The Essays of Montaigne, V16by Michel de MontaigneTranslated by Charles CottonEdited by William Carew Hazilitt1877CONTENTS OF VOLUME 16.VI. Of Coaches.VII. Of the Inconvenience of Greatness.VIII. Of the Art of Conference.CHAPTER VIOF COACHESIt is very easy to verify, that great authors, when they write of causes,not only make use of those they think to be the true causes, but also ofthose they believe not to be so, provided they have in them some beautyand invention: they speak true and usefully enough, if it be ingeniously.We cannot make ourselves sure of the supreme cause, and therefore crowd agreat many together, to see if it may not accidentally be amongst them:...　

400 BCAPHORISMSby Hippocratestranslated by Francis AdamsAPHORISMSSECTION ILife is short, and Art long; the crisis fleeting; experienceperilous, and decision difficult. The physician must not only beprepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient,the attendants, and externals cooperate.2. In disorders of the bowels and vomitings, occurringspontaneously, if the matters purged be such as ought to be purged,they do good, and are well borne; but if not, the contrary. And so...　

Tacitus on Germanyby TacitusTranslated by Thomas GordonINTRODUCTORY NOTEThe dates of the birth and death of Tacitus are uncertain, but it isprobable that he was born about 54 A. D. and died after 117. He was acontemporary and friend of the younger Pliny, who addressed to himsome of his most famous epistles. Tacitus was apparently of theequestrian class, was an advocate by training, and had a reputation asan orator, though none of his speeches has survived. He held a numberof important public offices, and married the daughter of Agricola, theconqueror of Britain, whose life he wrote.The two chief works of Tacitus, the "Annals" and the "Histories,"...　

An Old Town By The Seaby Thomas Bailey AldrichPISCATAQUA RIVERThou singest by the gleaming isles,By woods, and fields of corn,Thou singest, and the sunlight smilesUpon my birthday morn.But I within a city, I,So full of vague unrest,Would almost give my life to lieAn hour upon upon thy breast.To let the wherry listless go,And, wrapt in dreamy joy,Dip, and surge idly to and fro,Like the red harbor-buoy;To sit in happy indolence,To rest upon the oars,And catch the heavy earthy scentsThat blow from summer shores;To see the rounded sun go down,And with its parting firesLight up the windows of the townAnd burn the tapering spires;...　

Black RockA TALE OF THE SELKIRKSby Ralph ConnorINTRODUCTIONI think I have met "Ralph Conner." Indeed, I am sure I haveoncein a canoe on the Red River, once on the Assinaboine, and twice orthrice on the prairies to the West. That was not the name he gaveme, but, if I am right, it covers one of the most honest and genialof the strong characters that are fighting the devil and doing goodwork for men all over the world. He has seen with his own eyes thelife which he describes in this book, and has himself, for someyears of hard and lonely toil, assisted in the good influences whichhe traces among its wild and often hopeless conditions. He writes...　

The Ruby of KishmoorBy Howard PyleCONTENTSPrologueI. Jonathan RuggII. The Mysterious Lady with the Silver VeilIII. The Terrific Encounter with the One-eyed Little Gentleman inBlackIV. The Momentous Adventure with the Stranger with the SilverEar-ringsV. The Unexpected Encounter with the Sea-captain with theBroken NoseVI. The Conclusion of the Adventure with the Lady with theSilver VeilEpiloguePrologueA very famous pirate of his day was Captain Robertson Keitt.Before embarking upon his later career of infamy, he was, in thebeginning, very well known as a reputable merchant in the island...　

The White Mr. Longfellowby William Dean HowellsWe had expected to stay in Boston only until we could find a house in OldCambridge. This was not so simple a matter as it might seem; for theancient town had not yet quickened its scholarly pace to the modern step.Indeed, in the spring of 1866 the impulse of expansion was not yetvisibly felt anywhere; the enormous material growth that followed thecivil war had not yet begun. In Cambridge the houses to be let were few,and such as there were fell either below our pride or rose above ourpurse. I wish I might tell how at last we bought a house; we had nomoney, but we were rich in friends, who are still alive to shrink from...　

Of the Jealousy of Tradeby David HumeHaving endeavoured to remove one species of ill-founded jealousy,which is so prevalent among commercial nations, it may not beamiss to mention another, which seems equally groundless. Nothingis more usual, among states which have made some advances incommerce, than to look on the progress of their neighbours with asuspicious eye, to consider all trading states as their rivals,and to suppose that it is impossible for any of them to flourish,but at their expence. In opposition to this narrow and malignantopinion, I will venture to assert, that the encrease of richesand commerce in any one nation, instead of hurting, commonly...　

The Burning Spearby John GalsworthyBeing the Experiences of Mr. John Lavender in the Time of WarRecorded by: A. R. PM [John Galsworthy][NOTE: John Galsworthy said of this work: "The Burning Spear" was revengeof the nerves. Was it bad enough to have to bear the dreads and strainsand griefs of war." Several years after its first publication headmitted authorship and it was included in the collected edition of hisworks D.W.]"With a heart of furious fancies,Whereof I am commander,With a burning spear and a horse of airIn the wilderness I wander;With a night of ghosts and shadows...　

ALEXANDER356-323 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenIT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the king, and of Caesar, by whom Pompey was destroyed, the multitude of their great actions affords so large a field that I were to blame if I should not by way of apology forewarn my reader that I have chosen rather to epitomize the most celebrated parts of their story, than to insist at large on every particular circumstance of it. It must be borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less mo　

The Queen of the Pirate Isleby Bret HarteI first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best ofmy recollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She wasonly nine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humor,deprecated violence, and had never been to sea. Need it be addedthat she did NOT live in an island and that her name was Polly?Perhaps I ought to explain that she had already known otherexperiences of a purely imaginative character. Part of herexistence had been passed as a Beggar Child,solely indicated by ashawl tightly folded round her shoulders, and chills; as aSchoolmistress, unnecessarily severe; as a Preacher, singularly...　

NUMA POMPILIUSLegendary, 8th-7th Century B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHOUGH the pedigrees of noble families of Rome go back in exact formas far as Numa Pompilius, yet there is great diversity amongsthistorians concerning the time in which he reigned; a certain writercalled Clodius, in a book of his entitled Strictures on Chronology,avers that the ancient registers of Rome were lost when the city wassacked by the Gauls, and that those which are now extant werecounterfeited, to flatter and serve the humour of some men whowished to have themselves derived from some ancient and noble lineage,...