Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:24

Excerpt #1, from Tales of an Old Sea Port, by Wilfred Harold Munro

…150 Russians, and perhaps 250 Aleutians, was actively engaged in preparing to meet the rigors of the approaching season. They built log-houses, work-shops, and barracks. My friend Langsdorff was all the time ranging the woods and the shores with his fowling-piece, in quest of wild game for specimens, with which, after they had been skinned for science’s sake, my man Parker made stews of various descriptions. Being merely a sojourner at the settlement, I occupied myself in watching the labors of others, getting acquainted with the different characters and localities of the place, and learning the use and management of baidarkas. By the beginning of November the novelty of our situation had worn off; the circumscribed range of our wanderings from the village became monotonous and tiresome, and, as a number of our associates had departed for Kodiak, we began to look round for some new object of interest. The Doctor had frequently expressed a desire to become more acquainted with the Sitcha Indians, and resolved on making them a visit at their village, on the opposite side of the island, if I would accompany him, to which I readily agreed. As these were the very Indians who had recently been so roughly handled by the Russians, it was considered by the Governor and other friends to be a rather perilous adventure; but we relied a good deal on our not being…

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Excerpt #2, from The Old East Indiamen, by E. Keble Chatterton

…of voyaging to the Orient, he made the maps and journals which came back in these ships useful to subsequent navigators and of the greatest interest to merchants and others. And when he died his work was in part carried on by Samuel Purchas of Pilgrimes fame. The second of these voyages, in which Lancaster again triumphs over what many would call sheer bad luck, has been taken from a letter which was sent to the East India Company by one of its servants, and is preserved in the archives of the India Office and will be dealt with in the following chapter. But for the present we will confine our attention to the voyage of those three ships mentioned at the end of the last chapter. After leaving Devonshire the Penelope, Marchant Royall and Edward Bonaventure arrived at the Canary Isles in a fortnight, having the advantage of a fair north-east wind. Before reaching the Equator they were able to capture a Portuguese caravel bound from Lisbon for Brazil with a cargo of Portuguese merchandise consisting of 60 tuns of wine, 1200 jars of oil, about 100 jars of olives and other produce. This came as a veritable good fortune to the English ships, for the latter’s crews had already begun to be afflicted with bad health. “We had two men died before wee passed the line, and divers sicke, which tooke their sicknesse in those hote climates: for they be wonderful unholesome from 8 degrees of Northerly latitude unto the line, at that…

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Excerpt #3, from The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape, by Albert D. Richardson

…lingering look at the General’s loose, empty coat-sleeve (he lost his right arm while leading his brigade at Fair Oaks), and went away, the picture of despair. ARMY OF POTOMAC, Sunday, Dec. 21. The general tone of the army is good; far better than could be expected. There is regret for our failure, sympathy for our wounded, mourning for our honored dead; but I find little discouragement and no demoralization. This is largely owing to the splendid conduct of all our troops. The men are hopeful because there are few of the usual jealousies and heart-burnings. No one is able to say, “If this division had not broken,” or “if that regiment had done its duty, we might have won.” The concurrence of testimony is universal, that our men in every division did better than they ever did before, and made good their claim to being the best troops in the world. We have had victories without merit, but this was a defeat without dishonor. In many respects–in all respects but the failure of its vital object–the battle of Fredericksburg was the finest thing of the war. Laying the bridge, pushing the army across, after the defeat withdrawing it successfully–all were splendidly done, and redound alike to the skill of the general and the heroism of the troops….

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Excerpt #4, from The Story of King Arthur and his Knights, by Howard Pyle

…his own signet ring, and when the merchant saw it, he knew it to be the ring of the King of Britain. Wherefore, beholding these tokens of high and lordly authority, the merchant arose and stood before the King and doffed his cap. “Sir Merchant,” quoth the King, “know that I am a stranger knight in disguise in this place. Ne’theless, I may tell thee that I am a very good friend to King Leodegrance and wish him exceeding well. Thou art surely aware of how the Duke of North Umber rides continually up and down before the King’s castle, and challenges anyone within to come forth for to fight against him in behalf of the Lady Guinevere. Now I am of a mind to assay that combat mine own self, and I hope a very great deal that I shall succeed in upholding the honor of Cameliard and of bringing shame upon its enemies. “Sir Merchant, I know very well that thou hast several suits of noble armor in thy treasury, for the fame of them hath reached unto mine ears though I dwell a considerable distance from this place. Wherefore I desire that thou shalt provide me in the best manner that thou art able to do, so that I may straightway assay a bout of arms with that Duke of North Umber. Moreover, I do pledge thee my knightly word that thou shalt be fully recompensed for the best suit of armor that thou canst let me have, and that in a very little while.”…

