ACT I. The coast of Samland. The background slopes upward at right and left to wooded hills. Between them is a gorge, behind which the sea glitters. In the right foreground are graves with wooden head-boards and crosses, overgrown with shrubbery. At the left is a stout watch-tower with a door in it. Common household furniture stands about the threshold. Scene 1. Hans Lorbass seated on a grave with... more...

TRANSLATORS PREFACE When, in March, 1832, the first volume of the now famous Contes Drolatiques was published by Gosselin of Paris, Balzac, in a short preface, written in the publisher's name, replied to those attacks which he anticipated certain critics would make upon his hardy experiment. He claimed for his book the protection of all those to whom literature was dear, because it was a work of... more...

PREFACE Many years ago my friend and publisher, Mr. Charles Longman, presented me with Le Cabinet des Fées (‘The Fairy Cabinet’). This work almost requires a swinging bookcase for its accommodation, like the Encyclopædia Britannica, and in a revolving bookcase I bestowed the volumes. Circumstances of an intimately domestic character, ‘not wholly unconnected,’ as Mr. Micawber might have said,... more...

CHAPTER I BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS Down to the middle of the present century the story of Rembrandt, as generally accepted, was nothing but a mass of more or less ill-natured fiction. His drunkenness, his luxury, his immorality, his avarice, were heaped together into a somewhat inconsistent midden-heap of infamy. It was not indeed until his true rank among painters began to be properly appreciated that it... more...

THE NEW LABOR EXCHANGE AT PARIS. NEW LABOR EXCHANGE, PARIS. There will soon be inaugurated (probably about the 14th of July) a new establishment that has long been demanded by the laboring population, that is to say, a new labor exchange, the buildings of which, situated on Chateau d'Eau Street, are to succeed the provisional exchange installed in the vicinity of Le Louvre Street. The new... more...

I "John!" "Yeh!" "Don't say 'yeh,' say 'yes,' Dorothy dear." "Yes, Dorothy de——" Sir John Dene was interrupted in his apology by a napkin-ring whizzing past his left ear. "What's wrong?" he enquired, laying aside his paper and picking up the napkin-ring. "I'm trying to attract your attention," replied Lady Dene,... more...

INTRODUCTORY NOTE Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22, 1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen and Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty. In 1748 he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time was powerfully influenced by him. The most important product of this period was his tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a... more...

THE GREAT EVENTS (ERA OF POLITICAL-RELIGIOUS WARS) CHARLES F. HORNE Gazing across the broader field of universal history, one comes more and more to overlook the merely temporary, constantly shifting border lines of states, and to see Western Europe as a whole, to watch its nations as a single people guided by similar developments of the mind, impelled by similar stirrings of the heart, taking part in... more...

INTRODUCTION As a mark of sincere gratitude for all that he owes to his Country from birth, the author of "The Red Conspiracy" hereby dedicates his work to his fellow-countrymen, trusting that it will prove a bulwark of defense for our Star-Spangled Banner and constitutional form of government, now so violently assailed by disloyal American citizens, as well as by Marxian rebels from abroad who... more...

The Slow Triumph of Truth. does not fear to perform its duty and use plain language in reference to the obstructionists who hinder the acceptance of demonstrable sciences and prevent all fair investigation, while they occupy positions of influence and control in all collegiate institutions. It is not in scorn or bitterness that we should speak of this erring class, a large number of whom are the... more...