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Excerpt: The Comte De Fontaine, head of one of the oldest families in Poitou, had served the Bourbon cause with intelligence and bravery during the war in La Vendee against the Republic. After having escaped all the dangers which threatened the royalist leaders during this stormy period of modern history, he was wont to say in jest, ?I am one of the men who gave themselves to be killed on the steps of the throne.? And the pleasantry had some truth in it, as spoken by a man left for dead at the bloody battle of Les Quatre Chemins. Though ruined by confiscation, the staunch Vendeen steadily refused the lucrative posts offered to him by the Emperor Napoleon. Immovable in his aristocratic faith, he had blindly obeyed its precepts when he thought it fitting to choose a companion for life. In spite of the blandishments of a rich but revolutionary parvenu, who valued the alliance at a high figure, he married Mademoiselle de Kergarouet, without a fortune, but belonging to one of the oldest families in Brittany....

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Excerpt: That Belgium is now one of the European kingdoms, living by its own laws, resting on its own bottom, with a king and court, palaces and parliament of its own, is known to all the world. And a very nice little kingdom it is; full of old towns, fine Flemish pictures, and interesting Gothic churches. But in the memory of very many of us who do not think ourselves old men, Belgium, as it is now called--in those days it used to be Flanders and Brabant--was a part of Holland; and it obtained its own independence by a revolution. In that revolution the most important military step was the siege of Antwerp, which was defended on the part of the Dutch by General Chasse, with the utmost gallantry, but nevertheless ineffectually....

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Excerpt: ACT I. SCENE I. The king of Navarre?s park. [Enter FERDINAND king of Navarre, BIRON, LONGAVILLE and DUMAIN.] FERDINAND: Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, Live register?d upon our brazen tombs And then grace us in the disgrace of death; When, spite of cormorant devouring Time, The endeavor of this present breath may buy That honor which shall bate his scythe?s keen edge And make us heirs of all eternity. Therefore, brave conquerors,--for so you are, That war against your own affections And the huge army of the world?s desires,-- Our late edict shall strongly stand in force: Navarre shall be the wonder of the world; Our court shall be a little Academe, Still and contemplative in living art. You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville....

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Excerpt: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

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Excerpt: Why We Are at War by Woodrow Wilson.

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Excerpt: If you look at a map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand upper corner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea. They are England and Scotland, and Ireland. England and Scotland form the greater part of these Islands. Ireland is the next in size. The little neighboring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots, are chiefly little bits of Scotland, -- broken off, I dare say, in the course of a great length of time, by the power of the restless water....

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Contents CHAPTER I ANCIENT ENGLAND AND THE ROMANS......................................................... 7 CHAPTER II ANCIENT ENGLAND UNDER THE EARLY SAXONS .................................. 18 CHAPTER III ENGLAND UNDER THE GOOD SAXON, ALFRED...................................... 24 CHAPTER IV ENGLAND UNDER ATHELSTAN AND THE SIX BOY-KINGS .................. 31 CHAPTER V ENGLAND UNDER CANUTE THE DANE........................................................ 44 CHAPTER VI ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD HAREFOOT, HARDICANUTE, AND EDWARD THE CONFESSOR ....................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER VII ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD THE SECOND, AND CONQUERED BY THE NORMANS ........................................................................................................................ 55 CHAPTER VIII ENGLAND UNDER WILLIAM THE FIRST, THE NORMAN CONQUEROR..................................................................................................................... ............... 59 CHAPTER IX ENGLAND UNDER WILLIAM THE SECOND, CALLED RUFUS.............. 68 CHAPTER X ENGLAND UNDE...

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Preface: This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious belief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Christianity; it is not, indeed, Christianity at all; its core nevertheless is a profound belief in a personal and intimate God. There is nothing in its statements that need shock or offend anyone who is prepared for the expression of a faith different from and perhaps in several particulars opposed to his own. The writer will be found to be sympathetic with all sincere religious feeling....

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Excerpt: From my boyish days I had always felt a great perplexity on one point in Macbeth. It was this: the knocking at the gate, which succeeds to the murder of Duncan, produced to my feelings an effect for which I never could account. The effect was, that it reflected back upon the murder a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity; yet, however obstinately I endeavored with my understanding to comprehend this, for many years I never could see why it should produce such an effect....

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Contents On the Knocking at the Gate, in Macbeth....................................................4 On Murder, Considered as One of the Fine Arts .........................................9 LECTURE..................................................................................................... 11 Second Paper on Murder, Considered as One of the Fine Arts ...................37 Joan of Arc .....................................................................................................51 In Reference to M. Michelet?s History of France.........................................51 THE ENGLISH MAIL-COACH; ...............................................................85 GOING DOWN WITH VICTORY...........................................................104 THE VISION OF SUDDEN DEATH........................................................ 112 Dream-Fugue...............................................................................................129 On the above Theme of Sudden Death .......................................................129 Dinner, Real and Reputed ......................................................................

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Excerpt: A Reading of Life by George Meredith.

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Contents Poem: A Reading of Life?The Vital Choice .................................................................................. 5 Poem: A Reading of Life?With The Huntress .............................................................................. 6 Poem: A Reading of Life?With The Persuader ............................................................................ 7 Poem: A Reading of Life?The Test Of Manhood ....................................................................... 14 Poem: The Cageing Of Ares ........................................................................................................... 19 Poem: The Night-Walk .................................................................................................................... 22 Poem: The Hueless Love ................................................................................................................. 24 Poem: Song In The Songless .......................................................................................................... 25 Poem: Union In Disseverance .......................................................................

