe expressed. They went to all the waters in the world;vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to nopurpose.At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There wasa very fine christening; and the Princess had for her god-mothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom(they found seven), that every one of them mightgive her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those days.By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable....¡¡

GULLIVER OF MARSby Edwin L. ArnoldOriginal Title: Lieut. Gulliver JonesCHAPTER IDare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the love of a womanfor a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write itthe pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. Th¡¡

THAISby ANATOLE FRANCETranslated by Robert B. DouglasCONTENTSPART I. THE LOTUSPART II. THE PAPYRUSTHE BANQUETTHE PAPYRUS (resumed)PART III. THE EUPHORBIATHAISPART THE FIRSTTHE LOTUSIn those days there were many hermits living in the desert. On bothbanks of the Nile numerous huts, built by these solitary dwellers, ofbranches held together by clay, were scattered at a little distancefrom each other, so that the inhabitants could live alone, and yethelp one another in case of need. Churches, each surmounted by a...¡¡

ClocksClocksby Jerome K. Jerome1- Page 2-ClocksThere are two kinds of clocks. There is the clock that is alwayswrong, and that knows it is wrong, and glories in it; and there is the clockthat is always rightexcept when you rely upon it, and then it is morewrong than you would think a clock _could_ be in a civilized country.I remember a clock of this latter type, that we had in the house when I...¡¡

Guy Manneringby Sir Walter ScottINTRODUCTION TO GUY MANNERING.The Novel or Romance of WAVERLEY made its way to the public slowly, of course, at first, but afterwards with such accumulating popularity as to encourage the author to a second attempt. He looked about for a name and a subject; and the manner in which the novels were composed cannot be better illustrated than by reciting the simple narrative on which Guy Mannering was originally founded; but to which, in the progress of the work, the production ceased to bear any, even the most distant resemblance. The tale was originally told me b¡¡

410 BCIPHIGENIA AT AULISby EuripidesCharacters in the PlayAgamemnonAttendant, an old manChorus of Women of ChalcisMenelausClytaemnestraIphigeniaAchillesMessengerThe sea-coast at Aulis. Enter AGAMEMNON and ATTENDANT.Agamemnon.Old man, come hither and stand before my dwelling.Attendant.I come; what new schemes now, king Agamemnon?AGAMEMNON...¡¡