Excerpt: An den Leser. Die Romanzen und Ritterbuecher, womit Spanien und Frankreich im zwoelften, dreyzehnten und vierzehnten Jahrhundert ganz Europa so reichlich versehen haben, sind, eben so wie die fabelhafte Goetter und Heldengeschichte der Morgenlaender und der Griechen, eine Fundgrube von poetischem Stoffe, welche, selbst nach allem was Bojardo, Ariost, Tasso, Allemanni, und andere daraus gezogen haben, noch lange fuer unerschoepflich angesehen werden kann. Ein gro...
INTRODUCTION: The Hellenic influence upon the intellectual development of the world is infinite. The intellectual force emanating from the sources of Greek art, literature and philosophy permeated thru the ages and have helped to shape the destiny of our civilization. Except the blind forces of Nature, says Sir Henry Sumner Maine, nothing moves in this world which is not Greek in its origin. [1.] Without a shadow of doubt, Greek Philosophy forms the firm background of pr...
During the painful scene that we have just described, a lively emotion glowed in the countenance of Mdlle. de Cardoville, grown pale and thin with sorrow. Her cheeks, once so full, were now slightly hollowed, whilst a faint line of transparent azure encircled those large black eyes, no longer so bright as formerly. But the charming lips, though contracted by painful anxiety, had retained their rich and velvet moisture. To attend more easily to Mother Bunch, Adrienne had ...
Excerpt: On the road leading north from Manchester, in eastern Kentucky, to Booneville, twenty miles away, stood, in 1862, a wooden plantation house of a somewhat better quality than most of the dwellings in that region. The house was destroyed by fire in the year following probably by some stragglers from the retreating column of General George W. Morgan, when he was driven from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio river by General Kirby Smith. At the time of its destruction, it ...
Twas fifty quatrains the woman from unknown lands sang on the floor of the house to Bran son of Febal, when the royal house was full of kings, who knew not whence the woman had come, since the ramparts were closed. This is the beginning of the story. One day, in the neighbourhood of his stronghold, Bran went about alone, when he heard music behind him. As often as he looked back, 'twas still behind him the music was. At last he fell asleep at the music, such was its swee...
Excerpt: 044.001 Ha. Mim. 044.002 By the Scripture that maketh plain 044.003 Lo! We revealed it on a blessed night Lo! We are ever warning?044.004 Whereon every wise command is made clear 044.005 As a command from Our presence Lo! We are ever sending?044.006 A mercy from thy Lord. Lo! He, even He is the Hearer, the Knower, 044.007 Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, if ye would be sure. 044.008 There is no God save Him. He quickeneth and givet...
Excerpt: LETTER XIII. At length my brother returned to Court, accompanied by all the Catholic nobility who had followed his fortunes. The King received him very graciously, and showed, by his reception of him, how much he was pleased at his return. Bussi, who returned with my brother, met likewise with a gracious reception. Le Guast was now no more, having died under the operation of a particular regimen ordered for him by his physician. He had given himself up to every ...
Excerpt: Chapter 1. ?What is this secret sin; this untold tale, That art cannot extract, nor penance cleanse?? Mysterious Mother. It was in the church of San Lorenzo at Naples, in the year 1758, that Vincentio di Vivaldi first saw Ellena Rosalba. The sweetness and fine expression of her voice attracted his attention to her figure, which had a distinguished air of delicacy and grace; but her face was concealed in her veil. So much indeed was he fascinated by the voice, th...
Thy forests, Windsor! and thy green retreats, -- At once the Monarch's and the Muse's seats, -- Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids! -- Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. -- Granville commands; your aid O Muses bring! -- What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing? -- The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, -- Live in description, and look green in song: -- These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, -- Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. ...
Excerpt: MORNING. ?Tis the hour when white?horsed Day Chases Night her mares away; When the Gates of Dawn (they say) Phobus opes: And I gather that the Queen May be uniformly seen, Should the weather be serene, On the slopes. When the ploughman, as he goes Leathern?gaitered o?er the snows, From his hat and from his nose Knocks the ice; And the panes are frosted o'er, And the lawn is crisp and hoar, As has been observed before Once or twice. When arrayed in breastplate re...
Excerpt: WABISGAHA loved the tawny stretches of the prairie smiling like a rugged, honest face under the kiss of the sunlight; he loved the storm that frowned and shouted like an angry chief; he loved the south?wind and the scent of the spring, yet the love of woman he knew not, for his heart was given to his horse, Ingla Hota, which means Laughing Thunder.
Preface: Wenceslas Link to all believers in Christ: The wise Solomon says in Proverbs 11: ?The people who withhold grain curse him. But there is a blessing on those who sell it.? This verse speaks truly concerning all that can serve the common good or the well?being of Christendom. This is the reason the master in the gospel reprimands the unfaithful servant like a lazy scoundrel for having hidden and buried his money in the ground. So that this curse of the Lord and the...
CHAPTER I: THEPARSONAGE. All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history or not, I am hardly competent to judge. I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others; but the world may judge for itself. Shielded by my own obscurity, and b...
Preface: I have been occupied with this story, during many working hours of two years. I must have been very ill employed, if I could not leave its merits and demerits as a whole, to express themselves on its being read as a whole. But, as it is not unreasonable to suppose that I may have held its threads with a more continuous attention than anyone else can have given them during its desultory publication, it is not unreasonable to ask that the weaving may be looked at ...
Preface: THIS volume discloses the mental operations of perhaps the most thoroughly practical politician of the day?George Washington Plunkitt, Tammany leader of the Fifteenth Assembly District, Sachem of the Tammany Society and Chairman of the Elections Committee of Tammany Hall, who has held the offices of State Senator, Assemblyman?, Police Magistrate, County Supervisor and Alderman, and who boasts of his record in filling four public offices in one year and drawing s...
Introduction: Thirty?five years ago I made a voyage to the Arctic Seas in what Chaucer calls A little bote No bigger than a manne?s thought; it was a Phantom Ship that made some voyages to different parts of the world which were recorded in early numbers of Charles Dickens?s ?Household Words.? As preface to Richard Hakluyt?s records of the first endeavour of our bold Elizabethan mariners to find North?West Passage to the East, let me repeat here that old voyage of mine f...
Excerpt: THE House. Chapter 1. DORMER Dormer Old House stood amid the remnants of primeval woodland that curtained the hills. These rose steeply on all sides of the house, which lay low by the water in the valley. This was called Oolert?s Dingle, and there were plenty of owls to justify the name. On a moonlit night, passing, high up, from side to side of the cuplike valley, they looked like breeze?blown feathers. Higher still, on the very rim of the cup, the far?travelle...
This book belongs to the most rare of men. Perhaps not one of them is yet alive. It is possible that they may be among those who understand my Zarathustra: how could I confound myself with those who are now sprouting ears? -- First the day after tomorrow must come for me. Some men are born posthumously. The conditions under which any one understands me, and necessarily understands me -- I know them only too well. Even to endure my seriousness, my passion, he must carry i...
The weather had turned so much worse that the rest of the day was certainly lost. The wind had risen and the storm gathered force; they gave from time to time a thump at the firm windows and dashed even against those protected by the verandah their vicious splotches of rain. Beyond the lawn, beyond the cliff, the great wet brush of the sky dipped deep into the sea. But the lawn, already vivid with the touch of May, showed a violence of watered green; the budding shrubs a...
WHILE ENGAGED in writing an account of the grand enterprise of Astoria, it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information connected with the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more interesting particulars than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; who, being the patriarch of the fur trade in the United States, was accustomed to have at his board various persons of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own great undertaking; others, on their own accoun...