Areopagiticaby John MiltonA SPEECH FOR THE LIBERTY OF UNLICENSED PRINTINGTO THE PARLIAMENT OF ENGLANDThis is true liberty, when free-born men,Having to advise the public, may speak free,Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise;Who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace:What can be juster in a state than this?Euripid. Hicetid.They, who to states and governors of the Commonwealth directtheir speech, High Court of Parliament, or, wanting such access ina private condition, write that which they foresee may advance the...　

Dream Daysby Kenneth GrahameContentsTHE TWENTY-FIRST OF OCTOBERDIES IRAEMUTABILE SEMPERTHE MAGIC RINGITS WALLS WERE AS OF JASPERA SAGA OF THE SEASTHE RELUCTANT DRAGONA DEPARTUREDream DaysTHE TWENTY-FIRST OFOCTOBERIn the matter of general culture and attainments, we youngstersstood on pretty level ground. True, it was always happening thatone of us would be singled out at any moment, freakishly, andwithout regard to his own preferences, to wrestle with the...　

The Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouseby Thomas BurkeBuying and SellingThroughout the day I sit behind the counter of my shopAnd the odours of my country are all about meAreca nut, and betel leaf, and manioc,Lychee and suey sen,Li-un and dried seaweed,Tchah and sam-shu;And these carry my mind to half-forgotten daysWhen tales were plentiful and care was hard to hold.All day I sell for trifling sums the wares of my own land,And buy for many cash such things as people wish to sell,That I may sell them again to others,With some profit to myself....　

A Complete Account of the Settlementby Watkin TenchPREFACEWhen it is recollected how much has been written to describe the Settlement of New South Wales, it seems necessary if not to offer an apology, yet to assign a reason, for an additional publication.The Author embarked in the fleet which sailed to found the establishment at Botany Bay. He shortly after published a Narrative of the Proceedings and State of the Colony, brought up to the beginning of July, 1788, which was well received, and passed through three editions. This could not but inspire both confidence and gratitude; but gratit　

PEN, PENCIL AND POISON - A STUDY IN GREENIt has constantly been made a subject of reproach against artistsand men of letters that they are lacking in wholeness andcompleteness of nature. As a rule this must necessarily be so.That very concentration of vision and intensity of purpose which isthe characteristic of the artistic temperament is in itself a modeof limitation. To those who are preoccupied with the beauty ofform nothing else seems of much importance. Yet there are manyexceptions to this rule. Rubens served as ambassador, and Goethe...　

The Story of Doctor Dolittleby Hugh LoftingTHEStory ofDOCTOR DOLITTLEBEING THEHISTORY OF HIS PECULIAR LIFEAT HOME AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURESIN FOREIGN PARTS NEVER BEFORE PRINTED.TOALL CHILDRENCHILDREN IN YEARS AND CHILDREN IN HEARTI DEDICATE THIS STORYThere are some of us now reachingmiddle age who discover themselves to belamenting the past in one respect if in none other,that there are no books written now for childrencomparable with those of thirty years ago. Isay written FOR children because the new...　

Fifty "Bab" Ballads - Much Sound and Little SenseMuchSound and LittleSenseW. S. Gilbert1Fifty "Bab" Ballads - Much Sound and Little SenseFifty "Bab" Ballads - Much Sound and Little SenseTHE "BAB BALLADS" appeared originally in the columns of "FUN,"when that periodical was under the editorship of the late TOM HOOD.They were subsequently republished in two volumes, one called "THEBAB BALLADS," the other "MORE BAB BALLADS." The periodduring which they were written extended over some three or four years;many, however, were composed hastily, and under the discomforting...　

THE SCARLET LETTERby Nathaniel HawthorneINTRODUCTORYTHE CUSTOM-HOUSE.INTRODUCTORY TO "THE SCARLET LETTER".IT is a little remarkable, that- though disinclined to talk overmuchof myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personalfriends- an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life havetaken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time wasthree or four years since, when I favoured the reader- inexcusably,and for no earthly reason, that either the indulgent reader or the...　

De Profundisby Oscar Wilde. . . Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it byseasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return.With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems tocircle round one centre of pain. The paralysing immobility of alife every circumstance of which is regulated after an unchangeablepattern, so that we eat and drink and lie down and pray, or kneelat least for prayer, according to the inflexible laws of an ironformula: this immobile quality, that makes each dreadful day in...　

The Chateau of Prince Polignacby Anthony TrollopeFew Englishmen or Englishwomen are intimately acquainted with thelittle town of Le Puy. It is the capital of the old province of LeVelay, which also is now but little known, even to French ears, forit is in these days called by the imperial name of the Department ofthe Haute Loire. It is to the south-east of Auvergne, and is nearlyin the centre of the southern half of France.But few towns, merely as towns, can be better worth visiting. Inthe first place, the volcanic formation of the ground on which it...　

Chronicles of the Canongateby Sir Walter ScottCONTENTS.Introduction to Chronicles of the Canongate. Appendix to IntroductionThe Theatrical Fund Dinner. IntroductoryMr. Chrystal Croftangry. The Highland Widow. The Two Drovers. Notes.INTRODUCTION TO CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE.The preceding volume of this Collection concluded the last of the pieces originally published under the NOMINIS UMBRA of The Author of Waverley; and the circumstances which rendered it impossible for the writer to continue longer in the possession of his incognito were communicated in 1827, in the Introduction t　

THE FORGED COUPONPART FIRSTIFEDOR MIHAILOVICH SMOKOVNIKOV, the presi-dent of the local Income Tax Department, a manof unswerving honestyand proud of it, tooa gloomy Liberal, a free-thinker, and an enemyto every manifestation of religious feeling, whichhe thought a relic of superstition, came home fromhis office feeling very much annoyed. The Gov-ernor of the province had sent him an extraordi-narily stupid minute, almost assuming that hisdealings had been dishonest.Fedor Mihailovich felt embittered, and wroteat once a sharp answer. On his return home...　

Songs of Travel and Other Versesby Robert Louis StevensonCONTENTSI. THE VAGABOND - Give to me the life I loveII. YOUTH AND LOVE: I. - Once only by the garden gateIII. YOUTH AND LOVE: II. - To the heart of youth the world isa highwaysideIV. In dreams, unhappy, I behold you standV. She rested by the Broken BrookVI. The infinite shining heavensVII. Plain as the glistering planets shineVIII. To you, let snows and rosesIX. Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams...　

The Argonauticaby Apollonius RhodiusINTRODUCTIONMuch has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian literature and the famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but the dates of the chief writers are still matters of conjecture. The birth of Apollonius Rhodius is placed by scholars at various times between 296 and 260 B.C., while the year of his death is equally uncertain. In fact, we have very little information on the subject. There are two "lives" of Apollonius in the Scholia, both derived from an earlier one which is lost. From these we learn that he was of Alexandria by birth, (1　

The Courtship of Susan Bellby Anthony TrollopeJohn Munroe Bell had been a lawyer in Albany, State of New York, andas such had thriven well. He had thriven well as long as thrift andthriving on this earth had been allowed to him. But the Almightyhad seen fit to shorten his span.Early in life he had married a timid, anxious, pretty, good littlewife, whose whole heart and mind had been given up to do his biddingand deserve his love. She had not only deserved it but hadpossessed it, and as long as John Munroe Bell had lived, HenriettaBellHetta as he called herhad been a woman rich in blessings　

IN A FAR COUNTRY.WHEN A MAN JOURNEYS into a far country, he must be prepared toforget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire suchcustoms as are inherent with existence in the new land; he mustabandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he mustreverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto beenshaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, thenovelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but tothose who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they werecreated, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, and...