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...
Hieroby XenophonTranslation by H. G. DakynsXenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was apupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him landand property in Scillus, where he lived for manyyears before having to move once more, to settlein Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue, c. 474 B.C.,between Simonides of Ceos, the poet; and Hieron,of Syracuse and Gela, the despot.HIERO, or "THE TYRANT"A Discourse on Despotic Rule...
400 BCTHE BOOK OF PROGNOSTICSby HippocratesTranslated by Francis AdamsTHE BOOK OF PROGNOSTICSIT APPEARS to me a most excellent thing for the physician tocultivate Prognosis; for by foreseeing and foretelling, in thepresence of the sick, the present, the past, and the future, andexplaining the omissions which patients have been guilty of, he willbe the more readily believed to be acquainted with the circumstancesof the sick; so that men will have confidence to intrust themselves tosuch a physician. And he will manage the cure best who has foreseen...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENIN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEAby Hans Christian AndersenSOME years ago, large ships were sent towards the north pole, toexplore the distant coasts, and to try how far men could penetrateinto those unknown regions. For more than a year one of these shipshad been pushing its way northward, amid snow and ice, and the sailorshad endured many hardships; till at length winter set in, and thesun entirely disappeared; for many weeks there would be constantnight. All around, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could beseen but fields of ice, in which the ship remained stuck fast. The...
The Mahatma and the HareA Dream Storyby H. Rider Haggard"Ultimately a good hare was found which took the field at . . .There the hounds pressed her, and on the hunt arriving at the edgeof the cliff the hare could be seen crossing the beach and goingright out to sea. A boat was procured, and the master and someothers rowed out to her just as she drowned, and, bringing thebody in, gave it to the hounds. A hare swimming out to sea is asight not often witnessed."/Local paper, January/ 1911.". . . A long check occurred in the latter part of this hunt, thehare having laid up in a hedgerow, from which she was at lastevicted by a crack of the whip. Her next place of refuge was a...
THE SKETCH BOOKA SUNDAY IN LONDON*by Washington Irving* Part of a sketch omitted in the previous editions.IN A preceding paper I have spoken of an English Sunday in thecountry, and its tranquillizing effect upon the landscape; but whereis its sacred influence more strikingly apparent than in the veryheart of that great Babel, London? On this sacred day, the giganticmonster is charmed into repose. The intolerable din and struggle ofthe week are at an end. The shops are shut. The fires of forges andmanufactories are extinguished; and the sun, no longer obscured by...
THE LOST CONTINENTTHE LOSTCONTINENTEdgar Rice Burroughs1- Page 2-THE LOST CONTINENT1Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by themystery surrounding the history of the last days of twentieth centuryEurope. My interest is keenest, perhaps, not so much in relation toknown facts as to speculation upon the unknowable of the two centuriesthat have rolled by since human intercourse between the Western and...
The Seven Poor Travellersby Charles DickensCHAPTER IIN THE OLD CITY OF ROCHESTERStrictly speaking, there were only six Poor Travellers; but, being aTraveller myself, though an idle one, and being withal as poor as Ihope to be, I brought the number up to seven. This word ofexplanation is due at once, for what says the inscription over thequaint old door?RICHARD WATTS, Esq.by his Will, dated 22 Aug. 1579,founded this Charityfor Six poor Travellers,who not being ROGUES, or PROCTORS,May receive gratis for one Night,Lodging, Entertainment,and Fourpence each.It was in the ancient little city of Rochester in Kent, of all the...
The Lady of LyonsorLove and Prideby Edward Bulwer LyttonTo the author of "Ion."Whose genius and example have alike contributed towards the regenerationof The National Drama,This play is inscribed.PREFACE.An indistinct recollection of the very pretty little tale,called "The Bellows-Mender," suggested the plot of this Drama.The incidents are, however, greatly altered from those in the tale,and the characters entirely re-cast.Having long had a wish to illustrate certain periods of the Frenchhistory, so, in the selection of the date in which the scenes of thisplay are laid, I saw that the era of the Republic was that in which...
BOOK II: OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANSTHERE are several sorts of religions, not only in different partsof the island, but even in every town; some worshipping the sun,others the moon or one of the planets: some worship such men ashave been eminent in former times for virtue or glory, not only asordinary deities, but as the supreme God: yet the greater andwiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore one eternal,invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible Deity; as a being thatis far above all our apprehensions, that is spread over the wholeuniverse, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue; Him they...
THE HISTORY OF DWARF LONG NOSEIt is a great mistake to think that fairies, witches, magicians,and such people lived only in Eastern countries and in such timesas those of the Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid. Fairies and theirlike belong to every country and every age, and no doubt weshould see plenty of them nowif we only knew how.In a large town in Germany there lived, some couple of hundredyears ago, a cobbler and his wife. They were poor andhard-working. The man sat all day in a little stall at thestreet corner and mended any shoes that were brought him. Hiswife sold the fruit and vegetables they grew in their garden inthe Market Place, and as she was always neat and clean and her...
SCHIPPEITAROIt was the custom in old times that as soon as a Japanese boyreached manhood he should leave his home and roam through theland in search of adventures. Sometimes he would meet with ayoung man bent on the same business as himself, and then theywould fight in a friendly manner, merely to prove which was thestronger, but on other occasions the enemy would turn out to be arobber, who had become the terror of the neighbourhood, and thenthe battle was in deadly earnest.One day a youth started off from his native village, resolvednever to come back till he had done some great deed that wouldmake his name famous. But adventures did not seem very plentiful...