Letters of Ciceroby Marcus Tullius CiceroTranslated by E. S. ShuckburghTHE letters of Cicero are of a very varied character. They range from the most informal communications with members of his family to serious and elaborate compositions which are practically treatises in epistolary form. A very large proportion of them were obviously written out of the mood of the moment, with no thought of the possibility of publication; and in these the style is comparatively relaxed and colloquial. Others, addressed to public characters, are practically of the same nature as his speeches, discussions of 　

THE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENEdgar Allan Poe1- Page 2-THE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENTHE RAVENOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Overmany a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore While I nodded,nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently...　

Sheby H. Ryder HaggardCHAPTER IMY VISITORTHERE are some events of which each circumstance andsurrounding detail seems to be graven on the memory insuch fashion that we cannot forget it, and so it iswith the scene that I am about to describe. It risesas clearly before my mind at this moment as though ithad happened yesterday.It was in this very month something over twenty yearsago that I, Ludwig Horace Holly, was sitting one nightin my rooms at Cambridge, grinding away at somemathematical work, I forget what. I was to go up for...　

History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 17by Thomas CarlyleTHE SEVEN-YEARS WAR: FIRST CAMPAIGN.1756-1757.Chapter I.WHAT FRIEDRICH HAD READ IN THE MENZEL DOCUMENTS.The ill-informed world, entirely unaware of what Friedrich had been studying and ascertaining, to his bitter sorrow, for four years past, was extremely astonished at the part he took in those French- English troubles; extremely provoked at his breaking out again into a Third Silesian War, greater than all the others, and kindling all Europe in such a way. The ill-informed world rang violently, then and long after, with a Controversy, "　

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hoodby Howard PylePREFACEFROM THE AUTHOR TO THE READERYou who so plod amid serious things that you feel it shame to giveyourself up even for a few short moments to mirth and joyousnessin the land of Fancy; you who think that life hath nought to do withinnocent laughter that can harm no one; these pages are not for you.Clap to the leaves and go no farther than this, for I tell you plainlythat if you go farther you will be scandalized by seeing good,sober folks of real history so frisk and caper in gay colors and motleythat you would not know them but for the names　

CHITRACHITRABY RABINDRANATH TAGOREA PLAY IN ONE ACT1- Page 2-CHITRAPREFACETHIS lyrical drama was written about twenty-five years ago. It isbased on the following story from the Mahabharata.In the course of his wanderings, in fulfilment of a vow of penance,Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, the beautiful...　

The Bedford-Row Conspiracyby William Makepeace ThackerayContents.I. Of the loves of Mr. Perkins and Miss Gorgon, and of the twogreat factions in the town of Oldborough.II. Shows how the plot began to thicken in or about Bedford Row.III. Behind the scenes.Footnote:A story of Charles de Bernard furnished the plot of"The Bedford-Row Conspiracy."THE BEDFORD-ROW CONSPIRACYCHAPTER I.OF THE LOVES OF MR. PERKINS AND MISS GORGON, AND OF THE TWO GREAT FACTIONS IN THE TOWN OF OLDBOROUGH. "My dear John," cried Lucy, with a very wise look indeed, "it must and shall be so. As for Doughty Street, with 　

The Club of Queer Tradesby G.K.ChestertonChapter 1The Tremendous Adventures of Major BrownRabelais, or his wild illustrator Gustave Dore, must have had something to do with the designing of the things called flats in England and America. There is something entirely Gargantuan in the idea of economising space by piling houses on top of each other, front doors and all. And in the chaos and complexity of those perpendicular streets anything may dwell or happen, and it is in one of them, I believe, that the inquirer may find the offices of the Club of Queer Trades. It may be thought at the first 　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BUCKWHEATby Hans Christian AndersenVERY often, after a violent thunder-storm, a field of buckwheatappears blackened and singed, as if a flame of fire had passed overit. The country people say that this appearance is caused bylightning; but I will tell you what the sparrow says, and thesparrow heard it from an old willow-tree which grew near a field ofbuckwheat, and is there still. It is a large venerable tree, thougha little crippled by age. The trunk has been split, and out of the...　

CHAPTER XIWho Stole the Tarts?The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne whenthey arrived, with a great crowd assembled about themall sortsof little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards:the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier oneach side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit,with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in theother. In the very middle of the court was a table, with a largedish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made Alice...　

Many a blond, northern moonrise,like a muted reflection, will softlyremind me and remind me again and again.It will be my bride, my alter ego.An incentive to find myself. I myselfam the moonrise of the south.　　-Paul Klee, The Tunisian Diaries　　Prologue　　It was just past midday, not long before the third summons to prayer, that Ammar ibn Khairan passed through the Gate of the Bells and entered the palace of Al-Fontina in Silvenes to kill the last of the khalifs of Al-Rassan.　　Passing into the Court of Lions he came to the three sets of double doors and paused before those that led to the garde　

　　Even before the events in the supermarket, Jim Ironheart should have known trouble was ing. During the night he dreamed of being pursued across a field by a flock of large blackbirds that shrieked around him in a turbulent flapping of wings and tore at him with hooked beaks as precisely honed as surgical scalpels. When he woke and was unable to breathe, he shuffled onto the balcony in his pajama bottoms to get some fresh air.　At nine-thirty in the morning, the temperature, already ninety degrees, only contributed to the sense of suffocation with which he had awakened.　A long shower and a sh　

Ali PachaBy Alexander Dumas, pereCHAPTER IThe beginning of the nineteenth century was a time of audacious enterprises and strange vicissitudes of fortune. Whilst Western Europe in turn submitted and struggled against a sub-lieutenant who made himself an emperor, who at his pleasure made kings and destroyed kingdoms, the ancient eastern part of the Continent; like mummies which preserve but the semblance of life, was gradually tumbling to pieces, and getting parcelled out amongst bold adventurers who skirmished over its ruins. Without mentioning local revolts which produced only short-lived 　

THE NIXY[15][15] From the German. Kletke.There was once upon a time a miller who was very well off, andhad as much money and as many goods as he knew what to do with.But sorrow comes in the night, and the miller all of a suddenbecame so poor that at last he could hardly call the mill inwhich he sat his own. He wandered about all day full of despairand misery, and when he lay down at night he could get no rest,but lay awake all night sunk in sorrowful thoughts.One morning he rose up before dawn and went outside, for hethought his heart would be lighter in the open air. As he...　

Saint George for Englandby G. A. HentyPREFACEMY DEAR LADS,You may be told perhaps that there is no good to be obtained from tales of fighting and bloodshed, - that there is no moral to be drawn from such histories. Believe it not. War has its lessons as well as Peace. You will learn from tales like this that determination and enthusiasm can accomplish marvels, that true courage is generally accompanied by magnanimity and gentleness, and that if not in itself the very highest of virtues, it is the parent of almost all the others, since but few of them can be practised without it. The courage 　

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....