The Golden AgeThe Golden AgeBy Kenneth Grahame1- Page 2-The Golden AgePROLOGUE: THE OLYMPIANSLooking back to those days of old, ere the gate shut behind me, I cansee now that to children with a proper equipment of parents these thingswould have worn a different aspect. But to those whose nearest wereaunts and uncles, a special attitude of mind may be allowed. They...　

A Thief in the Nightby E. W. HornungOut of ParadiseIf I must tell more tales of Raffles, I can but back to our earliest days together, and fill in the blanks left by discretion in existing annals. In so doing I may indeed fill some small part of an infinitely greater blank, across which you may conceive me to have stretched my canvas for the first frank portrait of my friend. The whole truth cannot harm him now. I shall paint in every wart. Raffles was a villain, when all is written; it is no service to his memory to glaze the fact; yet I have done so myself before to-day. I have omitted　

Critoby PlatoTranslated by Benjamin JowettINTRODUCTION.The Crito seems intended to exhibit the character of Socrates in one lightonly, not as the philosopher, fulfilling a divine mission and trusting inthe will of heaven, but simply as the good citizen, who having beenunjustly condemned is willing to give up his life in obedience to the lawsof the state...The days of Socrates are drawing to a close; the fatal ship has been seenoff Sunium, as he is informed by his aged friend and contemporary Crito,who visits him before the dawn has broken; he himself has been warned in a...　

KING JOHNKING JOHNWilliam ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare15971- Page 2-KING JOHN2- Page 3-KING JOHNACT I.3- Page 4-KING JOHN4- Page 5-KING JOHNSCENE 1...　

KING RICHARD THE SECONDKING RICHARD THESECONDWilliam Shakespeare15961- Page 2-KING RICHARD THE SECONDACT I.2- Page 3-KING RICHARD THE SECONDSCENE I. London. The palaceEnter RICHARD, JOHN OF GAUNT, with other NOBLES and...　

Contributions to All The Year RoundContributions to All TheYear Roundby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-Contributions to All The Year RoundANNOUNCEMENT IN "HOUSEHOLD WORDS"After the appearance of the present concluding Number of HouseholdWords, this publication will merge into the new weekly publication, Allthe Year Round, and the title, Household Words, will form a part of the...　

Cambridge Neighborsby William Dean HowellsBeing the wholly literary spirit I was when I went to make my home inCambridge, I do not see how I could well have been more content if I hadfound myself in the Elysian Fields with an agreeable eternity before me.At twenty-nine, indeed, one is practically immortal, and at that age,time had for me the effect of an eternity in which I had nothing to dobut to read books and dream of writing them, in the overflow of endlesshours from my work with the manuscripts, critical notices, and proofs ofthe Atlantic Monthly. As for the social environment I should 　

John OldcastleJohn Old castleWilliam Shakespeare.1- Page 2-John OldcastleTHE PROLOGUE.The doubtful Title (Gentlemen) prefixt Upon the Argument we have inhand, May breed suspence, and wrongfully disturb The peaceful quiet ofyour settled thoughts. To stop which scruple, let this brief suffice: It is nopampered glutton we present, Nor aged Counsellor to youthful sin, Butone, whose virtue shone above the rest, A valiant Martyr and a virtuous...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENWHAT THE MOON SAWby Hans Christian AndersenINTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTIONIT is a strange thing, when I feel most fervently and most deeply,my hands and my tongue seem alike tied, so that I cannot rightlydescribe or accurately portray the thoughts that are rising within me;and yet I am a painter; my eye tells me as much as that, and all myfriends who have seen my sketches and fancies say the same.I am a poor lad, and live in one of the narrowest of lanes; but...　

The Lily of the Valleyby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Monsieur J. B. Nacquart,Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine.Dear DoctorHere is one of the most carefully hewn stones in thesecond course of the foundation of a literary edifice which I haveslowly and laboriously constructed. I wish to inscribe your nameupon it, as much to thank the man whose science once saved me asto honor the friend of my daily life.De Balzac.THE LILY OF THE VALLEY...　

The Malay Archipelagoby Alfred Russell WallaceVOLUME IICHAPTER XXITHE MOLUCCASTERNATE.ON the morning of the 8th of January, 1858, I arrived at Ternate, the fourth of a row of fine conical volcanic islands which shirt the west coast of the large and almost unknown n island of Gilolo. The largest and most perfectly conical mountain is Tidore, which is over four thousand Feet highTernate being very nearly the same height, but with a more rounded and irregular summit. The town of Ternate is concealed from view till we enter between the two islands, when it is discovered stretching along the shore　

King Henry VI, Part 1King Henry VI, Part 1William Shakespeare1- Page 2-King Henry VI, Part 1ACT I.2- Page 3-King Henry VI, Part 1SCENE 1.Westminster AbbeyDead March. Enter the funeral of KING HENRY THE FIFTH,attended on by the DUKE OF BEDFORD, Regent of France, the DUKE...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENOLE-LUK-OIE, THE DREAM-GODby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE is nobody in the world who knows so many stories asOle-Luk-Oie, or who can relate them so nicely. In the evening, whilethe children are seated at the table or in their little chairs, hecomes up the stairs very softly, for he walks in his socks, then heopens the doors without the slightest noise, and throws a smallquantity of very fine dust in their eyes, just enough to preventthem from keeping them open, and so they do not see him. Then he...　

A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEARby DANIEL DEFOEPart 1being observations or memorialsof the most remarkable occurrences,as well public as private, which happened inLondon during the last great visitation in 1665.Written by a Citizen who continuedall the while in London.Never made public beforeIt was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, among the restof my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse that the plague wasreturned again in Holland; for it had been very violent there, andparticularly at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the year 1663, whither,...　

Book ICHAPTER I.MASLOVA IN PRISON.Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best todisfigure the small piece of land on which they were crowdedtogether, by paying the ground with stones, scraping away everyvestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birdsand beasts, and filling the air with the smoke of naphtha andcoal, still spring was spring, even in the town.The sun shone warm, the air was balmy; everywhere, where it didnot get scraped away, the grass revived and sprang up between thepaving-stones as well as on the narrow strips of lawn on the...　

　To　my gentle Reader　William Plomer　　PART ONE: HAPPENSTANCE　　CHAPTER ONE　　REFLECTIONS IN A DOUBLE BOURBON　　JAMES BOND, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.　It was part of his profession to kill people. He had never liked doing it and when he had to kill he did it as well as he knew how and forgot about it. As a secret agent who held the rare double-O prefix - the licence to kill in the Secret Service - it was his duty to be as cool about death as a surgeon. If it happened, it happened. Regret was unprofession