THE LUTE PLAYEROnce upon a time there was a king and queen who lived happily andcomfortably together. They were very fond of each other and hadnothing to worry them, but at last the king grew restless. Helonged to go out into the world, to try his strength in battleagainst some enemy and to win all kinds of honour and glory.So he called his army together and gave orders to start for adistant country where a heathen king ruled who ill-treated ortormented everyone he could lay his hands on. The king then gavehis parting orders and wise advice to his ministers, took atender leave of his wife, and set off with his army across theseas.I cannot say whether the voyage was short or long; but at 　

ON LONGEVITY AND SHORTNESS OF LIFEby Aristotletranslated by G. R. T. Ross1THE reasons for some animals being long-lived and othersshort-lived, and, in a word, causes of the length and brevity oflife call for investigation.The necessary beginning to our inquiry is a statement of thedifficulties about these points. For it is not clear whether inanimals and plants universally it is a single or diverse cause thatmakes some to be long-lived, others short-lived. Plants too have insome cases a long life, while in others it lasts but for a year....　

The Complete Anglerby Izaak WaltonTo the Right worshipfulJohn Offleyof Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford Esquire, My most honoured FriendSir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and protection of this Book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that I shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practice so much.You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that Angling is an Art: and you know that Art better than others; and that this is truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour which you 　

_New England Reformers__A Lecture read before the Society in Amory Hall,__on Sunday, 3 March, 1844_Whoever has had opportunity of acquaintance with society in NewEngland, during the last twenty-five years, with those middle andwith those leading sections that may constitute any justrepresentation of the character and aim of the community, will havebeen struck with the great activity of thought and experimenting.His attention must be commanded by the signs that the Church, orreligious party, is falling from the church nominal, and is appearingin temperance and non-resistance societies, in movements of...　

An Accursed Raceby Elizabeth GaskellWe have our prejudices in England. Or, if that assertion offends anyof my readers, I will modify it: we have had our prejudices inEngland. We have tortured Jews; we have burnt Catholics andProtestants, to say nothing of a few witches and wizards. We havesatirized Puritans, and we have dressed-up Guys. But, after all, Ido not think we have been so bad as our Continental friends. To besure, our insular position has kept us free, to a certain degree,from the inroads of alien races; who, driven from one land of refuge,steal into another equally unwilling to receive them; and where, for...　

Some Short Christmas StoriesSome Short ChristmasStoriesby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-Some Short Christmas StoriesA CHRISTMAS TREEI have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of childrenassembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree wasplanted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above theirheads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and...　

The National System of Political Economyby Friedrich Listtranslated by Sampson S. Lloyd, 1885First Book: The HistoryChapter 1The ItaliansAt the revival of civilisation in Europe, no county was in sofavourable a position as Italy in respect to commerce and industry.Barbarism had not been able entirely to eradicate the culture andcivilisation of ancient Rome. A genial climate and a fertile soil,notwithstanding an unskilful system of cultivation, yieldedabundant nourishment for a numerous population. The most necessaryarts and industries remained as little destroyed as the municipal...　

Memoirs of Carwin the BiloquistCharles Brockden BrownChapter I.I was the second son of a farmer, whose place of residence was a western district of Pennsylvania. My eldest brother seemed fitted by nature for the employment to which he was destined. His wishes never led him astray from the hay-stack and the furrow. His ideas never ranged beyond the sphere of his vision, or suggested the possibility that to-morrow could differ from to-day. He could read and write, because he had no alternative between learning the lesson prescribed to him, and punishment. He was diligent, as long as fear urged him forward, but his exertions ceased with the cessation of this motive. The limits of his acq　

Boyhoodby Leo TolstoyTranslated by CJ HogarthIA SLOW JOURNEYAgain two carriages stood at the front door of the house at Petrovskoe. In one of them sat Mimi, the two girls, and their maid, with the bailiff, Jakoff, on the box, while in the othera britchkasat Woloda, myself, and our servant Vassili. Papa, who was to follow us to Moscow in a few days, was standing bareheaded on the entrance-steps. He made the sign of the cross at the windows of the carriages, and said:"Christ go with you! Good-bye."Jakoff and our coachman (for we had our own horses) lifted their caps in answer, and also made the sign of the cross."Amen. God go with us!"The carriages began to roll away, and the birch-trees of t　

THE ALHAMBRAby Washington IrvingPreface to the Revised Edition.Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays wereactually written during a residence in the Alhambra; others weresubsequently added, founded on notes and observations made there. Carewas taken to maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that thewhole might present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm,that singular little world into which I had been fortuitouslythrown; and about which the external world had a very imperfectidea. It was my endeavor scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half...　

410 BCTHE PHOENISSAEby Euripidestranslated by E. P. ColeridgeCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYJOCASTA, wife of OEDIPUSOLD SERVANT, an attendant of ANTIGONEANTIGONE, daughter Of OEDIPUSCHORUS OF PHOENICIAN MAIDENSPOLYNEICES, exiled son of OEDIPUSETEOCLES, now King of Thebes; son of OEDIPUSCREON, brother of JOCASTATEIRESIAS, a blind prophetMENOECEUS, son of CREONFIRST MESSENGERSECOND MESSENGEROEDIPUS, formerly King of ThebesDaughter of TEIRESIAS, guards, attendants...　

Stories of a Western Townby Octave ThanetCONTENTSThe Besetment of Kurt LiedersThe Face of FailureTommy and ThomasMother EmeritusAn Assisted ProvidenceHarry LossingTHE BESETMENT OF KURT LIEDERS A SILVER rime glistened all down the street. There was a drabble of dead leaves on the sidewalk which was of wood, and on the roadway which was of macadam and stiff mud. The wind blew sharply, for it was a December day and only six in the morning. Nor were the houses high enough to furnish any independent bulwark; they were low, wooden dwellings, the tallest a bare two stories in height, the majority only one story. But they were in good painting and repair, and most of them had a homely gayety of ge