[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 ENCHANTED CANARYIONCE upon a time, in the reign of King Cambrinus, there lived atAvesnes one of his lords, who was the finest manby which Imean the fattestin the whole country of Flanders. He ate fourmeals a day, slept twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and the onlything he ever did was to shoot at small birds with his bow andarrow.Still, with all his practice he shot very badly, he was so fat andheavy, and as he grew daily fatter, he was at last obliged to give upwalking, and be dragged about in a wheel-chair, and the people...¡¡

The Works of Edgar Allan PoeVolume 3 of the Raven EditionIN FIVE VOLUMESContents Volume IIINarrative of A. Gordon PymLigeiaMorellaA Tale of the Ragged MountainsThe SpectaclesKing PestThree Sundays in a WeekNARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYMINTRODUCTORY NOTEUPON my return to the United States a few months ago, after theextraordinary series of adventure in the South Seas and elsewhere, ofwhich an account is given in the following pages, accident threw meinto the society of several gentlemen in Richmond, Va., who felt deepinterest in all matters relating to the regions I had visited, and...¡¡

THE HEADLESS DWARFSThere was once a minister who spent his whole time in trying tofind a servant who would undertake to ring the church bells atmidnight, in addition to all his other duties.Of course it was not everyone who cared to get up in the middleof the night, when he had been working hard all day; still, agood many had agreed to do it. But the strange thing was that nosooner had the servant set forth to perform his task than hedisappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up. No bells wererung, and no ringer ever came back. The minister did his best to...¡¡

Over the Teacupsby Oliver W. HolmesPREFACE.The kind way in which this series of papers has been received hasbeen a pleasure greater than I dared to anticipate. I felt that Iwas a late comer in the midst of a crowd of ardent and eagercandidates for public attention, that I had already had my day, andthat if, like the unfortunate Frenchman we used read about, I had"come again," I ought not to surprised if I received the welcome of"Monsieur Tonson."It has not proved so. My old readers have come forward in thepleasantest possible way and assured me that they were glad to see me...¡¡

THE COMPLEAT ANGLERTHE COMPLEATANGLERIZAAK WALTON1- Page 2-THE COMPLEAT ANGLERTo the Right worshipfulJohn Offleyof Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford Esquire, My mosthonoured FriendSir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to beencouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and...¡¡

METEOROLOGYby Aristotletranslated by E. W. WebsterBook I1WE have already discussed the first causes of nature, and allnatural motion, also the stars ordered in the motion of the heavens,and the physical element-enumerating and specifying them and showinghow they change into one another-and becoming and perishing ingeneral. There remains for consideration a part of this inquiry...¡¡