by William WoodPREFACESixty years ago today the guns that thundered round Fort Sumterbegan the third and greatest modern civil war fought byEnglish-speaking people. This war was quite as full of politicsas were the other twothe War of the American Revolution andthat of Puritan and Cavalier. But, though the present Chroniclenever ignores the vital correlations between statesmen andcommanders, it is a book of warriors, through and through.I gratefully acknowledge the indispensable assistance of ColonelG. J. Fiebeger, a West Point expert, and of Dr. Allen Johnson,...　

　　　　The Treloar Building was, and is, on Olive Street, near Sixth, on the west side. The sidewalk in front of it had been built of black and white rubber blocks. They were taking them up now to give to the government, and a hatless pale man with a face like a building superintendent was watching the work and looking as if it was breaking his heart.　　I went past him through an arcade of specialty shops into a vast black and gold lobby. The Gillerlain pany was on the seventh floor, in front, behind swinging double plate glass doors bound in platinum. Their reception room had Chinese rugs, dull 　

　Muir Sutherland and Malcolm Craddock, with many thanks　　CHAPTER 1　　It was funny, Richard Sharpe thought, that there were no vultures in England. None that he had seen, anyway. Ugly things they were. Rats with wings.　He thought about vultures a lot, and he had a lot of time to think because he was a soldier, a private, and so the army insisted on doing a lot of his thinking for him. The army decided when he woke up, when he slept, when he ate, when he marched, and when he was to sit about doing nothing and that was what he did most of the time - nothing. Hurry up and do nothing, that was the 　

　　 THE girl walked past the secretary who held the door open, and surveyed the law office with eyes that showed just a trace of panic.　 The secretary gently closed the door and the girl selected an old fashioned, high-backed, black leather chair. She sat down in it, crossed her legs, pulled her skirt down over her knees, and sat facing the door. After a moment, she pulled the skirt up for an inch or two, taking some pains to get just the effect she wanted. Then she leaned back so that her spun-gold hair showed to advantage against the shiny black leather of the big chair.　 She loo　

AGIS264-241 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenTHE fable of Ixion, who, embracing a cloud instead of Juno, begotthe Centaurs, has been ingeniously enough supposed to have beeninvented to represent to us ambitious men, whose minds, doting onglory, which is a mere image of virtue, produce nothing that isgenuine or uniform, but only, as might be expected of such aconjunction, misshapen and unnatural actions. Running after their...　

Armadaleby Wilkie CollinsTOJOHN FORSTER.In acknowledgment of the services which he has rendered to thecause of literature by his "Life of Goldsmith;" and inaffectionate remembrance of a friendship which is associated withsome of the happiest years of my life.READERS in generalon whose friendly reception experience hasgiven me some reason to relywill, I venture to hope, appreciatewhatever merit there may be in this story without any prefatorypleading for it on my part. They will, I think, see that it hasnot been hastily meditated or idly wrought out. They will judge...　

The Queen of Heartsby Wilkie CollinsLETTER OF DEDICATION.-TOEMILE FORGUES.-AT a time when French readers were altogether unaware of theexistence of any books of my writing, a critical examination ofmy novels appeared under your signature in the _Revue des DeuxMoudes_. I read that article, at the time of its appearance, withsincere pleasure and sincere gratitude to the writer, and I havehonestly done my best to profit by it ever since.At a later period, when arrangements were made for thepublication of my novels in Paris, you kindly undertook, at some...　

Lays of Ancient RomeLays of Ancient RomeBy Thomas Babbington Macaulay1- Page 2-Lays of Ancient RomePrefaceHoratius The LayThe Battle of the Lake Regillus The LayVirginia The LayThe Prophecy of Capys The LayThat what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls ofRome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of...　

　On the fine, bright morning in early May when the whole sensational affair of the Gwytherin relics may properly be considered to have begun, Brother Cadfael had been up long before Prime, pricking out cabbage seedlings before the day was aired, and his thoughts were all on birth, growth and fertility, not at all on graves and reliquaries and violent deaths, whether of saints, sinners or ordinary decent, fallible men like himself. Nothing troubled his peace but the necessity to take himself indoors for Mass, and the succeeding half-hour of chapter, which was always liable to stray over by an 　

　Kona Weather　　MISS MINERVA WINTERSLIP was a Bostonian in good standing, and long past the romantic age. Yet beauty thrilled her still, even the semi-barbaric beauty of a Pacific island. As she walked slowly along the beach she felt the little catch in her throat that sometimes she had known in Symphony Hall, Boston, when her favorite orchestra rose to some new and unexpected height of loveliness.　It was the hour at which she liked Waikiki best, the hour just preceding dinner and the quick tropic darkness. The shadows cast by the tall cocoanut palms lengthened and deepened, the light of the f　

　To William Howells　　　"Praise not the day until evening has e; a woman until she is burnt; a sword until it is tried; a maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk."　VIKING PROVERB　　"Evil is of old date."　ARAB PROVERB　　INTRODUCTION　THE IBN FADLAN MANUSCRIPT REPRESENTS THE earliest known eyewitness account of Viking life and society. It is an extraordinary document, describing in vivid detail events which occurred more than a thousand years ago. The manuscript has not, of course, survived intact over that enormous span of time. It has a peculiar his　

Aucassin and NicoleteTranslated by Andrew LangINTRODUCTIONThere is nothing in artistic poetry quite akin to "Aucassin andNicolete."By a rare piece of good fortune the one manuscript of the Song-Storyhas escaped those waves of time, which have wrecked the bark ofMenander, and left of Sappho but a few floating fragments. The veryform of the tale is peculiar; we have nothing else from the twelfthor thirteenth century in the alternate prose and verse of the cante-fable. {1} We have fabliaux in verse, and prose Arthurian romances....　

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.* [Note-This Preliminary Chapter originally formed the first of the Novel, but* has now been printed in italics on account of its introductory character.]So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourn, glidesThe Derby dilly, carrying six insides.Frere.The times have changed in nothing more (we follow as we werewont the manuscript of Peter Pattieson) than in the rapid conveyanceof intelligence and communication betwixt one part of Scotlandand another. It is not above twenty or thirty years, according tothe evidence of many credible witnesses now alive, since a little...　

RECALLED TO LIFECHAPTER IThe PeriodIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other wayin short, the period was so. far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil　

KING HENRY THE EIGHTHKING HENRY THEEIGHTHWilliam Shakespeare16111- Page 2-KING HENRY THE EIGHTHDRAMATIS PERSONAEKING HENRY THE EIGHTH CARDINAL WOLSEY CARDINALCAMPEIUS CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles VCRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY DUKE OF NORFOLKDUKE OF BUCKINGHAM DUKE OF SUFFOLK EARL OF SURREYLORD CHAMBERLAIN LORD CHANCELLOR GARDINER, BISHOP...　

　　ACKNOWLEDGMENTS　A debt of gratitude to Emily Bestler, Jason Kaufman, Ben Kaplan, and everyone at Pocket Books for their belief in this project.　To my friend and agent, Jake Elwell, for his enthusiasm and unflagging effort.　To the legendary George Wieser, for convincing me to write novels.　To my dear friend Irv Sittler, for facilitating my audience with the Pope, secreting me into parts of Vatican City few ever see, and making my time in Rome unforgettable.　To one of the most ingenious and gifted artists alive, John Langdon, who rose brilliantly to my impossible challenge and created the amb