Ancient, Classical & Medieval Books

The twelfth of May, 1796, in north Italy, at Tavazzano, on the road from Lodi to Milan. The afternoon sun is blazing serenely over the plains of Lombardy, treating the Alps with respect and the anthills with indulgence, not incommoded by the basking of the swine and oxen in the villages nor hurt by its cool reception in the churches, but fiercely disdainful of two hordes of mischievous insects which... more...

INTRODUCTION 'The Birds' differs markedly from all the other Comedies of Aristophanes which have come down to us in subject and general conception. It is just an extravaganza pure and simple—a graceful, whimsical theme chosen expressly for the sake of the opportunities it afforded of bright, amusing dialogue, pleasing lyrical interludes, and charming displays of brilliant stage effects and... more...

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS FROM THE QUARTO OF 1604. Enter CHORUS. CHORUS. Not marching now in fields of Thrasymene,Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians;Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,In courts of kings where state is overturn'd;Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:Only this, gentlemen,—we must performThe form of Faustus'... more...

ACT I. SCENE I. [1st Cut.] [2nd Grooves.] A Lane near a Village. Afternoon. Enter ARTHUR WALTON and WILLIAM, R.S.E. Arthur. Give me your arm, my feet tread heavily;The sameness of this scene doth pierce my heartWith thronging recollections of the past.There is nought chang'd—and what a world of care,Of sorrow, passion, pleasure have I known,Since but a natural part of this was I,Whose voice is... more...

ACT I SCENE.—The scene is in the Great Hall in the Palace of the Caesars. At the back are steps leading to a platform with balustrade opening on the air, and beyond, a view of the city. [On the right of the stage is a cedarn couch on which CLAUDIUS is uneasily sleeping. On the right is a door communicating with the inner apartments. On the left a door communicating with the outer halls. [XENOPHON is... more...

ACT I. [Enter William the Conqueror; Marques Lubeck, with a picture;Mountney; Manville; Valingford; and Duke Dirot.] MARQUES.What means fair Britain's mighty ConquerorSo suddenly to cast away his staff,And all in passion to forsake the tylt? D. DIROT.My Lord, this triumph we solemnise hereIs of mere love to your increasing joys,Only expecting cheerful looks for all;What sudden pangs than moves... more...

EDWARD THE SECOND By Christopher Marlowe DRAMATIS PERSONAE KING EDWARD THE SECOND.PRINCE EDWARD, his son, afterwards KING EDWARD THE THIRD.KENT, brother to KING EDWARD THE SECOND.GAVESTON.ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.BISHOP OF COVENTRY.BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.WARWICK.LANCASTER.PEMBROKE.ARUNDER.LEICESTER.BERKELEY.MORTIMER the elder. MORTIMER the younger, his nephew. SPENSER the elder. SPENSER the younger, his... more...

INTRODUCTION This is the first of the series of three Comedies—'The Acharnians,' 'Peace' and 'Lysistrata'—produced at intervals of years, the sixth, tenth and twenty-first of the Peloponnesian War, and impressing on the Athenian people the miseries and disasters due to it and to the scoundrels who by their selfish and reckless policy had provoked it, the consequent... more...

PALACE OF THE KREMLIN (FEBRUARY 20th, A.D. 1598) PRINCE SHUISKY and VOROTINSKY VOROTINSKY. To keep the city's peace, that is the taskEntrusted to us twain, but you forsoothHave little need to watch; Moscow is empty;The people to the Monastery have flockedAfter the patriarch. What thinkest thou?How will this trouble end? SHUISKY. How will it end?That is not hard to tell. A little moreThe multitude... more...

George Chapman was probably born in the year after Elizabeth's accession. Anthony Wood gives 1557 as the date, but the inscription on his portrait, prefixed to the edition of The Whole Works of Homer in 1616, points to 1559. He was a native of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, as we learn from an allusion in his poem Euthymiæ Raptus or The Teares of Peace, and from W. Browne's reference to him in... more...