Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:21

Excerpt #1, from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete, by Suetonius

…custom, and now nowhere observed, except in his own family, which was, to have his freedmen and slaves appear in a body before him twice a day, morning and evening, to offer him their salutations. V. Amongst other liberal studies, he applied himself to the law. He married Lepida [653], by whom he had two sons; but the mother and children all dying, he continued a widower; nor could he be prevailed upon to marry again, not even Agrippina herself, at that time left a widow by the death of Domitius, who had employed all her blandishments to allure him to her embraces, while he was a married man; insomuch that Lepida’s mother, when in company with several married women, rebuked her for it, and even went so far as to cuff her. Most of all, he courted the empress Livia [654], by whose favour, while she was living, he made a considerable figure, and narrowly missed being enriched by the will which she left at her death; in which she distinguished him from the rest of the (404) legatees, by a legacy of fifty millions of sesterces. But because the sum was expressed in figures, and not in words at length, it was reduced by her heir, Tiberius, to five hundred thousand: and even this he never received. [655] VI. Filling the great offices before the age required for it by law, during his praetorship, at the celebration of games in honour of the goddess Flora, he presented the new spectacle of elephants walking upon…

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Excerpt #2, from Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

…their own devices or sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down by tyranny to servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, that after youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife amuses herself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is to be expected in any country where taste and cultivation of mind do not supply the place of youthful beauty and animal spirits? Affection requires a firmer foundation than sympathy, and few people have a principle of action sufficiently stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all the arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more under the direction of principle than weak people are willing to allow. But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at an inn in Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are not yet ready, I will give you a short account of my journey from Gothenburg, for I set out the morning after I returned from Trolhættæ. The country during the first day’s journey presented a most barren appearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on a diminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn in Falckersberg, a decent little town. The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea every now and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not avoid…

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Excerpt #3, from Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, by Lewis Carroll

…tried hedges," the pigeon went on without attending to her, “but them serpents! There’s no pleasing ’em!” Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in saying anything till the pigeon had finished. “As if it wasn’t trouble enough hatching the eggs!” said the pigeon, “without being on the look out for serpents, day and night! Why, I haven’t had a wink of sleep these three weeks!” “I’m very sorry you’ve been annoyed,” said Alice, beginning to see its meaning. “And just as I’d taken the highest tree in the wood,” said the pigeon raising its voice to a shriek, “and was just thinking I was free of ’em at last, they must needs come down from the sky! Ugh! Serpent!” “But I’m not a serpent,” said Alice, “I’m a–I’m a–” “Well! What are you?” said the pigeon, “I see you’re trying to invent something.” “I–I’m a little girl,” said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through. “A likely story indeed!” said the pigeon, "I’ve seen a good many of them in my time, but never one with such a neck as yours! No, you’re a serpent, I know that well enough! I suppose you’ll tell…

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Excerpt #4, from The Influence of the Stars: A book of old world lore, by Rosa Baughan

…influence of Jupiter. Long fingers, knotty at the joints and with square tips, show reasoning power and taste for science. Persons with these fingers are always in harmony with progress and have little or no veneration and are, therefore, never stirred by associations; with the antiquity of Catholicism, its mystical and somewhat sensuous worship, its celibate priesthood and golden aureole of saints and martyrs, persons having these fingers have no sympathy. If they belong to any fixed creed (and their logical powers are rather against this) they prefer Protestantism–or its offshoot, Dissent–where their real deity, Reason, is permitted full sway. These people love–with all the force of their nature–the study of history, jurisprudence, mathematics and the exact sciences. They are naturally clever at calculation and have much sense of order. Such fingers show the influence of Saturn, but not when most dignified; Saturn when most exalted gives mysticism, but then the fingers are not knotted at the joints and the tips are always spatulated. Fingers that are shorter than the palm and with spatulated tips, show sensuality in love and materialism in all things, energy, love of field sports and indomitable courage. Such fingers indicate the influence of Mars at birth….

