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Excerpt: You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking....

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Excerpt: Good Comedies are such rare productions, that notwithstanding the wealth of our literature in the Comic element, it would not occupy us long to run over the English list. If they are brought to the test I shall propose, very reputable Comedies will be found unworthy of their station, like the ladies of Arthur?s Court when they were reduced to the ordeal of the mantle....

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Excerpt: Loves Labour?s Lost; Actus Primus -- Enter Ferdinand King of Navarre, Berowne, Longavill, and Dumane. Ferdinand. Let Fame, that all hunt after in their lives, Live registred upon our brazen Tombes, And then grace us in the disgrace of death: when spight of cormorant devouring Time, Th? endevour of this present breath may buy: That honour which shall bate his sythes keene edge, And make us heyres of all eternitie. Therefore brave Conquerours, for so you are, That warre against your owne affections, And the huge Armie of the worlds desires. Our late edict shall strongly stand in force, Navar shall be the wonder of the world. Our Court shall be a little Achademe, Still and contemplative in living Art. You three, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longavill, Have sworne for three yeeres terme, to live with me: My fellow Schollers, and to keepe those statutes That are recorded in this scedule heere. Your oathes are past, and now subscribe your names: That his owne hand may strike his honour downe, That violates the smallest branch heerein: If you are arm?d to doe, as sworne to do, Subscribe to your deepe oathes, and keepe it to. Longavill. I...

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Table of Contents: Loues Labour?s lost, 1 -- Actus primus., 1 -- Finis Actus Primus., 11 -- Actus Secunda., 12 -- Actus Tertius., 18 -- Actus Quartus., 22 -- Actus Quartus., 39...

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Excerpt: ORLANDO. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well: and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit: for my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better....

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Excerpt: Essays of Michel De Montaigne, translated by Charles Cotton, Ed. William Carew Hazilitt.

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Contents CHAPTER I OF PROFIT AND HONESTY................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II OF REPENTANCE ................................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER III OF THREE COMMERCES ................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER IV OF DIVERSION .................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER V ................................................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER VI OF COACHES ..................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER VII OF THE INCONVENIENCE OF GREATNESS ............................................ 150 CHAPTER VIII OF THE ART OF CONFERENCE ................................................................. 156 CHAPTER IX OF VANITY.......................................................................................................... 181 CHAPTER X OF MANAGING THE WILL ...................

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Excerpt: The Man Who Kept His Money in a Box by Anthony Trollope.

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Introduction: The species of publication which has come to be generally known by the title of Annual, being a miscellany of prose and verse, equipped with numerous engravings, and put forth every year about Christmas, had flourished for a long while in Germany before it was imitated in this country by an enterprising bookseller, a German by birth, Mr. Ackermann. The rapid success of his work, as is the custom of the time, gave birth to a host of rivals, and, among others, to an Annual styled The Keepsake, the first volume of which appeared in 1828, and attracted much notice, chiefly in consequence of the very uncommon splendour of its illustrative accompaniments. The expenditure which the spirited proprietors lavished on this magnificent volume is understood to have been not less than from ten to twelve thousand pounds sterling!...

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Excerpt: Dear Mafflin,--You will remember that I wrote this story as an Awful Warning. None the less you have seen fit to disregard it and have followed Gadsby?s example--as I betted you would. I acknowledge that you paid the money at once, but you have prejudiced the mind of Mrs. Mafflin against myself, for though I am almost the only respectable friend of your bachelor days, she has been darwaza band to me throughout the season. Further, she caused you to invite me to dinner at the Club, where you called me ?a wild ass of the desert,?...

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Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................... 4 POOR DEAR MAMMA .................................................................................................................. 5 THE WORLD WITHOUT............................................................................................................. 16 THE TENTS OF KEDAR.............................................................................................................. 27 WITH ANY AMAZEMENT .......................................................................................................... 39 THE GARDEN OF EDEN ............................................................................................................ 50 FATIMA........................................................................................................................................... 61 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW .............................................................................................. 75 THE SWELLING OF JORDAN.........................................

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Excerpt: As you Like it; Actus Primus -- Scoena Prima -- Enter Orlando and Adam. Orlando. As I remember Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will, but poore a thousand Crownes, and as thou saist, charged my bro-ther on his blessing to breed mee well: and there begins my sadnesse: My brother Iaques he keepes at schoole, and report speakes goldenly of his profit: for my part, he keepes me rustically at home, or (to speak more properly) staies me heere at home unkept: for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an Oxe? his horses are bred better, for besides that they are faire with their feeding, they are taught their mannage, and to that end Riders deerely hir?d: but I (his brother) gaine nothing under him but growth, for the which his Animals on his dunghils are as much bound to him as I: besides this no-thing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave mee, his countenance seemes to take from me: hee lets mee feede with his Hindes, barres mee the place of a brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it Adam that g...

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Table of Contents: As you Like it, 1 -- Actus primus. Scoena Prima., 1 -- Scoena Secunda., 4 -- Scena Tertius., 11 -- Actus Secundus. Scoena Prima., 14 -- Scena Secunda., 16 -- Scena Tertia., 16 -- Scena Quarta., 18 -- Scena Quinta., 21 -- Scena Sexta., 22 -- Scena Septima., 23 -- Actus Tertius. Scena Prima., 27 -- Scena Secunda., 28 -- Scoena Tertia., 37 -- Scoena Quarta., 39 -- Scena Quinta., 40 -- Actus Quartus. Scena Prima., 44 -- Scena Secunda., 48 -- Scoena Tertia., 49 -- Actus Quintus. Scena Prima., 53 -- Scoena Secunda., 55 -- Scoena Tertia., 57 -- Scena Quarta., 58...

