Selected Readings I - 1281-1745

1281-1745

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CONTENTS

Vol. III—Great Britain and Ireland—I

			Page
Richard de Bury—(Born in 1281, died in 1345.)
		In Praise of Books.	3
		(From the "Philobiblon")
Sir John Mandeville—(Reputed author.)
I		The Route from England to Constantinople.	8
		(From the "Travels")
II		At the Court of the Great Chan.	11
		(From the "Travels")
John Wyclif—(Born about 1324, died in 1384.)
		The Baptism of Christ.	14
		(Being a translation from the Gospel of Mark)
Geoffrey Chaucer—(Born about 1340, died in 1400.)
		Of Acquiring and Using Riches.	17
		(One of the prose "Canterbury Tales")
William Caxton—(Born about 1422, died in 1491.)
		Of True Nobility and Chivalry.	22
		(From the "Game and Playe of Chesse." Translated by Caxton from the French original)
Sir Thomas Malory—(Born about 1430, died after 1470.)
		Of the Finding of a Sword for Arthur.	26
		(From the "Morte d'Arthur")
Sir Thomas More—(Born in 1478, died in 1535.)
		Life in Utopia.	29
		(From the "Utopia")
John Knox—(Born in 1505, died in 1572.)
		An Interview with Mary Queen of Scots.	36
		(From the "History of the Reformation in Scotland")
Roger Ascham—(Born in 1515, died in 1568.)
		Of Gentle Methods in Teaching.	40
		(From the "Schoolmaster")
John Foxe—(Born in 1516, died in 1587.)
		The Death of Anne Boleyn.	45
		(From the "Book of Martyrs")
Sir Walter Raleigh—(Born in 1552, died in 1618.)
		The Mutability of Human Affairs.	49
		(From the Preface to the "History of the World")
Francis Bacon—(Born in 1561, died in 1626.)
I		Of Travel.	53
		(From the "Essays")
II		Of Riches.	56
		(From the "Essays")
III		Of Youth and Age.	60
		(From the "Essays")
IV		Of Revenge.	63
		(From the "Essays")
V		Of Marriage and Single Life.	65
		(From the "Essays")
VI		Of Envy.	67
		(From the "Essays")
VII		Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature.	74
		(From the "Essays")
VIII		Of Studies.	77
		(From the "Essays")
IX		Of Regiment of Health.	79
		(From the "Essays")
William Shakespeare—(Born in 1564, died in 1616.)
I		Brutus to His Countrymen.	82
		(From "Julius Cæsar")
II		Shylock in Defense of His Race.	83
		(From the "Merchant of Venice")
III		Hamlet to the Players.	85
		(From "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark")
Ben Jonson—(Born in 1573, died in 1637.)
		Shakespeare and Other Wits.	87
		(From "Timber; or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter")
Izaak Walton—(Born in 1593, died in 1683.)
I		The Antiquity of Angling.	92
		(From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
II		Of the Trout.	96
		(From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
III		The Death of George Herbert.	101
		(From the "Lives")
James Howell—(Born in 1595, died in 1666.)
I		The Bucentaur Ceremony in Venice.	106
		(From the "Familiar Letters")
II		The City of Rome in 1621.	109
		(From the "Familiar Letters")
Sir Thomas Browne—(Born in 1605, died in 1682.)
I		Of Charity in Judgments.	114
		(From the "Religio Medici")
II		Nothing Strictly Immortal.	116
		(From Chapter V of "Urn Burial")
John Milton—(Born in 1608, died in 1674.)
I		Of His Own Literary Ambition.	121
		(From "The Reason of Church Government")
II		A Complete Education Defined.	126
		(From the "Tractate on Education")
III		On Reading in His Youth.	129
		(From the "Apology for Smectymnus")
IV		In Defense of Books.	131
		(From the "Areopagitica")
V		A Noble and Puissant Nation.	135
		(From the "Areopagitica")
VI		Of Fugitive and Cloistered Virtue.	141
		(From the "Areopagitica")
Lord Clarendon—(Born in 1608, died in 1674.)
		Of Charles I.	144
		(From the "History of the Rebellion")
Thomas Fuller—(Born in 1608, died in 1661.)
		Qualities of the Good Schoolmaster.	149
		(From "The Holy and Profane State")
Jeremy Taylor—(Baptized in 1613, died in 1667.)
		The Benefits of Adversity.	153
		(From the "Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying")
Abraham Cowley—(Born in 1618, died in 1667.)
I		Of Obscurity.	156
		(From the "Essays")
II		Of Procrastination.	159
		(From the "Essays")
George Fox—(Born in 1624, died in 1691.)
		An Interview with Oliver Cromwell.	161
		(From the "Journal")
John Bunyan—(Baptized in 1628, died in 1668.)
I		A Dream of the Celestial City.	165
		(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
II		The Death of Valiant-for-truth and of Stand-fast.	169
		(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
III		Ancient Vanity Fair.	172
		(From "The Pilgrim's Progress")
John Dryden—(Born in 1631, died in 1700.)
		Of Elizabethan Dramatists.	181
		(From the "Essay on Dramatic Poetry")
Samuel Pepys—(Born in 1633, died in 1703.)
I		Of Various Doings of Mr. and Mrs. Pepys.	185
		(From the "Diary")
II		England Without Cromwell.	191
		(From the "Diary")
Gilbert Burnet—(Born in 1643, died in 1715.)
		Charles II.	195
		(From the "History of Our Own Times")
Daniel Defoe—(Born in 1661, died in 1731.)
I		The Shipwreck of Crusoe.	201
		(From "The Life and Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe")
II		The Rescue of Man Friday.	204
		(From "The Life and Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe")
III		In the Time of the Great Plague.	211
		(From the "History of the Great Plague")
Jonathan Swift—(Born in 1667, died in 1745.)
I		On Pretense in Philosophers.	216
		(From "Gulliver's Travels")
II		On the Hospitality of the Vulgar.	221
		(From No. 1 of The Tatler)
III		The Art of Lying in Politics.	224
		(From The Examiner)
IV		A Meditation upon a Broomstick	228
V		Gulliver Among the Giants.	230
		(From "Gulliver's Travels")
Joseph Addison—(Born in 1672, died in 1719.)
I		In Westminster Abbey.	236
		(From No. 26 of The Spectator)
II		Will Honeycomb and His Marriage.	240
		(From Nos. 105 and 530 of The Spectator)
III		Pride of Birth.	246
		(From No. 137 of The Guardian)
IV		Sir Roger and His Home.	251
		(From Nos. 2 and 106 of The Spectator)