The Hand of Ethelbertaby Thomas HardyPREFACEThis somewhat frivolous narrative was produced as an interludebetween stories of a more sober design, and it was given the sub-title of a comedy to indicatethough not quite accuratelythe aimof the performance. A high degree of probability was not attemptedin the arrangement of the incidents, and there was expected of thereader a certain lightness of mood, which should inform him with agood-natured willingness to accept the production in the spirit inwhich it was offered. The characters themselves, however, were...　

Lucastaby Richard LovelaceTOWILLIAM HAZLITT, ESQ., OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, A REGISTRAR OFTHE COURT OF BANKRUPTCY IN LONDON,This Little VolumeIS INSCRIBED AS A SLIGHT TESTIMONY OF THE GREATEST RESPECT,BY HIS AFFECTIONATE SON, THE EDITOR.CONTENTS.PART I.PAGEDedication 3Verses addressed to the Author 5I. Poems Addressed or Relating To Lucasta.Song. To Lucasta. Going beyond the Seas 25...　

360 BCPHILEBUSby Platotranslated by Benjamin JowettPHILEBUSPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; PROTARCHUS; PHILEBUS.Socrates. Observe, Protarchus, the nature of the position whichyou are now going to take from Philebus, and what the other positionis which I maintain, and which, if you do not approve of it, is tobe controverted by you. Shall you and I sum up the two sides?Protarchus. By all means....　

The Old Bachelorby William CongreveQuem tulit ad scenam ventoso Gloria curru, Exanimat lentus spectator; sedulus inflat: Sic leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit, and reficit.HORAT. Epist. I. lib. ii.To the Right Honourable Charles, Lord Clifford of Lanesborough, etc.My Lord,It is with a great deal of pleasure that I lay hold on this first occasion which the accidents of my life have given me of writing to your lordship: for since at the same time I write to all the world, it will be a means of publishing (what I would have everybody know) the respect and duty which I owe　

POETICSby AristotleTranslated by S. H. ButcherPOETICS|1II PROPOSE to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds,noting the essential quality of each, to inquire into the structure ofthe plot as requisite to a good poem; into the number and nature ofthe parts of which a poem is composed; and similarly into whateverelse falls within the same inquiry. Following, then, the order ofnature, let us begin with the principles which come first....　

MARCUS BRUTUS85?-42 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenMARCUS Brutus was descended from that Junius Brutus to whom theancient Romans erected a statue of brass in the capitol among theimages of their kings with a drawn sword in his hand, in remembranceof his courage and resolution in expelling the Tarquins and destroyingthe monarchy. But that ancient Brutus was of a severe and inflexiblenature, like steel of too hard a temper, and having never had his...　

Faustby Johann W. GeotheTranslated by Anna Swanwick ( 1808 )Introductory NoteJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest of German men of letters, wasborn at Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 28, 1749. His father was a man ofmeans and position, and he personally supervised the early education of hisson. The young Goethe studied at the universities of Leipsig and Strasburg,and in 1772 entered upon the practise of law at Wetzlar. At the invitation ofKarl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, he went in 1775 to live in Weimar,...　

Father Damienby Robert Louis StevensonAN OPEN LETTER TO THE REVEREND DR. HYDE OF HONOLULUSYDNEY,FEBRUARY 25, 1890.Sir, - It may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited,and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember thatyou have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to begrateful. But there are duties which come before gratitude, andoffences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Yourletter to the Reverend H. B. Gage is a document which, in my sight,if you had filled me with bread when I was starving, if you had sat...　

The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 3by Charles Farrar BrowneWith a biographical sketch by Melville D. Landon, "Eli Perkins"CONTENTS.PART III.Stories and Romances.3.1. Moses the Sassy; or, The Disguised Duke.3.2. Marion: A Romance of the French School.3.3. William Barker, the Young Patriot.3.4. A RomanceThe Conscript.3.5. A RomanceOnly a Mechanic.3.6. Roberto the Rover; A Tale of Sea and Shore.3.7. Red Hand: A Tale of Revenge.3.8. Pyrotechny: A Romance after the French.3.9. The Last of the Culkinses....　

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"At the hole where he went inRed-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.Hear what little Red-Eye saith:"Nag, come up and dance with death!"Eye to eye and head to head,(Keep the measure, Nag.)This shall end when one is dead;(At thy pleasure, Nag.)Turn for turn and twist for twist(Run and hide thee, Nag.)Hah! The hooded Death has missed!...　

THE DEVIL IN MANUSCRIPTOn a bitter evening of December, I arrived by mail in a largetown, which was then the residence of an intimate friend, one ofthose gifted youths who cultivate poetry and the belles-lettres,and call themselves students at law. My first business, aftersupper, was to visit him at the office of his distinguishedinstructor. As I have said, it was a bitter night, clearstarlight, but cold as Nova Zembla,the shop-windows along thestreet being frosted, so as almost to hide the lights, while thewheels of coaches thundered equally loud over frozen earth and...　

The Cruise of the Jasper B.by Don MarquisTO ALL THE COPYREADERS ON ALL THE NEWSPAPERS OF AMERICACHAPTER IA BRIGHT BLADE LEAPS FROM A RUSTY SCABBARDOn an evening in April, 191-, Clement J. Cleggett walked sedatelyinto the news room of the New York Enterprise with a drab-coloredwalking-stick in his hand. He stood the cane in a corner,changed his sober street coat for a more sober office jacket,adjusted a green eyeshade below his primly brushed grayish hair,unostentatiously sat down at the copy desk, and unobtrusively...　

EPILOGUEMOONSTONE again, in the year 1909. The Metho-dists are giving an ice-cream sociable in the groveabout the new court-house. It is a warm summer night offull moon. The paper lanterns which hang among thetrees are foolish toys, only dimming, in little lurid circles,the great softness of the lunar light that floods the blueheavens and the high plateau. To the east the sand hillsshine white as of old, but the empire of the sand is grad-ually diminishing. The grass grows thicker over the dunes...　

410 BCTHE PHOENISSAEby Euripidestranslated by E. P. ColeridgeCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYJOCASTA, wife of OEDIPUSOLD SERVANT, an attendant of ANTIGONEANTIGONE, daughter Of OEDIPUSCHORUS OF PHOENICIAN MAIDENSPOLYNEICES, exiled son of OEDIPUSETEOCLES, now King of Thebes; son of OEDIPUSCREON, brother of JOCASTATEIRESIAS, a blind prophetMENOECEUS, son of CREONFIRST MESSENGERSECOND MESSENGER...　

A Discourse on MethodDISCOURSE ON THE METHOD OF RIGHTLY CONDUCTING THE REASON, AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCESby Rene DescartesPREFATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHORIf this Discourse appear too long to be read at once, it may be divided into six Parts: and, in the first, will be found various considerations touching the Sciences; in the second, the principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered, in the third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method; in the fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Hum　

The Ballad of the White Horseby G.K. ChestertonDEDICATIONOf great limbs gone to chaos,A great face turned to nightWhy bend above a shapeless shroudSeeking in such archaic cloudSight of strong lords and light?Where seven sunken EnglandsLie buried one by one,Why should one idle spade, I wonder,Shake up the dust of thanes like thunderTo smoke and choke the sun?In cloud of clay so cast to heavenWhat shape shall man discern?These lords may light the mysteryOf mastery or victory,And these ride high in history,But these shall not return....