Classics Books

INTRODUCTION   But why should lordlings all our praise engross?  Rise, honest man, and sing the Man of Ross. Pope Having, in the tale of the Heart of Mid-Lothian, succeeded in some degree in awakening an interest in behalf of one devoid of those accomplishments which belong to a heroine almost by right, I was next tempted to choose a hero upon the same unpromising plan; and as worth of character,... more...

CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY AND FAMILY. Byron's life was passed under the fierce light that beats upon an intellectual throne. He succeeded in making himself—what he wished to be—the most notorious personality in the world of letters of our century. Almost every one who came in contact with him has left on record various impressions of intimacy or interview. Those whom he... more...

I She did not wish any supper and she sank forgetfully back into the stately oak chair. One of her hands lay palm upward on her white lap; in the other, which drooped over the arm of the chair, she clasped a young rose dark red amid its leaves—an inverted torch of love. Old-fashioned glass doors behind her reached from a high ceiling to the floor; they had been thrown open and the curtains looped... more...

THE GIANT OF BERNAND ORM UNGERSWAYNE It was the lofty Jutt of Bern   O’er all the walls he grew;He was mad and ne’er at rest,   To tame him no one knew. He was mad and ne’er at rest,   No lord could hold him in;If he had long in Denmark stayed   Much damage there had been. It was the lofty Jutt of Bern   Bound to his side his glaive,And away to the monarch’s house he rode   With the... more...

CHAPTER I.   Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,  Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,  The midnight brought the signal sound of strife,  The morn the marshalling in arms--the day  Battle's magnificently stern array!  The thunder clouds close o'er it, which when rent  The earth is covered thick with other clay,  Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and... more...

CHAPTER I THE COMING OF THE LODGER Bang! Even Bindle was startled by the emphasis with which Mrs. Bindle placed upon the supper-table a large pie-dish containing a savoury-smelling stew. "Anythink wrong?" he enquired solicitously, gazing at Mrs. Bindle over the top of the evening paper. "Wrong!" she cried. "Is there anything right?" "Well, there's beer, an' Beatty,... more...

Scene: Dr. Peacock's house. Flem Truly, Dr. Peacock, you're a clever man. I've been a pharmacist for twenty-five years and never met a doctor who practiced medicine like you. Peacock Indeed, no other doctor of my acquaintance has penetrated nature as deeply as I have. But I don't like to praise myself; I can't stand flattery. I want you to come home with me to discuss an... more...

IN THE FOREST "Do you think we'll bag a deer to-day, Henry?" "I'll tell you better about that when we are on our way home, Dave. I certainly saw the hoof-prints down by the salt lick this morning. That proves they can't be far off. My idea is that at least three deer are just beyond the lower creek, although I may be mistaken." "I'd like to get a shot at... more...

There are two worlds in the minds of men: the one is artificial, selfish, and personal, the other is real and universal; the one is limited, material, essentially of the earth, the other supposes a kind of larger cosmopolitanism, and has no geographical limits at all; it is as wide as humanity itself, and only bounded by the capacity for experience, insight, and sympathy in the mind and heart of man. A... more...

POEMS THE POET'S SECRET. The poet's secret I must know,If that will calm my restless mind.I hail the seasons as they go,I woo the sunshine, brave the wind. I scan the lily and the rose,I nod to every nodding tree,I follow every stream that flows,And wait beside the steadfast sea. I question melancholy eyes,I touch the lips of women fair:Their lips and eyes may make me wise,But what I seek for... more...