FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE METAPHYSIC OF MORALSby Immanuel Kanttranslated by Thomas Kingsmill AbbottPREFACEAncient Greek philosophy was divided into three sciences: physics,ethics, and logic. This division is perfectly suitable to the natureof the thing; and the only improvement that can be made in it is toadd the principle on which it is based, so that we may both satisfyourselves of its completeness, and also be able to determine correctlythe necessary subdivisions.All rational knowledge is either material or formal: the former...
AS CONCERNS INTERPRETING THE DEITYIThis line of hieroglyphics was for fourteen years thedespair of all the scholars who labored over the mysteries of theRosetta stone: [Figure 1]After five years of study Champollion translated it thus:Therefore let the worship of Epiphanes be maintained in allthe temples, this upon pain of death.That was the twenty-forth translation that had beenfurnished by scholars. For a time it stood. But only for atime. Then doubts began to assail it and undermine it, and thescholars resumed their labors. Three years of patient workproduced eleven new translations; among them, this, by...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENA LEAF FROM HEAVENby Hans Christian AndersenHIGH up in the clear, pure air flew an angel, with a flowerplucked from the garden of heaven. As he was kissing the flower a verylittle leaf fell from it and sunk down into the soft earth in themiddle of a wood. It immediately took root, sprouted, and sent outshoots among the other plants."What a ridiculous little shoot!" said one. "No one will recognizeit; not even the thistle nor the stinging-nettle.""It must be a kind of garden plant," said another; and so theysneered and despised the plant as a thing from a garden....
AmphitryonAmphitryonTranslated by A.R. Waller, M.A.1- Page 2-AmphitryonPREFACEAmphitryon was played for the first time in Paris, at the Theatre duPalais-Royal, January 13, 1668. It was successfully received, holding theboards until the 18th of March, when Easter intervened. After the re-opening of the theatre, it was played half a dozen times more the sameyear, and continued to please.The first edition was published in 1668....
THE MAIDEN WITH THE WOODEN HELMETIn a little village in the country of Japan there lived long,long ago a man and his wife. For many years they were happy andprosperous, but bad times came, and at last nothing was left thembut their daughter, who was as beautiful as the morning. Theneighbours were very kind, and would have done anything theycould to help their poor friends, but the old couple felt thatsince everything had changed they would rather go elsewhere, soone day they set off to bury themselves in the country, takingtheir daughter with them.Now the mother and daughter had plenty to do in keeping the houseclean and looking after the garden, but the man would sit for...
The Queen of Heartsby Wilkie CollinsLETTER OF DEDICATION.-TOEMILE FORGUES.-AT a time when French readers were altogether unaware of theexistence of any books of my writing, a critical examination ofmy novels appeared under your signature in the _Revue des DeuxMoudes_. I read that article, at the time of its appearance, withsincere pleasure and sincere gratitude to the writer, and I havehonestly done my best to profit by it ever since.At a later period, when arrangements were made for thepublication of my novels in Paris, you kindly undertook, at somesacrifice of your own convenience, to give the first of theseries"The Dead Secret"the great advantage of being rendered...
The Turn of the Screwby Henry JamesThe story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless,but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on ChristmasEve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be,I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that itwas the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallenon a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparitionin just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasionan appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleepingin the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it;waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again,...
Falkby Joseph ConradA REMINISCENCESeveral of us, all more or less connected with thesea, were dining in a small river-hostelry not morethan thirty miles from London, and less than twentyfrom that shallow and dangerous puddle to whichour coasting men give the grandiose name of "Ger-man Ocean." And through the wide windows wehad a view of the Thames; an enfilading view downthe Lower Hope Reach. But the dinner was exe-crable, and all the feast was for the eyes.That flavour of salt-water which for so many ofus had been the very water of life permeated ourtalk. He who hath known the bitterness of theOcean shall have its taste forever in his mouth. But...
Ferragusby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Hector Berlioz.PREFACEThirteen men were banded together in Paris under the Empire, allimbued with one and the same sentiment, all gifted with sufficientenergy to be faithful to the same thought, with sufficient honor amongthemselves never to betray one another even if their interestsclashed; and sufficiently wily and politic to conceal the sacred tiesthat united them, sufficiently strong to maintain themselves above thelaw, bold enough to undertake all things, and fortunate enough tosucceed, nearly always, in their undertakings; having run the greatestdangers, but keeping silence if defeated; inaccessible to fe
The Man Betweenby Amelia E. BarrPART FIRSTO LOVE WILL VENTURE IN!THE MAN BETWEENCHAPTER ITHE thing that I know least about is my beginning. For it is possible to introduce Ethel Rawdon in so many picturesque ways that the choice is embarrassing, and forces me to the conclusion that the actual circumstances, though commonplace, may be the most suitable. Certainly the events that shape our lives are seldom ushered in with pomp or ceremony; they steal upon us unannounced, and begin their work without giving any premonition of their importance.Consequently Ethel had no idea when she returned home one night from a rather stupid entertainment that she was about to open a new and important chapter
THE SKETCH BOOKTHE STAGE COACHby Washington IrvingOmne beneSine poenaTempus est ludendi.Venit horaAbsque moraLibros deponendi.OLD HOLIDAY SCHOOL SONG.IN THE preceding paper I have made some general observations onthe Christmas festivities of England, and am tempted to illustratethem by some anecdotes of a Christmas passed in the country; inperusing which I would most courteously invite my reader to lay...
SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND STAINby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleTHE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND STAINI had intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the last ofthose exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I shouldever communicate to the public. This resolution of mine was not due toany lack of material, since I have notes of many hundreds of casesto which I have never alluded, nor was it caused by any waninginterest on the part of my readers in the singular personality andunique methods of this remarkable man. The real reason lay in thereluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown to the continued publication...