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Excerpt: The third section of the ?Act further to promote the efficiency of the Navy,? approved 21st of December, 1861, provides: ?That the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall have the authority to detail from the retired list of the navy for the command of squadrons and single ships such officers as he may believe that the good of the service requires to be thus placed in command; and such officers may, if upon the recommendation of the President of the United States they shall receive a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action against an enemy, be restored to the active list, and not otherwise.?...

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Excerpt: Mr. President and Gentlemen of the convention:-- If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. ?A house divided against itself cannot stand.? I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing....

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Contents SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD, JUNE 17, 1858 ............................................................................................................ 4 SPEECH AT CHICAGO, JULY 10, 1858. .................................................................................................................. 12 IN REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS ...................................................................................................................... 12 SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD, JULY 17, 1858. .......................................................................................................... 30 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ........................................................................................................................... 48 LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS ..................................................................................................................................... 48 FIRST JOINT DEBATE, AT OTTAWA, AUGUST 21, 1858 ..................................................................................... 50 SECOND JOINT DEBATE, AT FREEPORT, AUGUST 27, 1858 .....................................................

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Excerpt: The text is taken from the printed ?Sterling Edition? of Carlyle?s Complete Works, in 20 volumes, with the following modifications: The footnote (there is only one) has been embedded directly into text, in brackets, [thusly]. Greek text has been transliterated into Latin characters with the notation [Gr.] juxtaposed. Otherwise, the punctuation and spelling of the print version have been retained....

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Contents LECTURES ON HEROES ............................................................................................................... 4 THE HERO AS DIVINITY. ODIN. PAGANISM: SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY. .............. 4 LECTURE II. THE HERO AS PROPHET. MAHOMET: ISLAM............................................... 38 LECTURE III. THE HERO AS POET. DANTE: SHAKSPEARE. .............................................. 68 LECTURE IV. THE HERO AS PRIEST. LUTHER; REFORMATION: KNOX; PURITANISM. 99 LECTURE V.THE HERO AS MAN OF LETTERS. JOHNSON, ROUSSEAU, BURNS. ........ 131 LECTURE VI.THE HERO AS KING. CROMWELL, NAPOLEON: MODERN REVOLUTIONISM................................................................................................................. 165 Index ............................................................................................................................................. 206...

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Excerpt: The writer of a book which copies the manners and language of Queen Anne?s time, must not omit the Dedication to the Patron; and I ask leave to inscribe this volume to your Lordship, for the sake of the great kindness and friendship which I owe to you and yours. My volume will reach you when the Author is on his voyage to a country where your name is as well known as here. Wherever I am, I shall gratefully regard you; and shall not be the less welcomed in America because I am....

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Excerpt: I come no more to make you laugh: things now, That bear a weighty and a serious brow, Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe, Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow, We now present. Those that can pity, here May, if they think it well, let fall a tear; The subject will deserve it. Such as give Their money out of hope they may believe, May here find truth too. Those that come to see Only a show or two, and so agree The play may pass, if they be still and willing, I?ll undertake may see away their shilling Richly in two short hours. Only they That come to hear a merry bawdy play, A noise of targets, or to see a fellow In a long motley coat guarded with yellow, Will be deceived; for, gentle hearers, know, To rank our chosen truth with such a show As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring, To make that only true we now intend, Will leave us never an understanding friend....

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Excerpt: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur?s Court by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens).

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Excerpt: The Note Book of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey.

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Contents The Note Book of an English Opium-Eater ...4 THREE MEMORABLE MURDERS .............................................................................................. 4 THE TRUE RELATIONS OF THE BIBLE TO MERELY HUMAN SCIENCE...................... 54 SCHLOSSER?S LITERARY HISTORY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ...................... 60 FOX AND BURKE .................................................................................................................................................... 84 JUNIUS....................................................................................................................................................................... 87 THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES, AS REPRESENTED ON THE EDINBURGH STAGE . 98 THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY 1 ............................................................................................ 125 MILTON VERSUS SOUTHEY AND LANDOR ........................................................................ 137 FALSIFICATION OF ENGLISH HISTORY ............................................................................. 154 A PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHER...............................

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Excerpt: The law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be brother to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritable King, and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom--army, law-courts, revenue, and policy all complete. But, to-day, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go hunt it for myself....

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Excerpt: What Is Coming? A Forecast of Things after the War by H. G. Wells.

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Excerpt: To know how to sell, to be able to sell, and to sell. People generally do not suspect how much of the stateliness of Paris is due to these three aspects of the same problem. The brilliant display of shops as rich as the salons of the noblesse before 1789; the splendors of cafes which eclipse, and easily eclipse, the Versailles of our day; the shop-window illusions, new every morning, nightly destroyed; the grace and elegance of the young men that come in contact with fair customers; the piquant faces and costumes of young damsels, who cannot fail to attract the masculine customer; and (and this especially of late) the length, the vast spaces, the Babylonish luxury of galleries where shopkeepers acquire a monopoly of the trade in various articles by bringing them all together,-- all this is as nothing. Everything, so far, has been done to appeal to a single sense, and that the most exacting and jaded human faculty, a faculty developed ever since the days of the Roman Empire, until, in our own times, thanks to the efforts of the most fastidious civilization the world has yet seen, its demands are grown limitless. That faculty...

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Excerpt: The Poems of Goethe, translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring.

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Contents The Translator?s Original Dedication to the Countess Granville. ..................................................................................... 17 Original Preface. ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Preface to the Second Edition. ..................................................................................................................................... 21 The Poems of Goethe. ................................................................................................................................................... 22 Dedication. .................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Songs............................................................................................................................................................................ 26 To the Kind Reader. .................................................................................................