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Excerpt #5, from The American Diary of a Japanese Girl, by Yoné Noguchi

…23rd—A letter from my father arrived. “O Papa, please don’t! I am tired of such a dirty conference.” I scoffed. I tore the paper into shreds. “What a sullen lady! What did Otto San write? Marriage proposal, I reckon!” my uncle intruded. “Papa threatened me with a list of suitors. He cried, ‘Chance, chance!’ like the gate-man of an ennichi show. Pray grant me for once in my life, Uncle, to say: ‘The marriage lottery go to the dogs!’ How many Jap girls kill themselves from the burden of such a glued union, do you suppose?” “Then, ‘free marriage’?” “Of course!” “It’s very beautiful, Miss Morning Glory.” “Why not?” “You are Japanese, aren’t you?” “Did you ever think I was a Meriken jin?” “Well, then, how did you come to know young men in a country where familiarity with one is regarded as a crime for a girl?” “Things all wrong in Nippon, Uncle!” “I am sorry you were born a Jap.” “I’ll never go back to Japan, I think. The dictionary for Jap girls…

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Excerpt #6, from A Tall Ship, by Bartimeus

…over the desk ticked out the deliberate seconds. A cat, curled up by the window, rose, stretching itself, and yawned. “. . . Prepare to mobilise. All officers and men are recalled from leave. Detailed orders will follow. Right. Good-bye.” He replaced the receiver and rang off. Then, still masticating, he executed a species of solemn war-dance in the middle of the floor. “Crikey!” he said aloud. “That means war, that do! Bloody war!” He snatched up a telescope and ran outside, still talking aloud to himself after the manner of men who live much alone. “I see a bloke an’ ‘is young woman along there this afternoon. I’d ha’ said he was a naval orficer if anyone was to ask me.” He scanned the hills through his glass for a moment, and then set off along the track that skirted the edge of the cliffs. Margaret saw him first, a broad, blue-clad figure, threading his way among the furze bushes. “And you won’t be unhappy, will you, Trevor?” she was saying. “You will understand, you—-” She broke off to watch the coastguard hurrying towards them. “Does that sailor want to speak to us, do you think? He seems in a great hurry.” Torps stood at her side staring. The coastguard drew near, wiping his face with a vast blue and white spotted handkerchief, for he had been running. “Beg pardon, sir,” he…

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Excerpt #7, from A Floating City, and The Blockade Runners, by Jules Verne

…British seas; there was not a ship in sight; the great Ocean route was free; besides no ship of the Federal marine would have a right to attack her beneath the English flag. Followed she might be, and prevented from forcing the blockade, and precisely for this reason had James Playfair sacrificed everything to the speed of his ship, in order not to be pursued. Howbeit a careful watch was kept on board, and in spite of the extreme cold a man was always in the rigging ready to signal the smallest sail that appeared on the horizon. When evening came, Captain James gave the most precise orders to Mr. Mathew. “Don’t leave the man on watch too long in the rigging, the cold may seize him, and in that case it is impossible to keep a good look-out; change your men often.” “I understand, Captain,” replied Mr. Mathew. “Try Crockston for that work; the fellow pretends to have excellent sight; it must be put to trial; put him on the morning watch, he will have the morning mists to see through. If anything particular happens call me.” This said, James Playfair went to his cabin. Mr. Mathew called Crockston, and told him the Captain’s orders. “To-morrow, at six o’clock,” said he, “you are to relieve watch of the…

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Excerpt #8, from The Grand Babylon Hôtel, by Arnold Bennett

…I right in assuming that you have a reason for keeping the police out of this business, if it can possibly be done?’ ‘Yes,’ said the Prince, and his brow clouded. ‘I am very much afraid that my poor nephew has involved himself in some scrape that he would wish not to be divulged.’ ‘Then you do not believe that he is the victim of foul play?’ ‘I do not.’ ‘And the reason, if I may ask it?’ ‘Mr Racksole, we speak in confidence–is it not so? Some years ago my foolish nephew had an affair–an affair with a feminine star of the Berlin stage. For anything I know, the lady may have been the very pattern of her sex, but where a reigning Prince is concerned scandal cannot be avoided in such a matter. I had thought that the affair was quite at an end, since my nephew’s betrothal to Princess Anna of Eckstein-Schwartzburg is shortly to be announced. But yesterday I saw the lady to whom I have referred driving on the Digue. The coincidence of her presence here with my nephew’s disappearance is too extraordinary to be disregarded.’ ‘But how does this theory square with the murder of Reginald Dimmock?’ ‘It does not square with it. My idea is that the murder of poor Dimmock and the disappearance of my nephew are entirely unconnected–unless,…

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Excerpt #9, from Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2, by William Patten

