Gentle reader, hear Poliphilo tell of his dreams, Dreams sent by the highest heaven. You will not waste your labour, nor will listening irk you, For this wonderful work abounds in so many things. If, grave and dour, you despise love-stories, Know, I pray, that things are well ordered herein. You refuse? But at least the style, with its novel language, Grave discourse and wisdom, mands attention. If you refuse this, too, note the geometry, The many ancient things expressed in Nilotic signs . . . Here you will see the perfect palaces of kings, The worship of nymphs, fountains and rich banquets. The guards dance, dressed in motley, and the whole Of human life is expressed in dark labyrinths.
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 andbody conjointly] of our subject must be now dealt with, and we may...
A Simpletonby Charles ReadePREFACE.It has lately been objected to me, in studiously courteous terms ofcourse, that I borrow from other books, and am a plagiarist. Tothis I reply that I borrow facts from every accessible source, andam not a plagiarist. The plagiarist is one who borrows from ahomogeneous work: for such a man borrows not ideas only, but theirtreatment. He who borrows only from heterogeneous works is not aplagiarist. All fiction, worth a button, is founded on facts; andit does not matter one straw whether the facts are taken frompersonal experience, hearsay, or printed books; only those booksmust not be works of fiction.Ask your common sense why a man writes better fiction
The Captivesby Hugh WalpoleTOARNOLD BENNETTWITH DEEP AFFECTION"I confess that I do not see why the very existence of an invisible world may not in part depend on the personal response which any of us may make to the religious appeal. God Himself, in short, may draw vital strength and increase of very being from our fidelity. For my own part I do not know what the sweat and blood and tragedy of this life mean, if they mean anything short of this. If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fightas if there were something re
THE DESIRE OF AGESby ELLEN G.WHITEPREFACEIN THE HEARTS OF ALL MANKIND, OF WHATEVER RACE OR STATION IN LIFE, THERE ARE INEXPRESSIBLE LONGINGS FOR SOMETHING THEY DO NOT NOW POSSESS. THIS LONGING IS IMPLANTED IN THE VERY CONSTITUTION OF MAN BY A MERCIFUL GOD, THAT MAN MAY NOT BE SATISFIED WITH HIS PRESENT CONDITIONS OR ATTAINMENTS, WHETHER BAD, OR GOOD, OR BETTER. GOD DESIRES THAT THE HUMAN SHALL SEEK THE BEST, AND FIND IT TO THE ETERNAL BLESSING OF HIS SOUL.SATAN, BY WILY SCHEME AND CRAFT, HAS PERVERTED THESE LONGINGS OF THE HUMAN HEART. HE MAKES MEN BELIEVE THAT THIS DESIRE MAY BE SATISFIED BY PLEASURE, BY WEALTH, BY EASE, BY FAME, BY POWER; BUT THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN THUS DECEIVED BY HIM (AND
Common Senseby Thomas PaineINTRODUCTIONPerhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages,are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour;a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficialappearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcryin defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides.Time makes more converts than reason.As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Meansof calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too whichmight never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravatedinto the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken...
THE SCARECROW of OZDedicated to"The uplifters" of Los Angeles, California, ingrateful appreciation of the pleasure I have derivedfrom association with them, and in recognition oftheir sincere endeavor to uplift humanity throughkindness, consideration and good-fellowship. They arebig menall of themand all with the generoushearts of little children.L. Frank BaumTHE SCARECROW of OZby L. Frank Baum"TWIXT YOU AND METhe Army of Children which besieged the Postoffice,conquered the Postmen and delivered to me its imperious...
APPENDIX DThe Awful German LanguageA little learning makes the whole world kin.Proverbs xxxii, 7.I went often to look at the collection of curiositiesin Heidelberg Castle, and one day I surprised the keeperof it with my German. I spoke entirely in that language.He was greatly interested; and after I had talked a whilehe said my German was very rare, possibly a "unique";and wanted to add it to his museum.If he had known what it had cost me to acquire my art,he would also have known that it would break anycollector to buy it. Harris and I had been hard atwork on our German during several weeks at that time,...
THE GREAT CONTROVERSYby ELLEN G. WHITE(iii)PREFACETHIS BOOK, READER, IS NOT PUBLISHED TO TELL US THAT THERE IS SIN AND WOE ANDMISERY IN THIS WORLD. WE KNOW IT ALL TOO WELL. THIS BOOK IS NOT PUBLISHED TOTELL US THAT THERE IS AN IRRECONCILABLE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN DARKNESS ANDLIGHT, SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, WRONG AND RIGHT, DEATH AND LIFE. IN OUR HEARTOF HEARTS WE KNOW IT, AND KNOW THAT WE ARE PARTICIPATORS, ACTORS, IN THECONFLICT.BUT TO EVERY ONE OF US COMES AT TIMES A LONGING TO KNOW MORE OF THE GREATCONTROVERSY. HOW DID THE CONTROVERSY BEGIN? OR WAS IT ALWAYS HERE? WHAT...
THE COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUSby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenHAVING thus finished the lives of Lycurgus and Numa, we shall now,though the work be difficult, put together their points ofdifference as they lie here before our view. Their points oflikeness are obvious; their moderation, their religion, their capacityof government and discipline, their both deriving their laws andconstitutions from the gods. Yet in their common glories there arecircumstances of diversity; for first Numa accepted and Lycurgusresigned a kingdom; Numa received without desiring it, Lycurgus had it...
APPENDIX FGerman JournalsThe daily journals of Hamburg, Frankfort, Baden, Munich,and Augsburg are all constructed on the same general plan.I speak of these because I am more familiar with themthan with any other German papers. They contain no"editorials" whatever; no "personals"and this is rathera merit than a demerit, perhaps; no funny-paragraph column;no police-court reports; no reports of proceedingsof higher courts; no information about prize-fightsor other dog-fights, horse-races, walking-machines,yachting-contents, rifle-matches, or other sportingmatters of any sort; no reports of banquet speeches;no department of curious odds and ends of floating fact...
Second BookThe TheoryChapter 11Political and Cosmopolitical EconomyBefore Quesnay and the French economists there existed only apractice of political economy which was exercised by the Stateofficials, administrators, and authors who wrote about matters ofadministration, occupied themselves exclusively with theagriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation of thosecountries to which they belonged, without analysing the causes ofwealth, or taking at all into consideration the interests of thewhole human race.Quesnay (from whom the idea of universal free trade originated)...