Letters of Two Bridesby Honore de BalzacTranslated by R. S. ScottDEDICATIONTo George SandYour name, dear George, while casting a reflected radiance on mybook, can gain no new glory from this page. And yet it is neitherself-interest nor diffidence which has led me to place it there,but only the wish that it should bear witness to the solidfriendship between us, which has survived our wanderings andseparations, and triumphed over the busy malice of the world. Thisfeeling is hardly likely now to change. The goodly company offriendly names, which will remain attached to my works, forms anelement of pleasure in the midst of the vexation caused by their...
The Golden AgeThe Golden AgeBy Kenneth Grahame1- Page 2-The Golden AgePROLOGUE: THE OLYMPIANSLooking back to those days of old, ere the gate shut behind me, I cansee now that to children with a proper equipment of parents these thingswould have worn a different aspect. But to those whose nearest wereaunts and uncles, a special attitude of mind may be allowed. Theytreated us, indeed, with kindness enough as to the needs of the flesh, but...
Memoirs of Carwin the BiloquistCharles Brockden BrownChapter I.I was the second son of a farmer, whose place of residence was a western district of Pennsylvania. My eldest brother seemed fitted by nature for the employment to which he was destined. His wishes never led him astray from the hay-stack and the furrow. His ideas never ranged beyond the sphere of his vision, or suggested the possibility that to-morrow could differ from to-day. He could read and write, because he had no alternative between learning the lesson prescribed to him, and punishment. He was diligent, as long as fear urged him forward, but his exertions ceased with the cessation of this motive. The limits of his acq
Boyhoodby Leo TolstoyTranslated by CJ HogarthIA SLOW JOURNEYAgain two carriages stood at the front door of the house at Petrovskoe. In one of them sat Mimi, the two girls, and their maid, with the bailiff, Jakoff, on the box, while in the othera britchkasat Woloda, myself, and our servant Vassili. Papa, who was to follow us to Moscow in a few days, was standing bareheaded on the entrance-steps. He made the sign of the cross at the windows of the carriages, and said:"Christ go with you! Good-bye."Jakoff and our coachman (for we had our own horses) lifted their caps in answer, and also made the sign of the cross."Amen. God go with us!"The carriages began to roll away, and the birch-trees of t
THE ALHAMBRAby Washington IrvingPreface to the Revised Edition.Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays wereactually written during a residence in the Alhambra; others weresubsequently added, founded on notes and observations made there. Carewas taken to maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that thewhole might present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm,that singular little world into which I had been fortuitouslythrown; and about which the external world had a very imperfectidea. It was my endeavor scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half...
THE CROW[13][13] From the Polish. Kletke.Once upon a time there were three Princesses who were all threeyoung and beautiful; but the youngest, although she was notfairer than the other two, was the most loveable of them all.About half a mile from the palace in which they lived there stooda castle, which was uninhabited and almost a ruin, but the gardenwhich surrounded it was a mass of blooming flowers, and in thisgarden the youngest Princess used often to walk.One day when she was pacing to and fro under the lime trees, ablack crow hopped out of a rose-bush in front of her. The poorbeast was all torn and bleeding, and the kind little Princess was...
The Essays of Montaigne, V4by Michel de MontaigneTranslated by Charles CottonEdited by William Carew Hazilitt1877CONTENTS OF VOLUME 4.XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law receivedXXIII. Various events from the same counsel.XXIV. Of pedantry.CHAPTER XXIIOF CUSTOM, AND THAT WE SHOULD NOT EASILY CHANGE A LAW RECEIVEDHe seems to me to have had a right and true apprehension of the power ofcustom, who first invented the story of a country-woman who, havingaccustomed herself to play with and carry a young calf in her arms, anddaily continuing to do so as it grew up, obtained this by custom, that,...
The Story of Doctor Dolittleby Hugh LoftingTHEStory ofDOCTOR DOLITTLEBEING THEHISTORY OF HIS PECULIAR LIFEAT HOME AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURESIN FOREIGN PARTS NEVER BEFORE PRINTED.TOALL CHILDRENCHILDREN IN YEARS AND CHILDREN IN HEARTI DEDICATE THIS STORYThere are some of us now reachingmiddle age who discover themselves to belamenting the past in one respect if in none other,that there are no books written now for childrencomparable with those of thirty years ago. Isay written FOR children because the newpsychological business of writing ABOUT them as thoughthey were small pills or hatched in some...
The Complete Anglerby Izaak WaltonTo the Right worshipfulJohn Offleyof Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford Esquire, My most honoured FriendSir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and protection of this Book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that I shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practice so much.You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that Angling is an Art: and you know that Art better than others; and that this is truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour which you
_New England Reformers__A Lecture read before the Society in Amory Hall,__on Sunday, 3 March, 1844_Whoever has had opportunity of acquaintance with society in NewEngland, during the last twenty-five years, with those middle andwith those leading sections that may constitute any justrepresentation of the character and aim of the community, will havebeen struck with the great activity of thought and experimenting.His attention must be commanded by the signs that the Church, orreligious party, is falling from the church nominal, and is appearingin temperance and non-resistance societies, in movements of...
An Accursed Raceby Elizabeth GaskellWe have our prejudices in England. Or, if that assertion offends anyof my readers, I will modify it: we have had our prejudices inEngland. We have tortured Jews; we have burnt Catholics andProtestants, to say nothing of a few witches and wizards. We havesatirized Puritans, and we have dressed-up Guys. But, after all, Ido not think we have been so bad as our Continental friends. To besure, our insular position has kept us free, to a certain degree,from the inroads of alien races; who, driven from one land of refuge,steal into another equally unwilling to receive them; and where, for...
Some Short Christmas StoriesSome Short ChristmasStoriesby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-Some Short Christmas StoriesA CHRISTMAS TREEI have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of childrenassembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree wasplanted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above theirheads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and...