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Excerpt #5, from The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt

…Americans. Cooper, as usual, praises all concerned; but in this instance not with very good judgment. He says the line-of-battle was highly judicious, but this may be doubted. The weather was peculiarly suitable for the gun-boats, with their long, heavy guns; and yet the line-of-battle was so arranged as to keep them in the rear and let the brunt of the assault fall on the Lawrence, with her short carronades. Cooper again praises Perry for steering for the head of the enemy’s line, but he could hardly have done any thing else. In this battle the firing seems to have been equally skilful on both sides, the Detroit’s long guns being peculiarly well served; but the British captains manoeuvred better than their foes at first, and supported one another better, so that the disparity in damage done on each side was not equal to the disparity in force. The chief merit of the American commander and his followers was indomitable courage, and determination not to be beaten. This is no slight merit; but it may well be doubted if it would have ensured victory had Barclay’s force been as strong as Perry’s. Perry made a headlong attack; his superior force, whether through his fault or his misfortune can hardly be said, being brought into action in such a manner that the head of the line was crushed by the inferior force opposed. Being literally hammered out of his own ship, Perry brought…

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Excerpt #6, from The Pirates Own Book, by Charles Ellms

…Capt. Gilbert ascended the scaffold, he passed over to where the apparently lifeless Boyga was seated in the chair, and kissed him. Addressing his followers, he said, “Boys, we are going to die; but let us be firm, for we are innocent.” To Mr. Peyton, the interpreter, he said, “I die innocent, but I’ll die like a noble Spaniard. Good bye, brother.” The Marshal having read the warrant for their execution, and stated that de Soto was respited sixty and Ruiz thirty days, the ropes were adjusted round the necks of the prisoners, and a slight hectic flush spread over the countenance of each; but not an eye quailed, nor a limb trembled, not a muscle quivered. The fatal cord was now cut, and the platform fell, by which the prisoners were launched into eternity. After the execution was over, Ruiz, who was confined in his cell, attracted considerable attention, by his maniac shouts and singing. At one time holding up a piece of blanket, stained with Boyga’s blood, he gave utterance to his ravings in a sort of recitative, the burden of which was–“This is the red flag my companions died under!” After the expiration of Ruiz’ second respite, the Marshal got two surgeons of the United States Navy, who understood the Spanish language, to attend him in his cell; they, after a patient examination pronounced his madness a counterfeit, and his insanity a hoax. Accordingly, on the morning of Sept. 11th, the Marshal, in company with a Catholic priest…

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Excerpt #7, from Dracula, by Bram Stoker

…great harmony of nature’s silence. A little after midnight came a strange sound from over the sea, and high overhead the air began to carry a strange, faint, hollow booming. Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which, at the time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible to realize, the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed. The waves rose in growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till in a very few minutes the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. White-crested waves beat madly on the level sands and rushed up the shelving cliffs; others broke over the piers, and with their spume swept the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise from the end of either pier of Whitby Harbour. The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary to clear the entire piers from the mass of onlookers, or else the fatalities of the night would have been increased manifold. To add to the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came drifting inland–white, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly fashion, so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and many…

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Excerpt #8, from The Fifth Ace, by Isabel Ostrander

…The letters before her, in the same angular heavily down-stroked writing she knew so well, formed the name of Gentleman Geoff, but a word had been added; one that she had never seen or heard before. Abercrombie! Gentleman Geoff Abercrombie! Had that been indeed the unmentioned surname of the man who had reared her as his own? Why, then, had he, who had given her all else, not given her, too, the name to bear? The document set forth in brief that Frank Hillery, being of sound mind and sole guardian of his daughter, Louise Frances, did give her to Geoffrey Abercrombie, known as “Gentleman Geoff,” for absolute adoption; the said Gentleman Geoff promising to bring her up in all ways as his own child and to leave her whatever he might die possessed of. It was dated March 12, 1902. “You will permit me to have photographic copies of each of these papers, Mr. North?” Willa asked, when the last had been laid aside. “Certainly, my child.” The attorney’s voice was suspiciously husky. “Allow me to assure you that there will be no hurry, of course. It will take some weeks to verify and substantiate this evidence, and in the meantime—-” “Willa shall remain with us, of course,” Ripley Halstead said with deep feeling. "This is a most unwelcome revelation to me, I may say to all of…

