The Ancient RegimeThe Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1by Hippolyte A. TainePREFACE.BOOK FIRST. The Structure of the Ancient Society.CHAPTER I. The Origin of Privileges.CHAPTER II. The Privileged Classes.CHAPTER III. Local Services Due by the Privileged Classes.CHAPTER IV. Public services due by the privileged classes.BOOK SECOND. Habits and Characters.CHAPTER I. Social Habits.CHAPTER II. Drawing room Life .CHAPTER III. Disadvantages of this Drawing room Life.BOOK THIRD. The Spirit and the Doctrine.CHAPTER I. Scientific Acquisition....　

HERMOD AND HADVOR [32][32] From the Icelandic.Once upon a time there were a King and a Queen who had an onlydaughter, called Hadvor, who was fair and beautiful, and being anonly child, was heir to the kingdom. The King and Queen had alsoa foster son, named Hermod, who was just about the same age asHadvor, and was good-looking, as well as clever at most things.Hermod and Hadvor often played together while they were children,and liked each other so much that while they were still youngthey secretly plighted their troth to each other.As time went on the Queen fell sick, and suspecting that it washer last illness, sent for the King to come to her. When he came...　

The Blue Flowerby Henry van DykeThe desire of the moth for the star,Of the night for the morrow,The devotion for something afarFrom the sphere of our sorrow.SHELLEY.ToTHE DEAR MEMORY OFBERNARD VAN DYKE1887-1897AND THE LOVE THAT LIVESBEYOND THE YEARSPREFACESometimes short stories are brought together like parcels ina basket. Sometimes they grow together like blossoms on abush. Then, of course, they really belong to one another,because they have the same life in them.The stories in this book have been growing together for along time. It is at least ten years since the first of them,the story of The Other Wise Man, came to me; and all the...　

East Lynneby Mrs. Henry WoodCHAPTER I.THE LADY ISABEL.In an easy-chair of the spacious and handsome library of his town- house, sat William, Earl of Mount Severn. His hair was gray, the smoothness of his expansive brow was defaced by premature wrinkles, and his once attractive face bore the pale, unmistakable look of dissipation. One of his feet was cased in folds of linen, as it rested on the soft velvet ottoman, speaking of gout as plainly as any foot ever spoke yet. It would seemto look at the man as he sat there that he had grown old before his time. And so he had. His years were barely nine and forty, yet in all save years, he was an aged man.A noted character had been the Earl of Moun　

The Writings of Abraham Lincolnby Abraham LincolnVOLUME SIXWRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN1862-1863RECOMMENDATION OF NAVAL OFFICERSMESSAGE TO CONGRESS.WASHINGTON, D.C., May 14, 1862.TO SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:The third section of the "Act further to promote the efficiency ofthe Navy," approved 21st of December, 1861, provides:"That the President of the United States by and with the advice andconsent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from theretired list of the navy for the command of squadrons and singleships such officers as he may believe that the good of the service...　

　　THE conditions of life in New York are so different from those of London that a story of this kind calls for a little explanation. There are several million inhabitants of New York. Not all of them eke out a precarious livelihood by murdering one another, but there is a definite section of the population which murdersnot casually, on the spur of the moment, but on definitely mercial lines at so many dollars per murder. The "gangs" of New York exist in fact. I have not invented them. Most of the incidents in this story are based on actual happenings. The Rosenthal case, where four men, headed by a genial individual calling himself "Gyp the Blood" shot a fellow-citizen in cold blood in a sp　

Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empressby George Bernard ShawANNAJANSKA is frankly a bravura piece. The modern variety theatredemands for its "turns" little plays called sketches, to lasttwenty minutes or so, and to enable some favorite performer tomake a brief but dazzling appearance on some barely passabledramatic pretext. Miss Lillah McCarthy and I, as author andactress, have helped to make one another famous on many seriousoccasions, from Man and Superman to Androcles; and Mr CharlesRicketts has not disdained to snatch moments from his paintingand sculpture to design some wonderful dresses for us. We threeunbent as Mrs Siddons, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Dr Johnson might...　

Poor Miss Finchby Wilkie CollinsTO MRS. ELLIOT,(OF THE DEANERY, BRISTOL).WILL YOU honor me by accepting the Dedication of this book, inremembrance of an uninterrupted friendship of many years?More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, haspreceded "Poor Miss Finch." But, so far as I know, blindness in thesecases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the idealand the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to appeal toan interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really is. Ihave carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution ofthis purpose from competent authorities of all sorts. Whenever "Lucilla"...　

The Nature Fakerby Richard Harding DavisRichard Herrick was a young man with a gentle disposition, muchmoney, and no sense of humor. His object in life was to marry MissCatherweight. For three years she had tried to persuade him thiscould not be, and finally, in order to convince him, married someone else. When the woman he loves marries another man, the rejectedone is popularly supposed to take to drink or to foreign travel.Statistics show that, instead, he instantly falls in love with thebest friend of the girl who refused him. But, as Herrick trulyloved Miss Catherweight, he could not worship any other woman, andso he became a lover of nature. Nature, he assured his men friends,...　

TIMAEUSby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettTIMAEUSPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; CRITIAS; TIMAEUS; HERMOCRATESSocrates. One, two, three; but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourthof those who were yesterday my guests and are to be my entertainersto-day?Timaeus. He has been taken ill, Socrates; for he would not willinglyhave been absent from this gathering.Soc. Then, if he is not coming, you and the two others must supplyhis place.Tim. Certainly, and we will do all that we can; having beenhandsomely entertained by you yesterday, those of us who remain should...　

James Nasmyth: Engineer, An Autobiography.Edited by Samuel SmilesPREFACEI have had much pleasure in editing the following Memoir of my friend Mr. Nasmyth. Some twenty years since (in April 1863), when I applied to him for information respecting his mechanical inventions, he replied: "My life presents no striking or remarkable incidents, and would, I fear, prove but a tame narrative. The sphere to which my endeavours have been confined has been of a comparatively quiet order; but, vanity apart, I hope I have been able to leave a few marks of my existence behind me in the shape of useful contrivances, which are in many ways helping on great works of industry."Mr. Nasmyth, nevertheless, kin　

The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thitherby Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)PREFACEIn presenting to the public the last installment of my travels in theFar East, in 1879, I desire to offer, both to my readers and critics, mygrateful acknowledgments for the kindness with which my letters fromJapan were received, and to ask for an equally kind and lenient estimateof my present volume, which has been prepared for publication under theheavy shadow of the loss of the beloved and only sister to whom theletters of which it consists were written, and whose able and carefulcriticism, as well as loving interest, accompanied my former volumesthrough the press....