Stephen Crane The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at … Continue reading
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The Prince
Nicolo Machiavelli All states, all powers, that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalities. Principalities are either hereditary, in which the family has been long established; or they are new. The new … Continue reading
The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not–some people of course … Continue reading
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more … Continue reading
The Odyssey
Homer (Translated by Samuel Butler) Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners … Continue reading
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. He lay on his armour-hard back and saw, as he lifted his head … Continue reading
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle IN MERRY ENGLAND in the time of old, when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood. No … Continue reading
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving Found among the papers of the late Diedrech Knickerbocker. A pleasing land of drowsy head it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, Forever flushing round a … Continue reading
The Lost World
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person upon earth,—a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self. If anything could have driven me from … Continue reading
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper ‘Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared: The worst is wordly loss thou canst unfold:–Say, is my kingdom lost?’ –Shakespeare It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and … Continue reading
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling Mowgli’s Brothers Now Rann the Kite brings home the night That Mang the Bat sets free– The herds are shut in byre and hut For loosed till dawn are we. This is the hour of pride and power, … Continue reading
The Island of Doctor Moreau
H. G. Wells I DO not propose to add anything to what has already been written concerning the loss of the ‘Lady Vain.’ As everyone knows, she collided with a derelict when ten days out from Callao. The longboat, with … Continue reading
The Iliad
Homer (Translated by Samuel Butler) Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield … Continue reading
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Towards the end of November, during a thaw, at nine o’clock one morning, a train on the Warsaw and Petersburg railway was approaching the latter city at full speed. The morning was so damp and misty that it … Continue reading
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked … Continue reading