Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:16

Excerpt #1, from English Literature, by William J. Long

…pleasure consists in two things, catching birds and throwing snowballs, and begs for the weather to be such that he can always do both. Jupiter decides that he will do just as he pleases about the weather, and everybody goes home satisfied. All these early plays were written, for the most part, in a mingling of prose and wretched doggerel, and add nothing to our literature. Their great work was to train actors, to keep alive the dramatic spirit, and to prepare the way for the true drama. 3. THE ARTISTIC PERIOD OF THE DRAMA. The artistic is the final stage in the development of the English drama. It differs radically from the other two in that its chief purpose is not to point a moral but to represent human life as it is. The artistic drama may have purpose, no less than the Miracle play, but the motive is always subordinate to the chief end of representing life itself. The first true play in English, with a regular plot, divided into acts and scenes, is probably the comedy, “Ralph Royster Doyster.” It was written by Nicholas Udall, master of Eton, and later of Westminster school, and was first acted by his schoolboys some time before 1556. The story is that of a conceited fop in love with a widow, who is already engaged to another man. The play is an adaptation of the Miles Gloriosus, a classic comedy by Plautus, and the English characters are more or less artificial; but as…

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Excerpt #2, from David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens

…listened to her, and then said: ‘Let you stay with your uncle? Why, you doen’t mean to ask me that! Stay with your uncle, Moppet? When your husband that’ll be so soon, is here fur to take you home? Now a person wouldn’t think it, fur to see this little thing alongside a rough-weather chap like me,’ said Mr. Peggotty, looking round at both of us, with infinite pride; ‘but the sea ain’t more salt in it than she has fondness in her for her uncle–a foolish little Em’ly!’ ‘Em’ly’s in the right in that, Mas’r Davy!’ said Ham. ‘Lookee here! As Em’ly wishes of it, and as she’s hurried and frightened, like, besides, I’ll leave her till morning. Let me stay too!’ ‘No, no,’ said Mr. Peggotty. ‘You doen’t ought–a married man like you–or what’s as good–to take and hull away a day’s work. And you doen’t ought to watch and work both. That won’t do. You go home and turn in. You ain’t afeerd of Em’ly not being took good care on, I know.’ Ham yielded to this persuasion, and took his hat to go. Even when he kissed her–and I never saw him approach her, but I felt that nature had given him the soul of a gentleman–she seemed to cling closer to her uncle, even to the avoidance of her chosen husband. I shut the door after him, that it might cause no disturbance of the quiet that prevailed; and when I turned back, I found Mr. Peggotty still talking to…

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Excerpt #3, from The Intrusion of Jimmy, by P. G. Wodehouse

…Molly gave his arm a squeeze. Her eyes were wet. “Father, dear,” she whispered, “I believe you’ve been doing it all for me. You’ve been slaving away for me ever since I was born, stinting yourself and saving money just so that I could have a good time later on.” “No, no!” “It’s true,” she said. She turned on him with a tremulous laugh. “I don’t believe you’ve had enough to eat for years. I believe you’re all skin and bone. Never mind. To-morrow, I’ll take you out and buy you the best dinner you’ve ever had, out of my own money. We’ll go to Sherry’s, and you shall start at the top of the menu, and go straight down it till you’ve had enough.” “That will make up for everything. And, now, don’t you think you ought to be going to bed? You’ll be losing all that color you got on the ship.” “Soon–not just yet. I haven’t seen you for such ages!” She pointed at the bull-terrier. “Look at Tommy, standing there and staring. He can’t believe I’ve really come back. Father, there was a man on the Lusitania with eyes exactly like Tommy’s–all brown and bright–and he used to stand and stare just like Tommy’s doing.” “If I had been there,” said her father wrathfully, "I’d have knocked…

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Excerpt #4, from History for ready reference, Volume 3 (of 6), Greece to Nibelungen, by J. N. Larned

