History Books

PREFACE The history of Giggleswick School has just two difficulties about it which need to be unravelled. The date of the foundation of the School or of the Chantry of the Rood and the origin of the Seal alone are of interest to the antiquary and I have failed to discover either. The remainder is the story of a school, which has always had a reputation in the educational world and at the same time has... more...

ADVERTISEMENT. What I have here to say is rather in the nature of an apology than of a preface or advertisement. The very title of a Treatise upon the art of dancing by a dancing-master, implicitly threatens so much either of the exageration of the profession, or of the recommendation of himself, and most probably of both, that it cannot be improper for me to bespeak the reader’s favorable precaution... more...

Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part I. Death Of Gratian.—Ruin Of Arianism.—St. Ambrose.—FirstCivil War, Against Maximus.—Character, Administration, AndPenance Of Theodosius.—Death Of Valentinian II.—SecondCivil War, Against Eugenius.—Death Of Theodosius. The fame of Gratian, before he had accomplished the twentieth year of his age, was equal to that of the most... more...

CHAPTER I. GIBBON'S EARLY LIFE UP TO THE TIME OF HIS LEAVING OXFORD. Edward Gibbon was born at Putney, near London, on 27th April in the year 1737. After the reformation of the calendar his birthday became the 8th of May. He was the eldest of a family of seven children; but his five brothers and only sister all died in early infancy, and he could remember in after life his sister alone, whom he... more...

On the seventh day out we saw a dim vast bulk standing up out of the wastes of the Pacific and knew that that spectral promontory was Diamond Head, a piece of this world which I had not seen before for twenty-nine years. So we were nearing Honolulu, the capital city of the Sandwich Islands—those islands which to me were Paradise; a Paradise which I had been longing all those years to see again. Not... more...

VOLUME I [p 2 is blank] p 3 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. ———————————- I CAN not more appropriately introduce the Cosmos than by presenting a brief sketch of the life of its illustrious author.* While the name of Alexander von Humboldt is familiar to every one, few, perhaps, are aware of the peculiar circumstances of his scientific career and of the extent of his labors in almost... more...

CHAPTER I. THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM MARSHAL. When John died, on October 19, 1216, the issue of the war between him and the barons was still doubtful. The arrival of Louis of France, eldest son of King Philip Augustus, had enabled the barons to win back much of the ground lost after John's early triumphs had forced them to call in the foreigner. Beyond the Humber the sturdy north-country barons, who... more...

Since the appearance of this book in its original form, some seventeen years since, the construction of Railways has continued to make extraordinary progress.  Although Great Britain, first in the field, had then, after about twenty-five years’ work, expended nearly 300 millions sterling in the construction of 8300 miles of railway, it has, during the last seventeen years, expended about 288... more...

Declaration of Independence NOTE.—The words "Declaration of Independence" do not appear on the original.IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the... more...

INTRODUCTION We can distinguish three kinds of astronomy, each with a different origin and history, but all mutually dependent, and composing, in their fundamental unity, one science. First in order of time came the art of observing the returns, and measuring the places, of the heavenly bodies. This was the sole astronomy of the Chinese and Chaldeans; but to it the vigorous Greek mind added a highly... more...