NEW BURLESQUESNEW BURLESQUESby Bret Harte1- Page 2-NEW BURLESQUESCHAPTER IRUDOLPH OF TRULYRURALANIAWhen I state that I was own brother to Lord Burleydon, had an incomeof two thousand a year, could speak all the polite languages fluently, was apowerful swordsman, a good shot, and could ride anything from anelephant to a clotheshorse, I really think I have said enough to satisfy anyfeminine novel-reader of Bayswater or South Kensington that I was a hero....
The Aspern Papersby Henry JamesTHE ASPERN PAPERSII had taken Mrs. Prest into my confidence; in truth withouther I should have made but little advance, for the fruitfulidea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips.It was she who invented the short cut, who severed the Gordian knot.It is not supposed to be the nature of women to rise as a general thingto the largest and most liberal viewI mean of a practical scheme;but it has struck me that they sometimes throw off a bold conceptionsuch as a man would not have risen towith singular serenity....
The Great War Syndicateby Frank StocktonIn the spring of a certain year, not far from theclose of the nineteenth century, when the politicalrelations between the United States and Great Britainbecame so strained that careful observers on both sidesof the Atlantic were forced to the belief that aserious break in these relations might be looked for atany time, the fishing schooner Eliza Drum sailed froma port in Maine for the banks of Newfoundland.It was in this year that a new system of protectionfor American fishing vessels had been adopted inWashington. Every fleet of these vessels wasaccompanied by one or more United States cruisers,...
Cyrano de BergeracA Play in Five Actsby Edmond RostandTranslated from the French by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. GuillemardThe CharactersCYRANO DE BERGERACCHRISTIAN DE NEUVILLETTECOUNT DE GUICHERAGUENEAULE BRETCARBON DE CASTEL-JALOUXTHE CADETSLIGNIEREDE VALVERTA MARQUISSECOND MARQUISTHIRD MARQUISMONTFLEURYBELLEROSEJODELETCUIGYBRISSAILLETHE DOORKEEPERA LACKEYA SECOND LACKEYA BOREA MUSKETEERANOTHERA SPANISH OFFICERA PORTERA BURGHERHIS SONA PICKPOCKETA SPECTATORA GUARDSMANBERTRAND THE FIFERA MONKTWO MUSICIANSTHE POETSTHE PASTRY COOKSROXANESISTER MARTHALISETHE BUFFET-GIRLMOTHER MARGUERITE...
The gate was packed with weary travelers, most of them standing and huddled along the walls because the meager allotment of plastic chairs had long since been taken. Every plane that came and went held at least eighty passengers, yet the gate had seats for only a few dozen. There seemed to be a thousand waiting for the 7 P.M. flight to Miami. They were bundled up and heavily laden, and after fighting the traffic and the check-in and the mobs along the concourse they were subdued, as a whole. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days of the year for air travel, and as they jostled and got pushed farther into the gate many asked themselves, not for the first time, why, ex
The Divine Comedytranslated by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowPARADISOParadiso: Canto IThe glory of Him who moveth everythingDoth penetrate the universe, and shineIn one part more and in another less.Within that heaven which most his light receivesWas I, and things beheld which to repeatNor knows, nor can, who from above descends;Because in drawing near to its desireOur intellect ingulphs itself so far,That after it the memory cannot go.Truly whatever of the holy realmI had the power to treasure in my mindShall now become the subject of my song.O good Apollo, for this last empriseMake of me such a vessel of thy power...
Confessions of an English Opium-Eaterby Thomas De QuinceyBEING AN EXTRACT FROM THE LIFE OF A SCHOLAR. From the "London Magazine" for September 1821.TO THE READERI here present you, courteous reader, with the record of a remarkable period in my life: according to my application of it, I trust that it will prove not merely an interesting record, but in a considerable degree useful and instructive. In THAT hope it is that I have drawn it up; and THAT must be my apology for breaking through that delicate and honourable reserve which, for the most part, restrains us from the public exposure of our own errors and infirmities. Nothing, indeed, is more revolting to English feelings than the spec
The History of Caliph Vathekby William BeckfordINTRODUCTIONWilliam Beckford, born in 1759, the year before the accession of King George the Third, was the son of an Alderman who became twice Lord Mayor of London. His family, originally of Gloucestershire, had thriven by the plantations in Jamaica; and his father, sent to school in England, and forming a school friendship at Westminster with Lord Mansfield, began the world in this country as a merchant, with inheritance of an enormous West India fortune. William Beckford the elder became Magistrate, Member of Parliament, Alderman. Four years before the birth of William Beckford the younger he became one of the Sheriffs of London, and thre
The Adventures of Pinocchioby C. Collodi[Pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini]CHAPTER 1How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter, found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a childCenturies ago there lived"A king!" my little readers will say immediately.No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive piece of wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood, one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire in winter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.I do not know how this really happened, yet the fact remains that one fine day this piece of wood found itself in the shop of an old carpenter. His real name was Mastro Antonio,
Philosophy of Historyby HegelTable of ContentsIntroductionO The subject of this course of Lectures is the Philosophical History of the World.SECTION ONE: Original History§ 1 They simply transferred what was passing in the world around them, to the realm ofrepresentative intellect.§ 2 The influences that have formed the writer are identical with those which have moulded theevents that constitute the matter of his story.§ 3 What the historian puts into the mouths of orators is an uncorrupted transcript of theirintellectual and moral habitudes.§ 4 Among the ancients, these annalists were necessarily great captains and statesmen....
The Writings of Abraham Lincolnby Abraham LincolnVOLUME IVTHE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES IILINCOLN AND DOUGLAS FOURTH JOINT DEBATE,AT CHARLESTON, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:It will be very difficult for an audience solarge as this to hear distinctly what a speaker says, andconsequently it is important that as profound silence be preserved aspossible.While I was at the hotel to-day, an elderly gentleman called upon meto know whether I was really in favor of producing a perfect equalitybetween the negroes and white people. While I had not proposed tomyself on this occasion to say much on that subject, yet as the...