…volume 2, page 200._ COMMON LAW: A. D. 1499 (circa). Copyright. "From about the period of the introduction of printing into this country, that is to say, towards the end of the fifteenth century, English authors had, in accordance with the opinion of the best legal authorities, a right to the Copyright in their works, according to the Common Law of the Realm, or a right to their ‘copy’ as it was anciently called, but there is no direct evidence of the right until 1558. The Charter of the Stationers’ Company, which to this day is charged with the Registration of Copyright, was granted by Philip and Mary in 1556. The avowed object of this corporation was to prevent the spread of the Reformation. Then there followed the despotic jurisdiction of the Star Chamber over the publication of books, and the Ordinances and the Licensing Act of Charles II. At the commencement of the 18th century there was no statutory protection of Copyright. Unrestricted piracy was rife. The existing remedies of a bill in equity and an action at law were too cumbrous and expensive to protect the authors’ Common Law rights, and authors petitioned Parliament for speedier and…

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Excerpt #5, from Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

…[Within.] Let me go in to see the generals, There is some grudge between ’em; ’tis not meet They be alone. LUCILIUS. [Within.] You shall not come to them. POET. [Within.] Nothing but death shall stay me. CASSIUS. How now! What’s the matter? POET. For shame, you generals! What do you mean? Love, and be friends, as two such men should be; For I have seen more years, I’m sure, than ye. CASSIUS. Ha, ha! How vilely doth this cynic rhyme! BRUTUS. Get you hence, sirrah. Saucy fellow, hence! CASSIUS. Bear with him, Brutus; ’tis his fashion. BRUTUS. I’ll know his humour when he knows his time….

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Excerpt #6, from The Republic of Plato, by Plato

…with strict orders to prevent any embryo which may come into being from seeing the light; and if any force a way to the birth, the parents must understand that the offspring of such an union cannot be maintained, and arrange accordingly. That also, he said, is a reasonable proposition. But how 461D will they know who are fathers and daughters, and so on? They will never know. The way will be this:–dating from the day of the hymeneal, the bridegroom who was then married will call all the male children who are born in the seventh and tenth month afterwards his sons, and the female children his daughters, and they will call him father, and he will call their children his grandchildren, and they {156} will call the elder generation grandfathers and grandmothers. All who were begotten at the time when their fathers and mothers came together will be called their brothers and 461E sisters, and these, as I was saying, will be forbidden to inter-marry. This, however, is not to be understood as an absolute prohibition of the marriage of brothers and sisters; if the lot favours them, and they receive the sanction of the Pythian oracle, the law will allow them. Quite right, he replied. Such is the scheme, Glaucon, according to which the guardians of our State are to have their wives and families in common. And now you would have the…

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Excerpt #7, from The Astral Plane, by C. W. Leadbeater

…history, and to do that we must once more look back to the great Atlantean race. In thinking of the Adepts and schools of occultism of that remarkable people our minds instinctively revert to the evil practices of which we hear so much in connection with their latter days; but we must not forget that before that age of selfishness and degradation the mighty civilization of Atlantis had brought forth much that was noble and worthy of admiration, and that among its leaders were some who now stand upon the loftiest pinnacles as yet attained by man. Among the lodges for occult study preliminary to initiation formed by the Adepts of the good Law was one in a certain part of America which was then tributary to one of the great Atlantean monarchs–“the Divine Rulers of the Golden Gate”; and though it has passed through many and strange vicissitudes, though it has had to move its headquarters from country to country as each in turn was invaded by the jarring elements of a later civilization, that lodge still exists even at the present day, observing still the same old-world ritual even teaching as a sacred and hidden language the same Atlantean tongue which was used at its foundation so many thousands of years ago. It still remains what it was from the first–a lodge of occultists of pure and philanthropic aims, which can lead those students whom it finds worthy no inconsiderable distance on the…

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Excerpt #8, from Everybody’s Book of Luck, by Anonymous

…the disc bearing the lucky symbols. Count up the numbers shown in this space and consult the lists below. Whatever message is attached to your number, so is your fate. It is well to remember that if any part of a projection comes within the disc-space, its particular number counts, whether it can be seen or not. The fact that the projection is visible is what matters. You can consult the discs on love, marriage or fortune, but you must decide which you are engaging before the discs are rotated. [Illustration: No. 34.–The Discs of Fate.] Love Answers 1.–Do not be cold. More affection will help on your cause. 2.–Take no thought of interfering relatives. Make up your own mind. 3.–A proposal is not far distant. Give it very careful consideration. 4.–A quarrel, followed by a speedy reconciliation, is predicted. 5.–A misunderstanding will cause a good deal of dissatisfaction; but all’s well that ends well. 6.–A pleasant adventure will be experienced by you within the next twelve months. 7.–You are more successful than, apparently, you imagine. 8.–Make up your mind which one you want. There is danger ahead if you keep more than one hanging to your apron strings….

