Villainage in England: Essays in English Mediaeval Historyby Paul Vinogradoff1892First EssayThe Peasantry of the Feudal Age.Chapter OneThe Legal Aspect of Villainage. General ConceptionsIt has become a commonplace to oppose medieval serfdom to ancient slavery, one implying dependence on the lord of the soil and attachment to the glebe, the other being based on complete subjection to an owner. There is no doubt that great landmarks in the course of social development are set by the three modes hitherto employed of organising human labour: using the working man (1) as a chattel at will, (2) as a subordinate whose duties are fixed by custom, (3) as a free agent bound by contract. These landmar
Treatises on Friendship and Old Ageby Marcus Tullius CiceroTranslated by E S ShuckburghINTRODUCTORY NOTEMARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, the greatest of Roman orators andthe chief master of Latin prose style, was born at Arpinum, Jan.3,106 B.C. His father, who was a man of property and belongedto the class of the "Knights," moved to Rome when Cicero was achild; and the future statesman received an elaborate education inrhetoric, law, and philosophy, studying and practising under someof the most noted teachers of the time. He began his career as anadvocate at the age of twenty-five, and almost immediately cameto be recognized not only as a man of brilliant talents but also as a...
The Magic Skinby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Ellen MarriageTo Monsieur Savary, Member of Le Academie des Sciences.ITHE TALISMANTowards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered thePalais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the lawwhich protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. Hemounted the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished bythe number 36, without too much deliberation."Your hat, sir, if you please?" a thin, querulous voice called out. Alittle old man, crouching in the darkness behind a railing, suddenlyrose and exhibited his features, carved after a mean design.As you enter a gaming-house the law despoils you of your hat a
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOODTHERE were formerly a king and a queen, who were sosorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannotbe expressed. They went to all the waters in the world;vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to nopurpose.At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There wasa very fine christening; and the Princess had for her god-mothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom(they found seven), that every one of them mightgive her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those days.By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable.After the ceremonies of the christening were over, all...
THE MASTERY OF THE AIRTHE MASTERY OFTHE AIRby WILLIAM J. CLAXTONPREFACEThis book makes no pretence of going minutely into the technical andscientific sides of human flight: rather does it deal mainly with the realachievements of pioneers who have helped to make aviation what it is to-day.My chief object has been to arouse among my readers an intelligentinterest in the art of flight, and, profiting by friendly criticism of several ofmy former works, I imagine that this is best obtained by setting forth the...
Heidiby Johanna SpyriCONTENTSI Up the Mountain to Alm-UncleII At Home with GrandfatherIII Out with the GoatsIV The Visit to GrandmotherV Two Visits and What Came of ThemVI A New Chapter about New ThingsVII Fraulein Rottenmeier Spends an Uncomfortable DayVIII There is Great Commotion in the Large HouseIX Herr Sesemann Hears of Things that are New to HimX Another GrandmotherXI Heidi Gains in One Way and Loses in AnotherXII A Ghost in the HouseXIII A Summer Evening on the MountainXIV Sunday BellsXV Preparations for a journeyXVI A VisitorXVII A CompensationXVIII Winter in DorfliXIX The Winter Continues...
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN.Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world. People said that he resembled Byron, - at least that his head was Byronic; but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand years without growing old.Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was a Londoner. He was never seen
The Silverado Squattersby Robert Louis StevensonTHE scene of this little book is on a high mountain. Thereare, indeed, many higher; there are many of a nobler outline.It is no place of pilgrimage for the summary globe-trotter;but to one who lives upon its sides, Mount Saint Helena soonbecomes a centre of interest. It is the Mont Blanc of onesection of the Californian Coast Range, none of its nearneighbours rising to one-half its altitude. It looks down onmuch green, intricate country. It feeds in the spring-timemany splashing brooks. From its summit you must have anexcellent lesson of geography: seeing, to the south, San...
THE COMPARISON OF PELOPIDAS WITH MARCELLUSby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHESE are the memorable things I have found in historians concerningMarcellus and Pelopidas. Betwixt which two great men, though innatural character and manners they nearly resemble each other, becauseboth were valiant and diligent, daring and high-spirited, there wasyet some diversity in the one point, that Marcellus in many citieswhich he reduced under his power committed great slaughter; butEpaminondas and Pelopidas never after any victory put men to death, orreduced citizens to slavery. And we are told, too, that the Thebans...
1872FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE WILL-O-THE WISP IS IN THE TOWN,SAYS THE MOOR WOMANby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE was a man who once knew many stories, but they had slipped away from him- so he said. The Story that used to visit him of its own accord no longer came and knocked at his door. And why did it come no longer? It is true enough that for days and years the man had not thought of it, had not expected it to come and knock; and if he had expected it, it would certainly not have come; for without there was war, and within was the care and sorrow that war brings with it.The stork and the swallows came back from their long journey,for they thought of no danger; and, behold,
THE COMPARISON OF ALCIBIADES WITH CORIOLANUSby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenHAVING described all their actions that seem to deservecommemoration, their military ones, we may say, incline the balancevery decidedly upon neither side. They both, in pretty equalmeasure, displayed on numerous occasions the daring and courage of thesoldier, and the skill and foresight of the general; unless, indeed,the fact that Alcibiades was victorious and successful in manycontests both by sea and land, ought to gain him the title of a morecomplete commander. That so long as they remained and held command...
360 BCPHAEDOby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUEPHAEDO, who is the narrator of the dialogue to ECHECRATES of PhliusSOCRATESAPOLLODORUSSIMMIASCEBESCRITOATTENDANT OF THE PRISONPHAEDOSCENE: The Prison of SocratesPLACE OF THE NARRATION: PhliusEchecrates. Were you yourself, Phaedo, in the prison with Socrateson the day when he drank the poison?Phaedo. Yes, Echecrates, I was.Ech. I wish that you would tell me about his death. What did he...