Volume 7 — Vol. VII—Continental Europe—I
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EARLY CONTINENTAL WRITERS
354—1380
St. Aurelius Augustine—(Born in Numidia, Africa, in 354; died in 430.)
Imperial Power for Good and Bad Men.
(From Book IV, Chapter III, of "De Civitate Dei")3
Anicius Boethius—(Born about 475, died about 524.)
The Highest Happiness.
(From "The Consolations of Philosophy." Translated by Alfred the Great)6
St. Thomas Aquinas—(Born near Aquino, Italy, probably in 1225; died in 1274.)
A Definition of Happiness.
(From the "Ethics")12
Thomas à Kempis—(Born in Rhenish Prussia about 1380, died in the Netherlands in 1471.)
Of Eternal Life and of Striving for It.
(From "The Imitation of Christ")16
FRANCE
Twelfth Century—1885
Geoffrey de Ville-Hardouin—(Born between 1150 and 1165; died in 1212.)
The Sack of Constantinople.
(From "The Chronicles." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)23
Jean de Joinville—(Born in 1224, died in 1317.)
Greek Fire in Battle.
(From "The Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France." Translated by Thomas Johnes)27
"Aucassin and Nicolette."
(A French romance of the 12th Century, the author's name unknown)30
Jean Froissart—(Born in 1337, died in 1410.)
The Battle of Crécy.
(From the "Chronicles." Translated by Thomas Johnes)39
Philippe de Comines—(Born in France about 1445, died in 1511.)
Of the Character of Louis XI
(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Andrew R. Scoble)46
Marguerite d'Angoulême—(Born in 1492, died in 1549.)
Of Husbands Who Are Unfaithful.
(From the "Heptameron")53
François Rabelais—(Born in 1495, died in 1553.)
IGargantua in His Childhood.
(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)58
IIGargantua's Education.
(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)64
IIIOf the Founding of an Ideal Abbey.
(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)74
John Calvin—(Born in 1509, died in 1564.)
Of Freedom for the Will.
(From the "Institutes")84
Joachim Du Bellay—(Born about 1524, died in 1560.)
Why Old French Was Not as Rich as Greek and Latin.
(From the "Défense et Illustration de la Langue Françoise." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)87
Michel De Montaigne—(Born in 1533, died in 1592.)
IA Word to His Readers.
(From the preface to the "Essays." Translated by John Florio)90
IIOf Society and Solitude.
(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)92
IIIOf His Own Library.
(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)94
IVThat the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects Where True Ones Are Wanting.
(From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)99
VThat Men Are Not to Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death.
(From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)102
René Descartes—(Born in 1596, died in 1650.)
Of Material Things and of the Existence of God.
(From the "Meditations." Translated by John Veitch)107
Duc de la Rochefoucauld—(Born in France in 1613, died in 1680.)
A Selection from the "Maxims."
(Translated by Willis Bund and Hain Friswell)112
Blaise Pascal—(Born in 1623, died in 1662.)
Of the Prevalence of Self-Love.
(From the "Thoughts." Translated by C. Kegan Paul)118
Madame de Sévigné—(Born in Paris in 1626, died in 1696.)
IGreat News from Paris.
(From a letter dated Paris, December 15, 1670)123
IIAn Imposing Funeral Described.
(From a letter to her daughter, dated Paris, May 6,1672)125
Alain René Le Sage—(Born in 1668, died in 1747.)
IIn the Service of Dr. Sangrado.
(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)129
IIAs an Archbishop's Favorite.
(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)135
Duc de Saint-Simon—(Born in 1675, died in 1755.)
IThe Death of the Dauphin.
(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)141
IIThe Public Watching the King and Madame.
(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)145
Baron de Montesquieu—(Born in 1689, died in 1755.)
IOf the Causes Which Destroyed Rome.
(From the "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans")150
IIOf the Relation of Laws to Human Beings.
(From the "Spirit of Laws." Translated by Thomas Nugent)156
François Arouet Voltaire—(Born in Paris in 1694, died in 1778.)
IOf Bacon's Greatness.
(From the "Letters on England")160
IIEngland's Regard for Men of Letters.
(From the "Letters on England")164
Jean Jacques Rousseau—(Born in 1712, died in 1778.)
IOf Christ and Socrates 170
IIOf the Management of Children.
(From the "New Héloïse")173
Madame de Staël—(Born in 1763, died in 1817.)
Of Napoleon Bonaparte.
(From "Considerations on the French Revolution")178
Viscount de Chateaubriand—(Born in 1768, died in 1848.)
In an American Forest.
(From the "Historical Essay on Revolutions")182
François Guizot—(Born in 1787, died in 1874.)
Shakespeare as an Example of Civilization.
(From "Shakespeare and His Times")189
Alphonse de Lamartine—(Born in 1790, died in 1869.)
Of Mirabeau's Origin and Place in History.
(From Book I of the "History of the Girondists." Translated by T. Ryde)195
Louis Adolph Thiers—(Born in 1797, died in 1877.)
The Burning of Moscow.
(From the "History of the Consulate and the Empire")201
Honoré de Balzac—(Born in 1799, died in 1850.)
IThe Death of Père Goriot.
(From the concluding chapter of "Père Goriot." Translated by Helen Marriàge)210
IIBirotteau's Early Married Life.
(From "The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau." Translated by Helen Marriàge)215
Alfred de Vigny—(Born in 1799, died in 1863.)
Richelieu's Way with His Master.
(From "Cinq-Mars; or, The Conspiracy under Louis XIII." Translated by William C. Hazlitt)222
Victor Hugo—(Born in France in 1802, died in 1885.)
IThe Battle of Waterloo.
(From Chapter XV of "Cosette," in "Les Misérables." Translated by Lascelles Wraxall)228
IIThe Beginnings and Expansions of Paris.
(From Book III, Chapter II, of "Notre-Dame de Paris")235
Alexander Dumas—(Born in 1802, died in 1870.)
The Shoulder, the Belt and the Handkerchief.
(From "The Three Musketeers")241
George Sand—(Born in 1804, died in 1876.)
Lélia and the Poet.
(From "Lélia")250