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Excerpt #9, from The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley

…the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into the sea, and was changed into a dolphin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the waves for ever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast. But the people drove out King Athamas, because he had killed his child; and he roamed about in his misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi. And the Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin, till the wild beasts should feast him as their guest. So he went on in hunger and sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled, and built a town, and became a king again. But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he came to the Thracian Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So those narrow straits are called ‘Hellespont,’ after her; and they bear that name until this day. Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the north-east across the sea which we call the Black Sea now; but the Hellens call it Euxine. And at last, they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast; and there Phrixus married Chalciope, the daughter of Aietes the king; and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Aietes nailed the ram’s fleece to a beech, in…

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Excerpt #10, from Robot nemesis, by E. E. Smith

…the private study of Alan Martin, finding the hollow-eyed admiral of the Earth space-fleet still fiercely at work. “How did you get in here, past my guards?” Martin demanded sharply of his scholarly, gray-haired visitor. “Your guards have not been harmed; I have merely caused them to fall asleep,” the physicist replied calmly, glancing at a complex instrument upon his wrist. “Since my business with you, while highly important, is not of a nature to be divulged to secretaries, I was compelled to adopt this method of approach. You, Admiral Martin, are the most widely known of all the enemies of the automatons. What, if anything, have you done to guard the Fleet against them?” “Why, nothing, since they have all been destroyed.” “Nonsense! You should know better than that, without being told. They merely want you to think that they have all been destroyed.” “What? How do you know that?” Martin shouted. “Did you kill them? Or do you know who did, and how it was done?” “I did not,” the visitor replied, categorically. "I do know who did–a Russian named Narodny. I also know how–by means of sonic and super-sonic vibrations. I know that many of them were uninjured because I heard them broadcasting their calls for attention after the damage was all done. Before they made any definite arrangements,…

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Excerpt #11, from The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

…turned over the pages, his eye fell on the poem about the hand of Lacenaire, the cold yellow hand “du supplice encore mal lavée,” with its downy red hairs and its “doigts de faune.” He glanced at his own white taper fingers, shuddering slightly in spite of himself, and passed on, till he came to those lovely stanzas upon Venice: Sur une gamme chromatique, Le sein de perles ruisselant, La Vénus de l’Adriatique Sort de l’eau son corps rose et blanc. Les dômes, sur l’azur des ondes Suivant la phrase au pur contour, S’enflent comme des gorges rondes Que soulève un soupir d’amour. L’esquif aborde et me dépose, Jetant son amarre au pilier, Devant une façade rose, Sur le marbre d’un escalier. How exquisite they were! As one read them, one seemed to be floating down the green water-ways of the pink and pearl city, seated in a black gondola with silver prow and trailing curtains. The mere lines looked to him like those straight lines of turquoise-blue that follow one as…

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Excerpt #12, from Derelicts: An Account of Ships Lost at Sea in General Commercial Traffic, by Sprunt

…Radio San Juan, and the U.S.S. Albert: March 22, 1918. “U.S.S. Cyclops sailed from Barbados March 4 for Baltimore. Now about ten days overdue. Endeavor communicate Cyclops by radio and ascertain location and condition.” The following day the Navy Department sent a similar message to the commander of Squadron I, Patrol Force, Atlantic fleet. On March 24 the station at Charleston, S.C., reported that at intervals for twenty-three hours messages by radio had been sent in an endeavor to locate the Cyclops, but without success. Commander Belknap directed that calls be continued, and on March 26 the Navy Department sent the following message to the Governor of the Virgin Islands: “U.S.S. Cyclops sailed from Barbados March 4 for Baltimore. Has not yet arrived. Have you any information regarding this vessel passing St. Thomas?” The reply was “No information regarding U.S. S. Cyclops.” Every station within radio communication of her route and every ship within call during the time of her passage, including foreign ships, was asked for any fragment of information. The search was continued as long as it seemed possible to gain news of her, but nothing definite was ever heard. The only suggestion of how she may have been lost is…

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