…gossiper extant. Where will you find, in or out of literature, such another droll, delightful, chatty busybody as Samuel Pepys, Esq., Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of those fortunate gentlemen Charles II and James II of England? He is the king of tattlers, as Shakespeare is the king of poets. If it came to a matter of pure gossip, I would back Our Club against the Sorosis or any women’s club in existence. Whenever you see in your drawing-room four or five young fellows lounging in easy chairs, cigar in hand, and now and then bringing their heads together over the small round Japanese table which is always the pivot of these social circles, you may be sure that they are discussing Tom’s engagement, or Dick’s extravagance, or Harry’s hopeless passion for the younger Miss Fleurdelys. It is here old Tippleton gets execrated for that everlasting bon mot of his which was quite a success at dinner-parties forty years ago; it is here the belle of the season passes under the scalpels of merciless young surgeons; it is here B’s financial condition is handled in a way that would make B’s hair stand on end; it is here, in short, that everything is canvassed–everything that happens in our set, I mean–much that never happens, and a great deal that could not possibly happen. It was at Our Club that I learned the particulars of the Van Twiller affair….

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Excerpt #10, from Simple Sabotage Field Manual, by United States. Office of Strategic Services

…though unseen, group of saboteurs operating against the enemy or the government of his own country and elsewhere. This can be conveyed indirectly: suggestions which he reads and hears can include observations that a particular technique has been successful in this or that district. Even if the technique is not applicable to his surroundings, another’s success will encourage him to attempt similar acts. It also can be conveyed directly: statements praising the effectiveness of simple sabotage can be contrived which will be published by white radio, freedom stations, and the subversive press. Estimates of the proportion of the population engaged in sabotage can be disseminated. Instances of successful sabotage already are being broadcast by white radio and freedom stations, and this should be continued and expanded where compatible with security. (c) More important than (a) or (b) would be to create a situation in which the citizen-saboteur acquires a sense of responsibility and begins to educate others in simple sabotage. (2) Encouraging Destructiveness It should be pointed out to the saboteur where the circumstances are suitable, that he is acting in self-defense against the enemy, or retaliating against the enemy for other acts of destruction. A reasonable amount of humor in the presentation of suggestions for…

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Excerpt #11, from History for ready reference, Volume 3 (of 6), Greece to Nibelungen, by J. N. Larned

…French in Hindostan at the beginning of the war had made all direct competition between the two nations in that country impossible, but it was still in the power of the French to stimulate the hostility of the native princes, and the ablest of all these, Hyder Ali, the great ruler of Mysore, was once more in the field. Since his triumph over the English, in 1769, he had acquired much additional territory from the Mahrattas. He had immensely strengthened his military forces, both in numbers and discipline. … For some years he showed no wish to quarrel with the English, but when a Mahratta chief invaded his territory they refused to give him the assistance they were bound by the express terms of the treaty of 1769 to afford, they rejected or evaded more than one subsequent proposal of alliance, and they pursued a native policy in some instances hostile to his interest. {1725} As a great native sovereign, too, he had no wish to see the balance of power established by the rivalry between the British and French destroyed. … Mysore was swarming with French adventurers. The condition of Europe made it scarcely possible that England could send any fresh forces, and Hyder…

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Excerpt #12, from The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing, by Joseph Triemens

…following affords an amusing illustration of this class of error: A venerable matron was speaking of her son, who, she said, was quite stage-struck: “In fact,” remarked the old lady, “he is going to a premature performance this evening!” Considering that most amateur performances are premature, it cannot be said that this word was altogether misapplied, though, evidently, the maternal intention was to convey quite another meaning. Other errors arise from the substitution of sounds similar to the words which should be employed; that is, spurious words instead of genuine ones. Thus, some people say “renumerative,” when they mean “remunerative.” A nurse, recommending her mistress to have a perambulator for her child, advised her to purchase a preamputator! Other errors are occasioned by imperfect knowledge of English grammar; thus, many people say, “Between you and I,” instead of “Between you and me.” And there are numerous other departures from the rules of grammar, which will be pointed out hereafter. Misuse of the Adjective–“What beautiful butter!” “What a nice landscape!” They should say, “What a beautiful landscape!” “What nice butter!” Again, errors are frequently occasioned by the following causes: Mispronunciation of Words–Many persons say pronoun-ciation instead of…

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