Non-Classifiable Books

I.—WACE In the long line of Arthurian chroniclers Geoffrey of Monmouth deservedly occupies the first place. The most gifted and the most original of their number, by his skilful treatment of the Arthurian story in his Historia Regum Britanniae, he succeeded in uniting scattered legends attached to Arthur's name, and in definitely establishing their place in chronicle history in a form... more...

The Rubaiyat of Ohow Dryyam IWail! for the Law has scattered into flightThose Drinks that were our sometime dear Delight;And still the Morals-tinkers plot and planNew, sterner, stricter Statutes to indite.After the phantom of our Freedom diedMethought a Voice within the Tavern cried:“Drink coffee, Lads, for that is all that’s leftSince our Land of the Free is washed—and dried.”And still the... more...

I With the production at Paris in the spring of 1902 of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, based on the play of Maeterlinck, the history of music turned a new and surprising page. "It is necessary," declared an acute French critic, M. Jean Marnold, writing shortly after the event, "to go back perhaps to Tristan to find in the opera house an event so important in certain respects... more...

THE CALIFORNIA PIONEER SOCIETY. The California Pioneer Society was organized in August, 1850. The photograph of their building appears on the cover of this book, W.D.M. Howard was their first president. Among their early presidents, and prominent in the days of Forty-niners, were Samuel Branan, Thomas Larkins, Wm. D. Farewell, and James Lick—who liberally endowed it. It was organized for the purpose... more...

INTRODUCTION In the spring of 1698 the rumblings against the excesses of the English stage broke into a roar with the publication of Jeremy Collier's Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. A wild joyousness marked Collier's attack, and at times it seemed as though the zeal of the Lord had eaten him up. But he was no enthusiast without plan or reason. A man of some... more...

INTRODUCTION A decree of Pope Adrian IV., the only Englishman who has sat in the chair of St. Peter, in virtue of the professed jurisdiction of the Papacy over all islands, by a strange irony, sanctioned the invasion of Ireland by Strongbow in the reign of Henry II. Three years ago I stood in the crypt of St. Peter's in Rome, and the Englishman who was with me expatiated on the appropriate nature... more...

INTRODUCTION In a short biography the reader must expect short statements, rather than detailed arguments, and in a popular tale he will not look for embattled lists of authorities. But if he can be stirred up to search further into the matter for himself, he will find a list of authorities ancient and modern come not unacceptable to begin upon. The author has incurred so many debts of kindness in this... more...

FOREWORD At the Church Congress held this autumn at Birmingham I was honoured by an invitation to speak on “Sexual Relationships.” The subject-matter of that speech has aroused widespread interest and some controversy. It is being published in response to numerous requests and because most of the reports, being of necessity condensed, inadequately and even in some instances incorrectly set forth... more...

INTRODUCTION We first became interested in the opium traffic during a visit to the Far East in 1916. Like most Americans, we had vaguely heard of this trade, and had still vaguer recollections of a war between Great Britain and China, which took place about seventy-five years ago, known as the Opium War. From time to time we had heard of the opium trade as still flourishing in China, and then later... more...

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. For some years I have been using with success, in private and in hospital practice, certain methods of renewing the vitality of feeble people by a combination of entire rest and excessive feeding, made possible by passive exercise obtained through the steady use of massage and electricity. The cases thus treated have been chiefly women of a class well known to every... more...