THE WHITE DUCKOnce upon a time a great and powerful King married a lovelyPrincess. No couple were ever so happy; but before theirhoneymoon was over they were forced to part, for the King had togo on a warlike expedition to a far country, and leave his youngwife alone at home. Bitter were the tears she shed, while herhusband sought in vain to soothe her with words of comfort andcounsel, warning her, above all things, never to leave thecastle, to hold no intercourse with strangers, to beware of evilcounsellors, and especially to be on her guard against strangewomen. And the Queen promised faithfully to obey her royal lordand master in these four matters....
The Divine Comedytranslated by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowPARADISOParadiso: Canto IThe glory of Him who moveth everythingDoth penetrate the universe, and shineIn one part more and in another less.Within that heaven which most his light receivesWas I, and things beheld which to repeatNor knows, nor can, who from above descends;Because in drawing near to its desireOur intellect ingulphs itself so far,That after it the memory cannot go.Truly whatever of the holy realmI had the power to treasure in my mindShall now become the subject of my song.O good Apollo, for this last empriseMake of me such a vessel of thy power...
Essays and Lecturesby Oscar WildeContentsThe Rise of Historical CriticismThe English Renaissance of ArtHouse DecorationArt and the HandicraftmanLecture to Art StudentsLondon ModelsPoems in ProseTHE RISE OF HISTORICAL CRITICISMCHAPTER IHISTORICAL criticism nowhere occurs as an isolated fact in thecivilisation or literature of any people. It is part of thatcomplex working towards freedom which may be described as therevolt against authority. It is merely one facet of thatspeculative spirit of an innovation, which in the sphere of actionproduces democracy and revolution, and in that of thought is the...
THE MUDFOG AND OTHER SKETCHESPUBLIC LIFE OF MR. TULRUMBLE - ONCE MAYOR OF MUDFOGMudfog is a pleasant town - a remarkably pleasant town - situatedin a charming hollow by the side of a river, from which river,Mudfog derives an agreeable scent of pitch, tar, coals, and rope-yarn, a roving population in oilskin hats, a pretty steady influxof drunken bargemen, and a great many other maritime advantages.There is a good deal of water about Mudfog, and yet it is notexactly the sort of town for a watering-place, either. Water is aperverse sort of element at the best of times, and in Mudfog it isparticularly so. In winter, it comes oozing down the streets and...
Brother Jacobby George Eliot [Mary Anne Evans]CHAPTER IAmong the many fatalities attending the bloom of young desire, thatof blindly taking to the confectionery line has not, perhaps, beensufficiently considered. How is the son of a British yeoman, whohas been fed principally on salt pork and yeast dumplings, to knowthat there is satiety for the human stomach even in a paradise ofglass jars full of sugared almonds and pink lozenges, and that thetedium of life can reach a pitch where plum-buns at discretion ceaseto offer the slightest excitement? Or how, at the tender age when aconfectioner seems to him a very prince whom all the world must...
The Holly-Treeby Charles DickensFIRST BRANCHMYSELFI have kept one secret in the course of my life. I am a bashfulman. Nobody would suppose it, nobody ever does suppose it, nobodyever did suppose it, but I am naturally a bashful man. This is thesecret which I have never breathed until now.I might greatly move the reader by some account of the innumerableplaces I have not been to, the innumerable people I have not calledupon or received, the innumerable social evasions I have been guiltyof, solely because I am by original constitution and character abashful man. But I will leave the reader unmoved, and proceed with...
The Home Book of Verse, Volume 1by Burton Egbert StevensonContents of Volumes 1 through 4 of The Home Book of VersePART IPOEMS OF YOUTH AND AGEThe Human Seasons John KeatsTHE BABY"Only a Baby Small" Matthias BarrOnly Harriet Prescott SpoffordInfant Joy William BlakeBaby George MacdonaldTo a New-Born Baby Girl Grace Hazard ConklingTo Little Renee William Aspenwall BradleyA Rhyme of One Frederick Locker-LampsonTo a New-Born Child Cosmo Monkhouse...
Bureaucracyby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo the Comtesse Seraphina San Severino, with the respectfulhomage of sincere and deep admiration.De Balzac.BUREAUCRACYCHAPTER ITHE RABOURDIN HOUSEHOLDIn Paris, where men of thought and study bear a certain likeness toone another, living as they do in a common centre, you must have metwith several resembling Monsieur Rabourdin, whose acquaintance we areabout to make at a moment when he is head of a bureau in one of ourmost important ministries. At this period he was forty years old, with...
Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White Volume IIby Andrew Dickson WhiteVOLUME IIAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW DICKSON WHITEVolume IICHAPTER XXXIIIAS MINISTER TO RUSSIA1892-1894During four years after my return from service as minister toGermany I devoted myself to the duties of the presidency atCornell, and on resigning that position gave all time possible tostudy and travel, with reference to the book on which I was thenengaged: "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology."...
The Story of a Pioneerby Anna Howard ShawBYANNA HOWARD SHAW, D.D., M.D.WITH THE COLLABORATION OFELIZABETH JORDANTHE STORY OF A PIONEERTOTHE WOMEN PIONEERSOF AMERICAThey cut a path through tangled underwoodOf old traditions, out to broader ways.They lived to here their work called brave and good,But oh! the thorns before the crown of bays.The world gives lashes to its PioneersUntil the goal is reachedthen deafening cheers.Adapted by ANNA HOWARD SHAW.CONTENTSI. FIRST MEMORIES...
Book of Nonsenseby Edward LearThere was an Old Derry down Derry,Who loved to see little folks merry;So he made them a Book,And with laughter they shook,At the fun of that Derry down Derry!TO THE GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN,GRAND-NEPHEWS, AND GRAND-NIECESOF EDWARD, 13th EARL OF DERBY,THIS BOOK OF DRAWINGS AND VERSES(The greater part of which were originallymade and composed for their parents,)IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR,EDWARD LEAR1.There was an Old Man with a beard,Who said, "It is just as I feared!Two Owls and a Hen,Four Larks and a Wren,Have all built their nests in my beard!"...