History Books

Chapter One he end of August, 1914, found me following my usual employment as second mate on a small steamboat plying between St. John's, Newfoundland, and various stations on the coast of Labrador. The news from the front aroused my patriotism, and though my captain, who was a Britisher through and through, strongly urged me to remain with him because of the great difficulty of securing another... more...

CHAPTER I. Introductory. In the following pages an attempt is made to fit together facts derived, on the one hand, from those portions of the Orkneyinga, St. Magnus and Hakonar Sagas which relate to the extreme north end of the mainland of Scotland, and, on the other hand, from such scanty English and Scottish records, bearing on its history, as have survived, so as to form a connected account, from... more...

THE ISLE OF PINES The scene opens in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the year 1668, where in one of the college buildings a contest between two rival printers had been waged for some years. Marmaduke Johnson, a trained and experienced printer, to whose ability the Indian Bible is largely due, had ceased to be the printer of the corporation, or Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, but... more...

PREFACE The present work concludes the series of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History," as originally framed in the conception of the author. In the previous volumes he has had the inspiring consciousness of regarding his subject as a positive and commanding element in the history of the world. In the War of 1812, also, the effect is real and dread enough; but to his own country, to the... more...

CHAPTER I. The palace glittered with light and splendor; the servants ran here and there, arranging the sofas and chairs; the court gardener cast a searching glance at the groups of flowers which he had placed in the saloons; and the major domo superintended the tables in the picture gallery. The guests of the queen will enjoy to-night a rich and costly feast. Every thing wore the gay and festive... more...

THE FIRST CHAPTER. EDWARD. Hen. Hunt. Immediatlie vpon the deth of Hardiknought, and before his corps was committed to buriall, his halfe brother Edward, sonne of king Egelred begotten of quéene Emma, was Polydor chosen to be K. of England, by the generall consent of all the nobles and commons of the realme. Therevpon were ambassadours sent with all spéed into Normandie, to signifie vnto him his... more...

Consecration of the Nuncio at Saint James's Palace; his public ReceptionThe Duke of SomersetDissolution of the Parliament; Military Offences illegally punishedProceedings of the High Commission; the UniversitiesProceedings against the University of CambridgeThe Earl of MulgraveState of OxfordMagdalene College, OxfordAnthony Farmer recommended by the King for PresidentElection of the PresidentThe... more...

I The sergeant in charge of the clothing store was curt. He couldn't help it: he had run short of tunics, also of "pants"—except three pairs which wouldn't fit me, wouldn't fit anybody, unless we enlisted three very fat dwarfs: he had kept on asking for tunics and pants, and they'd sent him nothing but great-coats and water-bottles: I could take his word for it, he wished... more...

VARIOUS LOVE INTRIGUES AT THE ENGLISH COURT. Every man who believes that his honour depends upon that of his wife is a fool who torments himself, and drives her to despair; but he who, being naturally jealous, has the additional misfortune of loving his wife, and who expects that she should only live for him; is a perfect madman, whom the torments of hell have actually taken hold of in this world, and... more...

FOREWORD The following pages form an abridged translation of a book published in 1916 by Freiherrn von Forstner, commander of the first German U-boat. It was written with the somewhat careless haste of a man who took advantage of disconnected moments of leisure, and these moments were evidently subject to abrupt and prolonged interruptions. Many repetitions and trivial incidents have been omitted in... more...