Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:27

Excerpt #1, from History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year

…rapidity and vigour of the troops, their spirit should be excited by continual enterprize, and nourished by commendation and rewards. Now Macdonald, if we may believe Vacani, an eye-witness, did neither gain the confidence of his soldiers, nor cherish their ardour; and while he exacted a more rigid discipline, than the composition of his troops and the nature of the war would bear, he let pass many important opportunities of crushing his enemies in the field. His intent was to reduce the ferocious and insubordinate disposition of his men, but the peculiar state of feeling with respect to the war on both sides, did not permit this, and hence his marches appeared rather as processions and ceremonies than warlike operations. He won no town, struck no important blow in the field, gave no turn to the public feeling, and lost a most important fortress, which, with infinite pains and trouble, he could scarcely regain. The plans of all the French generals had been different. St. Cyr used to remain quiet, until the Spaniards gathered in such numbers that he could crush them in general battles; but then he lost all the fruit of his success by his inactivity afterwards. Augereau neither fought battles nor made excursions with skill, nor fulfilled the political hopes which he had excited. Macdonald was in constant movement, but he avoided battles; although in every previous important attack the…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley

…standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and cried—‘O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!’ ‘It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all these seas in vain.’ Then both the princesses besought him; but Jason said, ‘It is too late.’ ‘But you know not,’ said Medeia, ‘what he must do who would win the fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring flame; and with them he must plough ere nightfall four acres in the field of Ares; and he must sow them with serpents’ teeth, of which each tooth springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer them, for the fleece is guarded by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his body you must step if you would reach the golden fleece.’ Then Jason laughed bitterly. ‘Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I will attempt it ere another sun be set.’ Then Medeia trembled, and said, ‘No mortal man can reach that fleece unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty gates of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with golden battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from Mental Radio, by Upton Sinclair

…giving him a clue. Did we unconsciously make in our throats some faint pronunciation of words, and did the young man have a super-acuity of hearing? Again, you see, the worm of doubt, and we never could quite decide what we really believed about this performance. After puzzling over it for a year or more, my wife said: “There is only one way to be certain. I am going to learn to do these things myself!” This young man, whom I will call Jan, was a peculiar person. Sometimes he would be open and frank, and again he would be mysterious and secretive. At one time he would agree to teach us all he knew, and again he would hold on to his arts, which he had had to go all the way to India to get. Was it that he considered these forces too dangerous for amateurs to play with? Or was it merely that he was considering his means of livelihood? Jan was a hypnotist; and my wife had come to realize that all illness is more or less amenable to suggestion. She had had the idea of being hypnotized and given curative suggestions; but she did not know enough about this stranger, and was unwilling to trust him. After she got to know him better, her purposes changed. Here was a fund of knowledge which she craved, and she put her woman’s wits to work to get it. She told him to go ahead and hypnotize her—and explained to me her purpose of trying to turn the tables on him. Jan fixed his eyes upon hers in the…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, by Peter Mark Roget

…upon; come across, come onto; meet with, meet up with, fall in with. recognize, realize; verify, make certain of, identify. Int. eureka!, aha!^, I’ve got it!, 481. Misjudgment – N. misjudgment, obliquity of judgment; miscalculation, miscomputation, misconception &c (error) 495; hasty conclusion. [causes of misjudgment. 1] prejudgment, prejudication^, prejudice; foregone conclusion; prenotion^, prevention, preconception, predilection, prepossession, preapprehension^, presumption, assumption, presentiment; fixed idea, preconceived idea; id_ee fixe; mentis gratissimus error [Lat.]; fool’s paradise. [causes of misjudgment. 2] esprit de corps, party spirit, partisanship, clannishness, prestige. [causes of misjudgment. 3] bias, bigotry, warp, twist; hobby, fad, quirk, crotchet, partiality, infatuation, blind side, mote in the eye. [causes of misjudgment. 4] one-sided views, one-track mind, partial views, narrow views, confined views, superficial views, one- sided ideas, partial ideas, narrow ideas, confined ideas, superficial ideas, one-sided conceptions, partial conceptions, narrow conceptions, confined conceptions, superficial conceptions, one-sided notions, partial notions, narrow notions, confined notions, superficial notions;…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne

