The Perils of Certain English Prisonersby Charles DickensCHAPTER ITHE ISLAND OF SILVER-STOREIt was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-four, that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then thehonour to be a private in the Royal Marines, stood a-leaning overthe bulwarks of the armed sloop Christopher Columbus, in the SouthAmerican waters off the Mosquito shore.My lady remarks to me, before I go any further, that there is nosuch christian-name as Gill, and that her confident opinion is, thatthe name given to me in the baptism wherein I was made, &c., wasGilbert. She is certain to be right, but I never heard of it. I...
A Modest Proposalby Jonathan SwiftA Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people inIreland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and formaking them beneficial to the publick.by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this greattown, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, theroads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, andimportuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead ofbeing able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced toemploy all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their...
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Record, An Estimate, A Memorialby A. H. JappPREFACEA FEW words may here be allowed me to explain one or two points. First, about the facsimile of last page of Preface to FAMILIAR STUDIES OF MEN AND BOOKS. Stevenson was in Davos when the greater portion of that work went through the press. He felt so much the disadvantage of being there in the circumstances (both himself and his wife ill) that he begged me to read the proofs of the Preface for him. This illness has record in the letter from him (pp. 28- 29). The printers, of course, had directions to send the copy and proofs of the Preface to me. Hence I am able now to give this facsimile....
The Aspern Papersby Henry JamesTHE ASPERN PAPERSII had taken Mrs. Prest into my confidence; in truth withouther I should have made but little advance, for the fruitfulidea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips.It was she who invented the short cut, who severed the Gordian knot.It is not supposed to be the nature of women to rise as a general thingto the largest and most liberal viewI mean of a practical scheme;but it has struck me that they sometimes throw off a bold conceptionsuch as a man would not have risen towith singular serenity....
American Literary Centersby William Dean HowellsOne of the facts which we Americans have a difficulty in making clear toa rather inattentive world outside is that, while we have apparently aliterature of our own, we have no literary centre. We have so muchliterature that from time to time it seems even to us we must have aliterary centre. We say to ourselves, with a good deal of logic, Wherethere is so much smoke there must be some fire, or at least a fireplace.But it is just here that, misled by tradition, and even by history, wedeceive ourselves. Really, we have no fireplace for such fire as we havekindled; or, if any one is disposed to deny this, then I say, we have a...
Alcibiades Iby Plato (see Appendix I)Translated by Benjamin JowettAPPENDIX I.It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings ofPlato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is ofmuch value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of acentury later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of theAristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertaintyconcerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed tohim. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, andsome of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are taken....
Alfred Tennysonby Andrew LangINTRODUCTIONIn writing this brief sketch of the Life of Tennyson, and thisattempt to appreciate his work, I have rested almost entirely on theBiography by Lord Tennyson (with his kind permission) and on the textof the Poems. As to the Life, doubtless current anecdotes, not givenin the Biography, are known to me, and to most people. But as theymust also be familiar to the author of the Biography, I have notthought it desirable to include what he rejected. The works of the"localisers" I have not read: Tennyson disliked these researches, asa rule, and they appear to be unessential, and often hazardous. Theprofessed commentators I have not consulted. It appear
The Adventure of the Red CircleThe Adventure of the RedCircleBy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle1- Page 2-The Adventure of the Red CircleOne"Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particular cause foruneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time is of some value,should interfere in the matter. I really have other things to engage me."So spoke Sherlock Holmes and turned back to the great scrapbook in...
The Countess of Saint GeranBy Alexander Dumas, pereAbout the end of the year 1639, a troop of horsemen arrived, towardsmidday, in a little village at the northern extremity of the provinceof Auvergne, from the direction of Paris. The country folk assembledat the noise, and found it to proceed from the provost of the mountedpolice and his men. The heat was excessive, the horses were bathedin sweat, the horsemen covered with dust, and the party seemed on itsreturn from an important expedition. A man left the escort, andasked an old woman who was spinning at her door if there was not aninn in the place. The woman and her children showed him a bush...
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWSTHE WIND IN THEWILLOWSKENNETH GRAHAMEAUTHOR OF "THE GOLDEN AGE," "DREAM DAYS," ETC.1- Page 2-THE WIND IN THE WILLOWSCHAPTER I.THE RIVER BANKThe Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then onladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he...
SCIENCE OF LOGICby HegelTABLE OF CONTENTSPreface to the First EditionPreface to the Second EditionIntroduction: General Notion of LogicIntroduction: General Division of LogicVOLUME ONE: THE OBJECTIVE LOGICBOOK ONE: THE DOCTRINE OF BEINGWith What must Science Begin?General Division of BeingSection One: Determinateness (Quality)Chapter 1 BeingA BeingB NothingC Becoming1. Unity of Being and Nothing2. Moments of Becoming: Coming-to-be and Ceasing-to-be3. Sublation of Becoming...
SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGERby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleWhen one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practicefor twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I wasallowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it willbe clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem hasalways been not to find but to choose. There is the long row ofyear-books which fill a shelf, and there are the dispatch-cases filledwith documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime butof the social and official scandals of the late Victorian era....