Tales and Fantasiesby Robert Louis StevensonContentsThe Misadventures of John NicholsonThe Body-SnatcherThe Story of a LieTHE MISADVENTURES OF JOHN NICHOLSONCHAPTER I - IN WHICH JOHN SOWS THE WINDJOHN VAREY NICHOLSON was stupid; yet, stupider men than heare now sprawling in Parliament, and lauding themselves asthe authors of their own distinction. He was of a fat habit,even from boyhood, and inclined to a cheerful and cursoryreading of the face of life; and possibly this attitude of...
THE SON OF THE WOLF.MAN RARELY PLACES A PROPER valuation upon his womankind, at leastnot until deprived of them. He has no conception of the subtleatmosphere exhaled by the sex feminine, so long as he bathes in it;but let it be withdrawn, and an ever-growing void begins to manifestitself in his existence, and he becomes hungry, in a vague sort ofway, for a something so indefinite that he cannot characterize it.If his comrades have no more experience than himself, they willshake their heads dubiously and dose him with strong physic. But the...
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...
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...
THE WIFE OF A KING.IONCE, WHEN THE NORTHLAND was very young, the social and civicvirtues were remarkably alike for their paucity and theirsimplicity. When the burden of domestic duties grew grievous, andthe fireside mood expanded to a constant protest against its bleakloneliness, the adventurers from the Southland, in lieu of better,paid the stipulated prices and took unto themselves native wives. Itwas a foretaste of Paradise to the women, for it must be confessedthat the white rovers gave far better care and treatment of them...
Bruceby Albert Payson TerhuneTO MY TEN BEST FRIENDS:Who are far wiser in their way and far better in every way, thanI; and yet who have not the wisdom to know itWho do not merely think I am perfect, but who are calmly andpermanently convinced of my perfection;and this in spite offifty disillusions a dayWho are frantically happy at my coming and bitterly woebegone inmy absenceWho never bore me and never are bored by meWho never talk about themselves and who always listen withrapturous interest to anything I may say...
The Mansionby Henry van DykeThere was an air of calm and reserved opulence aboutthe Weightman mansion that spoke not of money squandered,but of wealth prudently applied. Standing on a corner ofthe Avenue no longer fashionable for residence, it looked uponthe swelling tide of business with an expression of complacencyand half-disdain.The house was not beautiful. There was nothing in its straightfront ofchocolate-colored stone, its heavy cornices, its broad, staringwindows ofplate glass, its carved and bronze-bedecked mahogany doors at the...
History Of The Britons (Historia Brittonum)by NenniusTranslated by J. A. GilesI. The Prologue.1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants ofGod, by the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus,* to all thefollowers of truth sendeth health.* Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in theCambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect andrude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in theLatin tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is little...
The Water-Babiesby Charles KingsleyCHAPTER I"I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined; In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind."To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think, What man has made of man."WORDSWORTH.Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to
were clever and wise, but the third did not speak much, and wassimple, and was called the simpleton. When the king had become oldand weak, and was thinking of his end, he did not know which of hissons should inherit the kingdom after him. Then he said to them, goforth, and he who brings me the most beautiful carpet shall be kingafter my death.And that there should be no dispute amongst them, he took themoutside his castle, blew three feathers in the air, and said, youshall go as they fly. One feather flew to the east, the other to thewest, but the third flew straight up and did not fly far
The Women of the French SalonsBy Amelia Gere MasonPREFACEIt has been a labor of love with many distinguished Frenchmen to recall the memories of the women who have made their society so illustrious, and to retouch with sympathetic insight the features which time was beginning to dim. One naturally hesitates to enter a field that has been gleaned so carefully, and with such brilliant results, by men like Cousin, Sainte-Beuve, Goncourt, and others of lesser note. But the social life of the two centuries in which women played so important a role in France is always full of human interest from
THE CONDUCT OF LIFEby Ralph Waldo EmersonIFATEDelicate omens traced in airTo the lone bard true witness bare;Birds with auguries on their wingsChanted undeceiving thingsHim to beckon, him to warn;Well might then the poet scornTo learn of scribe or courierHints writ in vaster character;And on his mind, at dawn of day,Soft shadows of the evening lay.For the prevision is alliedUnto the thing so signified;...