…barnacles that they could not again rise to the surface. And time will one day justify Maury’s other opinion, that these substances thus accumulated for ages will become petrified by the action of the water and will then form inexhaustible coal-mines—a precious reserve prepared by far-seeing Nature for the moment when men shall have exhausted the mines of continents. In the midst of this inextricable mass of plants and sea weed, I noticed some charming pink halcyons and actiniae, with their long tentacles trailing after them, and medusae, green, red, and blue. All the day of the 22nd of February we passed in the Sargasso Sea, where such fish as are partial to marine plants find abundant nourishment. The next, the ocean had returned to its accustomed aspect. From this time for nineteen days, from the 23rd of February to the 12th of March, the Nautilus kept in the middle of the Atlantic, carrying us at a constant speed of a hundred leagues in twenty-four hours. Captain Nemo evidently intended accomplishing his submarine programme, and I imagined that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return to the Australian seas of the Pacific. Ned Land had cause for fear. In these large seas, void of islands, we could not attempt to leave the boat. Nor had we any means of opposing Captain Nemo’s will. Our only course was to submit; but what we could neither gain by force nor…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, by William Shakespeare

…SOMERSET. Away, away, good William de la Pole! We grace the yeoman by conversing with him. WARWICK. Now, by God’s will, thou wrong’st him, Somerset; His grandfather was Lionel Duke of Clarence, Third son to the third Edward, King of England. Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root? PLANTAGENET. He bears him on the place’s privilege, Or durst not for his craven heart say thus. SOMERSET. By Him that made me, I’ll maintain my words On any plot of ground in Christendom. Was not thy father, Richard Earl of Cambridge, For treason executed in our late king’s days? And by his treason stand’st not thou attainted, Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry? His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood; And till thou be restor’d thou art a yeoman. PLANTAGENET. My father was attached, not attainted; Condemn’d to die for treason, but no traitor; And that I’ll prove on better men than Somerset, Were growing time once ripened to my will. For your partaker Pole, and you yourself,…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from Raw Gold: A Novel, by Bertrand W. Sinclair

…we turned the corner of a rambling log house, which, from its pretentiousness, I judged must house some Mounted Police dignitary, we came face to face with a tall, keen-featured man in Police uniform, and a girl. Even though Rutter had declared she would be at Walsh, I wasn’t prepared to believe it was Lyn Rowan. Sometimes five years will work a wonderful change in a woman; or is it that time and distance work some subtle transition in one’s recollection? She didn’t give me much time to indulge in guesswork, though. While I wondered, for an instant, if there could by any possibility be another woman on God’s footstool with quite the same tilt to her head, the same heavy coils of tawny hair and unfathomable eyes that always met your own so frankly, she recognized the pair of us; though MacRae in uniform must have puzzled her for an instant. “Gordon–and Sarge Flood! Where in the world did you come from? And–and—-” She stopped rather suddenly, a bit embarrassed. I knew just as well as if she had spoken the words, that she had been on the point of asking him what he was doing in the yellow-striped breeches and scarlet jacket of a Mounted Policeman. Whatever had parted them, she hadn’t held it against him. There was an indefinable something in the way she spoke his name and looked at him that told me there was still a soft spot in her heart for the high-headed beggar by my side….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from Boswell’s Life of Johnson, by James Boswell

…Mr. Burke at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not then give much promise of future celebrity. He, however, observed to Mr. Malone, that ‘though he made no great figure in mathematicks, which was a study in much repute there, he could turn an Ode of Horace into English better than any of them.’ He afterwards studied physick at Edinburgh, and upon the Continent; and I have been informed, was enabled to pursue his travels on foot, partly by demanding at Universities to enter the lists as a disputant, by which, according to the custom of many of them, he was entitled to the premium of a crown, when luckily for him his challenge was not accepted; so that, as I once observed to Dr. Johnson, he DISPUTED his passage through Europe. He then came to England, and was employed successively in the capacities of an usher to an academy, a corrector of the press, a reviewer, and a writer for a news-paper. He had sagacity enough to cultivate assiduously the acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually enlarged by the contemplation of such a model. To me and many others it appeared that he studiously copied the manner of Johnson, though, indeed, upon a smaller scale. At this time I think he had published nothing with his name, though it was pretty generally known that one Dr. Goldsmith was the authour of An Enquiry into the present State of polite Learning in Europe, and of The Citizen of the World, a series of letters supposed to be written…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from Mr. Punch’s History of the Great War, by Charles L. Graves