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Excerpt: FIRST QUARTER; THERE are not many people --and as it is desirable that a story-teller and a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this observation neither to young people nor to little people, but extend it to all conditions of people: little and big, young and old: yet growing up, or already growing down again --there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a church. I don?t mean at sermon-time in warm weather (when the thing has actually been done, once or twice), but in the night, and alone. A great multitude of persons will be violently astonished, I know, by this position, in the broad bold Day. But it applies to Night. It must be argued by night, and I will undertake to maintain it successfully on any gusty winter?s night appointed for the purpose, with any one opponent chosen from the rest, who will meet me singly in an old church-yard, before an old church-door; and will previously empower me to lock him in, if needful to his satisfaction, until morning ......

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Table of Contents: ILLUSTRATION: TROTTY VECK., ii -- FIRST QUARTER, 1 -- THE SECOND QUARTER, 20 -- THIRD QUARTER, 36 -- FOURTH QUARTER, 52 -- ILLUSTRATION: MR. AND MRS. TUGBY., 68...

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Excerpt: In those lusty ages when the Kaisers lifted high the golden goblet of Aachen, and drank, elbow upward, the green-eyed wine of old romance, there lived, a bow-shot from the bones of the Eleven Thousand Virgins and the Three Holy Kings, a prosperous Rhinelander, by name Gottlieb Groschen, or, as it was sometimes ennobled, Gottlieb von Groschen; than whom no wealthier merchant bartered for the glory of his ancient mothercity, nor more honoured burgess swallowed impartially red juice and white under the shadow of his own fig-tree....

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Excerpt: The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth; THE PROLOGUE -- I Come no more to make you laugh, Things now, That beare a Weighty, and a Serious Brow, Sad, high, and working, full of State and Woe: Such Noble Scoenes, as draw the Eye to flow We now present. Those that can Pitty, heere May (if they thinke it well) let fall a Teare, The Subject will deserve it. Such as give Their Money out of hope they may beleeve, May heere finde Truth too....

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Table of Contents: The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight, 1 -- THE PROLOGVE., 1 -- Actus Primus. Scoena Prima., 2 -- Scena Secunda., 8 -- Scaena Tertia., 13 -- Scena Quarta., 15 -- Actus Secundus. Scena Prima., 19 -- Scena Secunda., 24 -- Scena Tertia., 27 -- Scena Quarta., 30 -- Actus Tertius. Scena Prima., 37 -- Scena Secunda., 41 -- Actus Quartus. Scena Prima., 53 -- Scena Secunda., 57 -- Actus Quintus. Scena Prima., 62 -- Scena Secunda., 67 -- Scena Tertia., 73 -- Scena Quarta., 75...

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Excerpt: Lucien had gone to Paris; and David Sechard, with the courage and intelligence of the ox which painters give the Evangelist for accompanying symbol, set himself to make the large fortune for which he had wished that evening down by the Charente, when he sat with Eve by the weir, and she gave him her hand and her heart. He wanted to make the money quickly, and less for himself than for Eve?s sake and Lucien?s....

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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: ACT I. SCENE I. King Lear?s palace. Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND. KENT: I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall. GLOUCESTER: It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either?s moiety. KENT: Is not this your son, my lord? GLOUCESTER: His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to it. KENT: I cannot conceive you....

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LEAR, King of Britain KING OF FRANCE DUKE OF BURGUNDY DUKE OF CORNWALL DUKE OF ALBANY EARL OF KENT EARL OF GLOUCESTER EDGAR: Son to Gloucester. EDMUND: bastard son to Gloucester. CURAN: a courtier. Old Man: tenant to Gloucester. Doctor Fool OSWALD: Steward to Goneril. A Captain employed by Edmund Gentleman attendant on Cordelia A Herald Servants to Cornwall GONERIL: REGAN: daughters to Lear. CORDELIA: Knights of Lear?s train, Captains, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants...

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Well, when I had been dead about thirty years I begun to get a little anxious. Mind you, had been whizzing through space all that time, like a comet. Like a comet! Why, Peters, I laid over the lot of them! Of course there weren?t any of them going my way, as a steady thing, you know, because they travel in a long circle like the loop of a lasso, whereas I was pointed as straight as a dart for the Hereafter; but I happened on one every now and then that was going my way for an hour or so, and then we had a bit of a brush together....

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Excerpt: Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief by James Fenimore Cooper.

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Excerpt: That homely proverb, used on so many occasions in England, viz. ?That what is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh,? was never more verified than in the story of my Life. Any one would think that after thirty-five years? affliction, and a variety of unhappy circumstances, which few men, if any, ever went through before, and after near seven years of peace and enjoyment in the fullness of all things; grown old, and when, if ever, it might be allowed me to have had experience of every state of middle life, and to know which was most adapted to make a man completely happy; I say, after all this, any one would have thought that the native propensity to rambling which I gave an account of in my first setting out in the world to have been so predominant in my thoughts, should be worn out, and I might, at sixty one years of age, have been a little inclined to stay at home, and have done venturing life and fortune any more....

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Excerpt: An Unprotected Female at the Pyramids by Anthony Trollope.

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Part The First. Once upon a time, it matters little when, and in stalwart England, it matters little where, a fierce battle was fought. It was fought upon a long summer day when the waving grass was green. Many a wild flower formed by the Almighty Hand to be a perfumed goblet for the dew, felt its enameled cup filled high with blood that day, and shrinking dropped. Many an insect deriving its delicate color from harmless leaves and herbs, was stained anew that day by dying men, and marked its frightened way with an unnatural track. The painted butterfly took blood into the air upon the edges of its wings. The stream ran red....