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Excerpt #9, from The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli

…Negli italici cuor non e ancor morto. Virtue against fury shall advance the fight, And it i’ th’ combat soon shall put to flight: For the old Roman valour is not dead, Nor in th’ Italians’ brests extinguished. Edward Dacre, 1640. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODS ADOPTED BY THE DUKE VALENTINO WHEN MURDERING VITELLOZZO VITELLI, OLIVEROTTO DA FERMO, THE SIGNOR PAGOLO, AND THE DUKE DI GRAVINA ORSINI BY NICOLO MACHIAVELLI The Duke Valentino had returned from Lombardy, where he had been to clear himself with the King of France from the calumnies which had been raised against him by the Florentines concerning the rebellion of Arezzo and other towns in the Val di Chiana, and had arrived at Imola, whence he intended with his army to enter upon the campaign against Giovanni Bentivogli, the tyrant of Bologna: for he intended to bring that city under his domination, and to make it the head of his Romagnian duchy. These matters coming to the knowledge of the Vitelli and Orsini and their following, it appeared to them that the duke would become too powerful, and it was feared that, having seized Bologna, he would seek…

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Excerpt #10, from A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, by Thomas Wilhelm

…Or potatoes 53.8 „ 70.5 „ Salt .87 ounce .87 ounce. Coffee .468 „ .468 „ 26.57 oz. of anhydrous food. 28.26 oz. of anhydrous food. War Ration. Bread 26.5 ounces. Or biscuit 17. „ One { Fresh beef 13. „ of { Salt beef 9. „ these. { Bacon 5.75 „ Rice 4.4 „ One { Groats 4.4 „ of { Beans 8.8 „ these. { Flour 8.8 „ Potatoes 50. „ Salt 8.7 „ Coffee, pure .7 ounce. Coffee, roasted 1. „ 40.2 ounces anhydrous food. RUSSIA. 169 Fast Days….

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Excerpt #11, from Classic French Course in English, by William Cleaver Wilkinson

…Gibbon’s habitual pomp of expression, it was once wittily said that nobody could possibly tell the truth in such a style as that. It would be equally near the mark if we should say of Corneille’s chosen mould of verse, that nobody could possibly be simple and natural in that. Molière’s comedy, however, would almost confute us. Pierre Corneille was born in Rouen. He studied law, and he was admitted to practice as an advocate, like Molière; but, like Molière, he heard and he heeded an inward voice summoning him away from the bar to the stage. Corneille did not, however, like Molière, tread the boards as an actor. He had a lively sense of personal dignity. He was eminently the “lofty, grave tragedian,” in his own esteem. “But I am Pierre Corneille notwithstanding,” he self-respectingly said once, when friends were regretting to him some deficiency of grace in his personal carriage. One can imagine him taking off his hat to himself with unaffected deference. But this serious genius began dramatic composition with writing comedy. He made several experiments in this kind with no commanding success; but at thirty he wrote the tragedy of “The Cid,” and instantly became famous. His subsequent plays were chiefly on classical subjects. The subject of “The Cid” was drawn from Spanish literature. This was emphatically what has been called an “epoch-making” production. Richelieu’s “Academy,” at the instigation, indeed almost under the…

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Excerpt #12, from English Literature, by William J. Long

…included in the story of literature. The one book for which he is famous is called Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth (1651). It is partly political, partly a philosophical book, combining two central ideas which challenge and startle the attention, namely, that self-interest is the only guiding power of humanity, and that blind submission to rulers is the only true basis of government.[179] In a word, Hobbes reduced human nature to its purely animal aspects, and then asserted confidently that there was nothing more to study. Certainly, therefore, as a reflection of the underlying spirit of Charles and his followers it has no equal in any purely literary work of the time. John Locke (1632-1704) is famous as the author of a single great philosophical work, the Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690). This is a study of the nature of the human mind and of the origin of ideas, which, far more than the work of Bacon and Hobbes, is the basis upon which English philosophy has since been built. Aside from their subjects, both works are models of the new prose, direct, simple, convincing, for which Dryden and the Royal Society labored. They are known to every student of philosophy, but are seldom included in a work of literature.[180] EVELYN AND PEPYS. These two men, John Evelyn (1620-1706) and Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), are famous as the writers of diaries, in which they jotted down the daily occurrences of their own lives, without any thought that the…

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