…The older Universities, given over for two years to wounded soldiers and a handful of physically unfit or coloured undergraduates, are regaining a semblance of life by the housing of cadet battalions in some colleges. The Rhodes scholars have all joined up, and normal academic life is still in abeyance: In Tom his Quad the Bloods no longer flourish; Balliol is bare of all but mild Hindoos; The stalwart oars that Isis used to nourish Are in the trenches giving Fritz the Blues, And many a stout D.D. Is digging trenches with the V.T.C. [Illustration: The Brothers Tingo, who are exempted from military service, do their bit by helping to train ladies who are going on the land.] It is true that Mr. Bernard Shaw has visited the front. No reason is assigned for this rash act, and too little has been made of the fact that he wore khaki just like an ordinary person. Amongst other signs of the times we note that women are to be licensed as taxi-drivers: War has taught the truth that shines Through the poet’s noble lines: “Common are to either sex Artifex and opifex.”…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Radioisotopes and Life Processes (Revised), by Baserga and Kisieleski

…all cells can be labeled by a brief exposure to a radioactive amino acid, a precursor of proteins; this means that protein synthesis occurs throughout the entire cell cycle, including mitosis. When we use a radioactive RNA precursor, all cells except those in anaphase and metaphase are labeled; this means that RNA synthesis occurs throughout the entire cycle except during anaphase and metaphase. But a radioactive tag on a DNA precursor reveals that only during the S phase is there DNA synthesis.[9] It is also important to remember that a cell that has synthesized DNA is a cell that, with a few exceptions, will divide in the very near future. Thus, for an understanding of the mechanisms that control cellular proliferation, it is important to investigate the factors that control DNA synthesis. Our recent knowledge of the cell cycle has therefore led to a shift in the focus of investigation from mitosis to DNA synthesis. Another point to remember is that not all cells keep going through the cell cycle indefinitely. As shown in Figure 25, when a cell divides, the daughter cells have two alternatives, either to go through another cycle or to leave it altogether. Cells that leave the cycle are called differentiated cells and will eventually die without any further division. Many cells in an adult organism also have lost the capacity to make DNA and therefore the capacity to divide. These cells often have…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli

…men-at-arms he has subordinated to others, for, being as they are so accustomed to fight along with Switzers, it does not appear that they can now conquer without them. Hence it arises that the French cannot stand against the Switzers, and without the Switzers they do not come off well against others. The armies of the French have thus become mixed, partly mercenary and partly national, both of which arms together are much better than mercenaries alone or auxiliaries alone, but much inferior to one’s own forces. And this example proves it, for the kingdom of France would be unconquerable if the ordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained. [3] Charles VII of France, surnamed “The Victorious,” born 1403, died 1461. [4] Louis XI, son of the above, born 1423, died 1483. But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affair which looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it, as I have said above of hectic fevers. Therefore, if he who rules a principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon him, he is not truly wise; and this insight is given to few. And if the first disaster to the Roman Empire[5] should be examined, it will be found to have commenced only with the enlisting of the Goths; because from that time the vigour of the Roman Empire began to decline, and all that valour…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

…off in the front, they had been discovered again at the back of the premises. Besides the annoyance complained of, Mr. Luker expressed himself as being under some apprehension that robbery might be contemplated. His collection contained many unique gems, both classical and Oriental, of the highest value. He had only the day before been compelled to dismiss a skilled workman in ivory carving from his employment (a native of India, as we understood), on suspicion of attempted theft; and he felt by no means sure that this man and the street jugglers of whom he complained, might not be acting in concert. It might be their object to collect a crowd, and create a disturbance in the street, and, in the confusion thus caused, to obtain access to the house. In reply to the magistrate, Mr. Luker admitted that he had no evidence to produce of any attempt at robbery being in contemplation. He could speak positively to the annoyance and interruption caused by the Indians, but not to anything else. The magistrate remarked that, if the annoyance were repeated, the applicant could summon the Indians to that court, where they might easily be dealt with under the Act. As to the valuables in Mr. Luker’s possession, Mr. Luker himself must take the best measures for their safe custody. He would do well perhaps to communicate with the police, and to adopt such additional precautions as their experience might…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net