ON SENSE AND THE SENSIBLEby Aristotletranslated by J. I. Beare1HAVING now definitely considered the soul, by itself, and itsseveral faculties, we must next make a survey of animals and allliving things, in order to ascertain what functions are peculiar,and what functions are common, to them. What has been alreadydetermined respecting the soul [sc. by itself] must be assumedthroughout. The remaining parts [sc. the attributes of soul and...
Eugenie Grandetby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Maria.May your name, that of one whose portrait is the noblest ornamentof this work, lie on its opening pages like a branch of sacredbox, taken from an unknown tree, but sanctified by religion, andkept ever fresh and green by pious hands to bless the house.De Balzac.EUGENIE GRANDETIThere are houses in certain provincial towns whose aspect inspiresmelancholy, akin to that called forth by sombre cloisters, drearymoorlands, or the desolation of ruins. Within these houses there is,...
Fourth BookThe PoliticsChapter 33The Insular Supremacy and the Continental Powers North Americaand FranceIn all ages there have been cities or countries which have beenpre-eminent above all others in industry, commerce, and navigation;but a supremacy such as that which exists in our days, the worldhas never before witnessed. In all ages, nations and powers havestriven to attain to the dominion of the world, but hitherto notone of them has erected its power on so broad a foundation. How...
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
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 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...
Weir of HermistonWeir of HermistonRobert Louis Stevenson1- Page 2-Weir of HermistonTO MY WIFEI saw rain falling and the rainbow drawn On Lammermuir.Hearkening I heard again In my precipitous city beaten bells Winnow thekeen sea wind. And here afar, Intent on my own race and place, I wrote.Take thou the writing: thine it is. For who Burnished the sword, blew on...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BUTTERFLYby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was once a butterfly who wished for a bride, and, as maybe supposed, he wanted to choose a very pretty one from among theflowers. He glanced, with a very critical eye, at all the flower-beds,and found that the flowers were seated quietly and demurely on theirstalks, just as maidens should sit before they are engaged; butthere was a great number of them, and it appeared as if his searchwould become very wearisome. The butterfly did not like to take too...
The Way of the WorldThe Way of the WorldWilliam Congreve1- Page 2-The Way of the WorldTO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE RALPH, EARL OFMOUNTAGUE, ETC.My Lord,Whether the world will arraign me of vanity or not, that Ihave presumed to dedicate this comedy to your lordship, I am yet in doubt;though, it may be, it is some degree of vanity even to doubt of it. One who...
MUGBY JUNCTIONMUGBY JUNCTIONBy Charles Dickens1- Page 2-MUGBY JUNCTIONCHAPTER IBARBOXBROTHERSI"Guard! What place is this?""Mugby Junction, sir.""A windy place!""Yes, it mostly is, sir.""And looks comfortless indeed!""Yes, it generally does, sir."...
The Hunchbackby James Sheridan KnowlesINTRODUCTIONJames Sheridan Knowles was born at Cork in 1784, and died at Torquayin December, 1862, at the age of 78. His father was a teacher ofelocution, who compiled a dictionary, and who was related to theSheridans. He moved to London when his son was eight years old, andthere became acquainted with William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb. Theson, after his school education, obtained a commission in the army,but gave up everything for the stage, and made his first appearanceat the Crow Street Theatre, in Dublin. He did not become a great...