'the most romantic parts of this narrative are precisely those which have a foundation in fact' Edward Waverley, a young English soldier in the Hanoverian army, is sent to Scotland …
'I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.' Becky Sharp is sharp, calculating, and determined to succeed. Craving wealth and a position in society, she charms, …
`My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.' For half a century from its publication in 1901 Up from Slavery was the …
Charles the king, our emperor great, Has been a full seven years in Spain. As far as the sea he conquered this haughty land. Not a single castle remains standing in his path …
'the highest matter in the noblest form' John Donne's description of the Psalms celebrates not only the perfection of the biblical psalms but their translation into poetic form by …
`the fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world's mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods' Romulus and Remus, the rape of …
'A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought...but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands.' When …
'The greatest historian that ever lived' Such was Macaulay's verdict on Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) and his history of the Peloponnesian War, the momentous struggle between Athens …
The Pastons of Norfolk left behind them an incomparable picture of life in fifteenth-century England in the earliest great collection of family letters in English. The letters span …
'He was deaf to the murmurs of conscience, and resolved to satisfy his desires at any price.' The Monk (1796) is a sensational story of temptation and depravity, a masterpiece of …
