On Public Creditby David HumeIt appears to have been the common practice of antiquity,make provision, during peace, for the necessities of war, and tohoard up treasures before-hand, as the instruments either ofconquest or defence; without trusting to extraordinaryimpositions, much less to borrowing, in times of disorder andconfusion. Besides the immense sums above mentioned, which wereamassed by ATHENS, and by the PTOLEMIES, and other successors ofALEXANDER; we learn from PLATO, that the frugal LACEDEMONIANS hadalso collected a great treasure; and ARRIAN and PLUTARCH takenotice of the riches which ALEXANDER got possession of on theconquest of SUSA and ECBATANA, and which were reserved, some　

Notes from the Undergroundby Feodor DostoevskyPART IUNDERGROUND**The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course,imaginary. Nevertheless it is clear that such persons as thewriter of these notes not only may, but positively must, exist inour society, when we consider the circumstances in the midst ofwhich our society is formed. I have tried to expose to the viewof the public more distinctly than is commonly done, one of thecharacters of the recent past. He is one of the representativesof a generation still living. In this fragment, entitled"Underground," this person introduces himself and his views, and,...　

Ursulaby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Mademoiselle Sophie Surville,It is a true pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you thisbook, the subject and details of which have won theapprobation, so difficult to win, of a young girl to whom theworld is still unknown, and who has compromised with none ofthe lofty principles of a saintly education. Young girls areindeed a formidable public, for they ought not to be allowedto read books less pure than the purity of their souls; theyare forbidden certain reading, just as they are carefullyprevented from seeing social life as it is. Must it not...　

The Chouansby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Monsieur Theodore Dablin, Merchant.To my first friend, my first work.De Balzac.THE CHOUANSIAN AMBUSCADEEarly in the year VIII., at the beginning of Vendemiaire, or, to conform to our own calendar, towards the close of September, 1799, a hundred or so of peasants and a large number of citizens, who had left Fougeres in the morning on their way to Mayenne, were going up the little mountain of La Pelerine, half-way between Fougeres and Ernee, a small town where travellers along that road are in the habit of resting. This company, divided into groups that were more or less numerous, presented a collection of suc　

The Dragon and The Raven: Or The Days of King AlfredBy G. A. HentyC O N T E N T SPREFACEI. THE FUGITIVESII. THE BATTLE OF KESTEVENIII. THE MASSACRE AT CROYLANDIV. THE INVASION OF WESSEXV. A DISCIPLINED BANDVI. THE SAXON FORTVII. THE DRAGONVIII. THE CRUISE OF THE DRAGONIX. A PRIS0NERX. THE COMBATXI. THE ISLE OF ATHELNEYXII. FOUR YEARS OF PEACEXIII. THE SIEGE OF PARISXlV. THE REPULSE OF THE NORSEMENXV. FRIENDS IN TROUBLEXVI. FREDAXVII. A LONG CHASEXVIII. FREDA DISCOVEREDXIX. UNITEDPREFACEMY DEAR LADS,Living in the present days of peace and tranquillity it is...　

History Of The Britons (Historia Brittonum)by NenniusTranslated by J. A. GilesI. The Prologue.1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants ofGod, by the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus,* to all thefollowers of truth sendeth health.* Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in theCambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect andrude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in theLatin tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is littleor none at all, but partly from traditions of our ancestors,partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of...　

Studies of Lowellby William Dean HowellsI have already spoken of my earliest meetings with Lowell at Cambridgewhen I came to New England on a literary pilgrimage from the West in1860. I saw him more and more after I went to live in Cambridge in 1866;and I now wish to record what I knew of him during the years that passedbetween this date and that of his death. If the portrait I shall try topaint does not seem a faithful likeness to others who knew him, I shallonly claim that so he looked to me, at this moment and at that. If I donot keep myself quite out of the picture, what painter ever did?I.It was in the summer of 1865 that I came home from my consular post at...　

Addressesby Henry DrummondIntroductoryI was staying with a party of friends in a country house during myvisit to England in 1884. On Sunday evening as we sat around thefire, they asked me to read and expound some portion of Scripture.Being tired after the services of the day, I told them to ask HenryDrummond, who was one of the party. After some urging he drew asmall Testament from his hip pocket, opened it at the 13th chapterof I Corinthians, and began to speak on the subject of Love.It seemed to me that I had never heard anything so beautiful, andI determined not to rest until I brought Henry Drummond to Northfield...　

A First Family of Tasajaraby Bret HarteCHAPTER I."It blows," said Joe Wingate.As if to accent the words of the speaker a heavy gust of wind atthat moment shook the long light wooden structure which served asthe general store of Sidon settlement, in Contra Costa. Even afterit had passed a prolonged whistle came through the keyhole, sides,and openings of the closed glass front doors, that served equallyfor windows, and filled the canvas ceiling which hid the roof abovelike a bellying sail. A wave of enthusiastic emotion seemed to becommunicated to a line of straw hats and sou-westers suspended froma cross-beam, and swung them with every appearance of festive...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PEA BLOSSOMby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shellwas green, and so they believed that the whole world must be greenalso, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and thepeas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat allin a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rainmade it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broaddaylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas asthey sat there grew bigger and bigger, and more thoughtful as they...　

An Inland Voyageby Robert Louis StevensonPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONTo equip so small a book with a preface is, I am half afraid, to sin against proportion. But a preface is more than an author can resist, for it is the reward of his labours. When the foundation stone is laid, the architect appears with his plans, and struts for an hour before the public eye. So with the writer in his preface: he may have never a word to say, but he must show himself for a moment in the portico, hat in hand, and with an urbane demeanour.It is best, in such circumstances, to represent a delicate shade of manner between humility and superiority: as if the book had been written by some one else, 　

The Childrenby Alice MeynellContentsFellow Travellers with a Bird, I.Fellow Travellers with a Bird, II.Children in MidwinterThat Pretty PersonOut of TownExpressionUnder the Early StarsThe Man with Two HeadsChildren in BurlesqueAuthorshipLettersThe FieldsThe Barren ShoreThe BoyIllnessThe Young ChildrenFair and BrownReal ChildhoodFELLOW TRAVELLERS WITH A BIRD, I.To attend to a living child is to be baffled in your humour,disappointed of your pathos, and set freshly free from all the pre-occupations. You cannot anticipate him. Blackbirds, overheard yearby year, do not compose the same phrases; never two leitmotifs...