THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOWby Washington IrvingFound among the papers of the late Diedrech Knickerbocker.A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,Forever flushing round a summer sky.Castle of Indolence.In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent theeastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river...　

Preface Of The Author.It is not my intention to detain the reader by expatiatingon the variety or the importance of the subject, which I haveundertaken to treat; since the merit of the choice would serve torender the weakness of the execution still more apparent, andstill less excusable. But as I have presumed to lay before thepublic a first volume only ^1 of the History of the Decline andFall of the Roman Empire, it will, perhaps, be expected that Ishould explain, in a few words, the nature and limits of mygeneral plan....　

Egypt (La Mort De Philae)by Pierre LotiTranslated from the French by W. P. BAINESCHAPTER IA WINTER MIDNIGHT BEFORE THE GREAT SPHINXA night wondrously clear and of a colour unknown to our climate; aplace of dreamlike aspect, fraught with mystery. The moon of a brightsilver, which dazzles by its shining, illumines a world which surelyis no longer ours; for it resembles in nothing what may be seen inother lands. A world in which everything is suffused with rosy colorbeneath the stars of midnight, and where granite symbols rise up,...　

The Underground Cityby Jules VerneORThe Black Indies(Sometimes Called The Child of the Cavern)CHAPTER I CONTRADICTORY LETTERSTo Mr. F. R. Starr, Engineer, 30 Canongate, Edinburgh.IF Mr. James Starr will come to-morrow to the Aberfoyle coal-mines, Dochart pit, Yarrow shaft, a communication of an interesting nature will be made to him."Mr. James Starr will be awaited for, the whole day, at the Callander station, by Harry Ford, son of the old overman Simon Ford.""He is requested to keep this invitation secret."Such was the letter which James Starr received by the first post, on the 3rd December,　

ERYXIASERYXIASby a Platonic ImitatorTranslated by Benjamin Jowett1- Page 2-ERYXIASINTRODUCTION.Much cannot be said in praise of the style or conception of the Eryxias.It is frequently obscure; like the exercise of a student, it is full of smallimitations of Plato:Phaeax returning from an expedition to Sicily(compare Socrates in the Charmides from the army at Potidaea), the figure...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE OLD HOUSEby Hans Christian AndersenA VERY old house stood once in a street with several that werequite new and clean. The date of its erection had been carved on oneof the beams, and surrounded by scrolls formed of tulips andhop-tendrils; by this date it could be seen that the old house wasnearly three hundred years old. Verses too were written over thewindows in old-fashioned letters, and grotesque faces, curiouslycarved, grinned at you from under the cornices. One story projected...　

A. V. LaiderA. V. LaiderBy MAX BEERBOHM1- Page 2-A. V. LaiderI UNPACKED my things and went down to await luncheon.It was good to be here again in this little old sleepy hostel by the sea.Hostel I say, though it spelt itself without an "s" and even placed acircumflex above the "o." It made no other pretension. It was very cozyindeed.I had been here just a year before, in mid-February, after an attack of...　

The Dominion of the Airby J. M. BaconCHAPTER I. THE DAWN OF AERONAUTICS."He that would learn to fly must be brought up to the constant practice of it from his youth, trying first only to use his wings as a tame goose will do, so by degrees learning to rise higher till he attain unto skill and confidence."So wrote Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, who was reckoned a man of genius and learning in the days of the Commonwealth. But so soon as we come to inquire into the matter we find that this good Bishop was borrowing from the ideas of others who had gone before him; and, look back as far as we wil　

THE UNKNOWN GUESTTHE UNKNOWNGUESTMAURICE MAETERLINCKTranslated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos1- Page 2-THE UNKNOWN GUESTINTRODUCTION1My Essay on Death[1] led me to make a conscientious enquiry into thepresent position of the great mystery, an enquiry which I haveendeavoured to render as complete as possible. I had hoped that a single...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BRAVE TIN SOLDIERby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers, who were allbrothers, for they had been made out of the same old tin spoon. Theyshouldered arms and looked straight before them, and wore a splendiduniform, red and blue. The first thing in the world they ever heardwere the words, "Tin soldiers!" uttered by a little boy, who clappedhis hands with delight when the lid of the box, in which they lay, wastaken off. They were given him for a birthday present, and he stood at...　

1593VENUS AND ADONISby William ShakespeareVilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus ApolloPocula Castalia plena ministret aquaTO THERIGHT HONOURABLEHENRY WRIOTHESLEY,EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND BARONOF TITCHFIELDRight Honourable,I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines toyour lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so...　

AFTER THE DANCE"AND you say that a man cannot, of himself,understand what is good and evil; that it is allenvironment, that the environment swamps theman. But I believe it is all chance. Take myown case . . ."Thus spoke our excellent friend, Ivan Vasilie-vich, after a conversation between us on the impos-sibility of improving individual character withouta change of the conditions under which men live.Nobody had actually said that one could not ofoneself understand good and evil; but it was ahabit of Ivan Vasilievich to answer in this way thethoughts aroused in his own mind by conversation,.　

A YELLOW DOGI never knew why in the Western States of America a yellow dogshould be proverbially considered the acme of canine degradationand incompetency, nor why the possession of one should seriouslyaffect the social standing of its possessor. But the fact beingestablished, I think we accepted it at Rattlers Ridge withoutquestion. The matter of ownership was more difficult to settle;and although the dog I have in my mind at the present writingattached himself impartially and equally to everyone in camp, noone ventured to exclusively claim him; while, after the...　

Pazby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONDedicated to the Comtesse Clara Maffei.PAZ(LA FAUSSE MAITRESSE)IIn September, 1835, one of the richest heiresses of the faubourgSaint-Germain, Mademoiselle du Rouvre, the only daughter of theMarquis du Rouvre, married Comte Adam Mitgislas Laginski, a youngPolish exile.We ask permission to write these Polish names as they are pronounced,to spare our readers the aspect of the fortifications of consonants by...　

THE RATCATCHERA VERY long time ago the town of Hamel in Germany wasinvaded by bands of rats, the like of which had never been seenbefore nor will ever be again.They were great black creatures that ran boldly in broaddaylight through the streets, and swarmed so, all over the houses, thatpeople at last could not put their hand or foot down anywhere withouttouching one. When dressing in the morning they found themin their breeches and petticoats, in their pockets and in their boots;and when they wanted a morsel to eat, the voracious horde had...　

BOOK II: OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGESTHEY do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those that aretaken in battle; nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of those ofother nations: the slaves among them are only such as arecondemned to that state of life for the commission of some crime,or, which is more common, such as their merchants find condemnedto die in those parts to which they trade, whom they sometimesredeem at low rates; and in other places have them for nothing.They are kept at perpetual labor, and are always chained, but with...