Seraphitaby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Katharine Prescott WormeleyDEDICATIONTo Madame Eveline de Hanska, nee Comtesse Rzewuska.Madame,Here is the work which you asked of me. I am happy, inthus dedicating it, to offer you a proof of the respectfulaffection you allow me to bear you. If I am reproached forimpotence in this attempt to draw from the depths of mysticism abook which seeks to give, in the lucid transparency of ourbeautiful language, the luminous poesy of the Orient, to you theblame! Did you not command this struggle (resembling that of...
THE MASTER THIEFTHERE was once upon a time a husbandman who had three sons.He had no property to bequeath to them, and no means of puttingthem in the way of getting a living, and did not know what todo, so he said that they had his leave to take to anything they mostfancied, and go to any place they best liked. He would gladlyaccompany them for some part of their way, he said, and that he did.He went with them till they came to a place where three roadsmet, and there each of them took his own way, and the father badethem farewell and returned to his own home again. What became...
Money Answers all Things by Jacob Vanderlint1734Money Answers all Things: or, an Essay to Make Money Sufficiently plentiful Amongst all Ranks of People, And Increase our Foreign and Domestick Trade; Fill the Empty Houses with Inhabitants, Encourage the Marriage State, Lessen the Number of Hawkers and Pedlars, and In a great measure, prevent giving long Credit, and making bad Debts in Trade. Likewise shewing, The Absurdity of going to War about Trade; and the most likely Method to prevent the Clandestine Exportation of our Wool: And Also to Reduce the National Debts, and ease the Taxe
SOPHOCLESOEDIPUS THE KINGTranslation by F. Storr, BAFormerly Scholar of Trinity College, CambridgeFrom the Loeb Library EditionOriginally published byHarvard University Press, Cambridge, MAandWilliam Heinemann Ltd, LondonFirst published in 1912ARGUMENTTo Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child born...
Chitra, a Play in One Actby Rabindranath TagoreTOMRS. WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODYPREFACETHIS 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 ofpenance, Arjuna came to Manipur. There he saw Chitrangada, thebeautiful daughter of Chitravahana, the king of the country.Smitten with her charms, he asked the king for the hand of his...
THE MODEL MILLIONAIREUNLESS one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow.Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of theunemployed. The poor should be practical and prosaic. It isbetter to have a permanent income than to be fascinating. Theseare the great truths of modern life which Hughie Erskine neverrealised. Poor Hughie! Intellectually, we must admit, he was notof much importance. He never said a brilliant or even an ill-natured thing in his life. But then he was wonderfully good-looking, with his crisp brown hair, his clear-cut profile, and his...
THE INVISIBLE PRINCEOnce upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over theearth, the sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons.The eldest, who was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination,she made Lord of Fire, which was in her opinion the noblest ofall the elements. To the second son, whose wisdom and prudencemade amends for his being rather dull, she gave the government ofthe earth. The third was wild and savage, and of monstrousstature; and the Fairy, his mother, who was ashamed of hisdefects, hoped to hide them by creating him King of the Seas....
ON THE MOTION OF ANIMALSby Aristotletranslated by A. S. L. Farquharson1ELSEWHERE we have investigated in detail the movement of animalsafter their various kinds, the differences between them, and thereasons for their particular characters (for some animals fly, someswim, some walk, others move in various other ways); there remainsan investigation of the common ground of any sort of animal movementwhatsoever....
THE SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRETONE afternoon I was sitting outside the Cafe de la Paix, watchingthe splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life, and wondering overmy vermouth at the strange panorama of pride and poverty that waspassing before me, when I heard some one call my name. I turnedround, and saw Lord Murchison. We had not met since we had been atcollege together, nearly ten years before, so I was delighted tocome across him again, and we shook hands warmly. At Oxford we hadbeen great friends. I had liked him immensely, he was so handsome,...
The Ethics [Part 4](Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata)by Benedict de SpinozaTranslated by R. H. M. ElwesPART IV: Of Human Bondage, or the Strength of the EmotionsPREFACEHuman infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage:for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, butlies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled,while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse....
THE ADVENTURES OF GERARDTHE ADVENTURES OFGERARDBY A. CONAN DOYLE1- Page 2-THE ADVENTURES OF GERARDPREFACEI hope that some readers may possibly be interested in these little talesof the Napoleonic soldiers to the extent of following them up to thesprings from which they flow. The age was rich in military material,...
The Man versus the Stateby Herbert Spencer1884PrefaceThe Westminster Review for April 1860, contained an article entitled "Parliamentary Reform: the Dangers and the Safeguards." In that article I ventured to predict some results of political changes then proposed. Reduced to its simplest expression, the thesis maintained was that, unless due precautions were taken, increase of freedom in form would be followed by decrease of freedom in fact. Nothing has occurred to alter the belief I then expressed. The drift of legislation since that time has been of the kind anticipated. Dictatorial me
The Clue of the Twisted Candleby Edgar WallaceCHAPTER IThe 4.15 from Victoria to Lewes had been held up at Three Bridges in consequence of a derailment and, though John Lexman was fortunate enough to catch a belated connection to Beston Tracey, the wagonette which was the sole communication between the village and the outside world had gone."If you can wait half an hour, Mr. Lexman," said the station-master, "I will telephone up to the village and get Briggs to come down for you."John Lexman looked out upon the dripping landscape and shrugged his shoulders....
THE STARIt was on the first day of the New Year that the announcementwas made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that themotion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all the planetsthat wheel about the sun, had become very erratic. Ogilvy hadalready called attention to a suspected retardation in its velocityin December. Such a piece of news was scarcely calculated tointerest a world the greater portion of whose inhabitants wereunaware of the existence of the planet Neptune, nor outside theastronomical profession did the subsequent discovery of a faint...
The Witch and other Storiesby Anton ChekhovTHE WITCHPEASANT WIVESTHE POSTTHE NEW VILLADREAMSTHE PIPEAGAFYAAT CHRISTMAS TIMEGUSEVTHE STUDENTIN THE RAVINETHE HUNTSMANHAPPINESSA MALEFACTORPEASANTSTHE WITCHIT was approaching nightfall. The sexton, Savely Gykin, was lyingin his huge bed in the hut adjoining the church. He was notasleep, though it was his habit to go to sleep at the same timeas the hens. His coarse red hair peeped from under one end of thegreasy patchwork quilt, made up of coloured rags, while his bigunwashed feet stuck out from the other. He was listening. His hut...
Arms and the Manby George Bernard ShawINTRODUCTIONTo the irreverentand which of us will claim entire exemption from thatcomfortable classification?there is something very amusing in theattitude of the orthodox criticism toward Bernard Shaw. He so obviouslydisregards all the canons and unities and other things which everywell-bred dramatist is bound to respect that his work is really unworthyof serious criticism (orthodox). Indeed he knows no more about thedramatic art than, according to his own story in "The Man of Destiny,"Napoleon at Tavazzano knew of the Art of War. But both men were...