SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE EMPTY HOUSEby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleIt was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London wasinterested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of theHonourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicablecircumstances. The public has already learned those particulars of thecrime which came out in the police investigation, but a good dealwas suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for theprosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessaryto bring forward all the facts. Only now, at the end of nearly ten...　

Lecture IXThe Primitive Forms of Legal RemediesI.I stated on a former occasion (Lecture 1. p. 8) that thebranch of law which we now call the Law of Distress occupies thegreatest part of the largest Brehon law-tract, the Senchus Mor.The importance thus given to Distress is a fact of muchsignificance, and in this and the following Lecture I propose todiscuss the questions it raises and the conclusions it suggests.The value of the precious discovery made by Niebuhr, when he...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE SCANDAL IN BOHEMIAby Sir Arthur Conan Doyle1To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heardhim mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses andpredominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotionakin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly,were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. Hewas, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machinethat the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himselfin a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save...　

Rosamund, Queen of the Lombardsby Algernon Charles SwinburnePERSONS REPRESENTEDALBOVINE, King of the Lombards.ALMACHILDES, a young Lombard warrior.NARSETES, an old leader and counsellor.ROSAMUND, Queen of the LombardsHILDEGARD, a noble Lombard maiden.SCENE, VERONATime, June 573ACT IA hall in the Palace: a curtain drawn midway across it.Enter ALBOVINE and NARSETES.ALBOVINE.This is no matter of the wars: in warThy king, old friend, is less than king of thine,And comrade less than follower. Hast thou lovedEverloved woman, not as chance may love,But as thou hast loved thy sword or friendor me?Thou hast shewn me love more stout of heart than death....　

Flatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsEdwin A. Abbott (1838-1926. English scholar, theologian, and writer.)ToThe Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERALAnd H. C. IN PARTICULARThis Work is DedicatedBy a Humble Native of FlatlandIn the Hope thatEven as he was Initiated into the MysteriesOf THREE DimensionsHaving been previously conversantWith ONLY TWOSo the Citizens of that Celestial RegionMay aspire yet higher and higher...　

THE IMITATION OF CHRISTTHE IMITATION OFCHRISTby Thomas a KempisTranslated by Rev. William Benham1- Page 2-THE IMITATION OF CHRISTINTRODUCTORY NOTEThe treatise "Of the Imitation of Christ" appears to have beenoriginally written in Latin early in the fifteenth century. Its exact dateand its authorship are still a matter of debate. Manuscripts of the Latinversion survive in considerable numbers all over Western Europe, and they,...　

TEA-TABLE TALKTEA-TABLE TALKby Jerome K. Jerome1- Page 2-TEA-TABLE TALKCHAPTER I"They are very pretty, some of them," said the Woman of the World;"not the sort of letters I should have written myself.""I should like to see a love-letter of yours," interrupted the Minor Poet."It is very kind of you to say so," replied the Woman of the World. "Itnever occurred to me that you would care for one.""It is what I have always maintained," retorted the Minor Poet; "you...　

400 BCOF THE EPIDEMICSby Hippocratestranslated by Francis AdamsOF THE EPIDEMICSBOOK I. Sect. I. First Constitution1. IN THASUS, about the autumn equinox, and under the Pleiades,the rains were abundant, constant, and soft, with southerly winds; thewinter southerly, the northerly winds faint, droughts; on the whole,the winter having the character of spring. The spring was southerly,cool, rains small in quantity. Summer, for the most part, cloudy, no...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMANby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSherlock Holmes was in a melancholy and philosophic mood thatmorning. His alert practical nature was subject to such reactions."Did you see him?" he asked."You mean the old fellow who has just gone out?""Precisely.""Yes, I met him at the door.""What did you think of him?""A pathetic, futile, broken creature.""Exactly, Watson. Pathetic and futile. But is not all lifepathetic and futile? Is not his story a microcosm of the whole? Wereach. We grasp. And what is left in our hands at the end? A shadow....　

Some Reminiscencesby Joseph ConradA Familiar Preface.As a general rule we do not want much encouragement to talk aboutourselves; yet this little book is the result of a friendlysuggestion, and even of a little friendly pressure. I defendedmyself with some spirit; but, with characteristic tenacity, thefriendly voice insisted: "You know, you really must."It was not an argument, but I submitted at once. If one must!. . .You perceive the force of a word. He who wants to persuadeshould put his trust, not in the right argument, but in the right...　

THE VOICE OF DEATHONCE upon a time there lived a man whose one wish and prayerwas to get rich. Day and night he thought of nothing else,and at last his prayers were granted, and he became very wealthy.Now being so rich, and having so much to lose, he felt that it wouldbe a terrible thing to die and leave all his possessions behind; so hemade up his mind to set out in search of a land where there was nodeath. He got ready for his journey, took leave of his wife, andstarted. Whenever he came to a new country the first questionthat he asked was whether people died in that land, and when heheard that they did, he set out again on his quest. At last he...　

The Vicar of Toursby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo David, Sculptor:The permanence of the work on which I inscribe your nametwice made illustrious in this centuryis very problematical;whereas you have graven mine in bronze which survives nationsif only in their coins. The day may come when numismatists,discovering amid the ashes of Paris existences perpetuated byyou, will wonder at the number of heads crowned in youratelier and endeavour to find in them new dynasties.To you, this divine privilege; to me, gratitude.De Balzac.THE VICAR OF TOURS...