← Table of contents
The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III

Vol. V—Great Britain and Ireland—III

Reading edition

Page

James Boswell—(Born in 1740, died in 1795.)

I Boswell's Introduction to Johnson.

(From Boswell's "Life of Johnson")3

II Johnson's Audience with George III.

(From Boswell's "Life of Johnson")8

III The Meeting of Johnson and John Wilkes.

(From Boswell's "Life of Johnson")15

IV Johnson's Wedding-Day.

(From Boswell's "Life of Johnson")21

William Wordsworth—(Born in 1770, died in 1850.)

A Poet Defined.

(From the Preface to the second edition of "Lyrical

Ballads")23

Sir Walter Scott—(Born in 1771, died in 1832.)

I The Arrival of the Master of Ravenswood.

(From Chapter XXXIII of "The Bride of Lammermoor")31

II The Death of Meg Merriles.

(From Chapter LV of "Guy Mannering")35

III A Vision of Rob Roy.

(From Chapter XXIII of "Rob Roy")40

IV Queen Elizabeth and Amy Robsart at Kenilworth.

(From "Kenilworth")48

V The Illness and Death of Lady Scott.

(From Scott's "Journal")62

Samuel Taylor Coleridge—(Born in 1772, died in 1834.)

I Does Fortune Favor Fools?

(From "A Sailor's Fortune")70

II The Destiny of the United States.

(From the "Table Talk")76

Robert Southey—(Born in 1774, died in 1843.)

Nelson's Death at Trafalgar.

(From the "Life of Nelson")80

Walter Savage Landor—(Born in 1775, died in 1864.)

I The Death of Hofer87

II Napoleon and Pericles91

Charles Lamb—(Born in 1775, died in 1834.)

I Dream Children—A Reverie.

(From the "Essays of Elia")93

II Poor Relations.

(From the "Essays of Elia")99

III The Origin of Roast Pig.

(From the "Essays of Elia")102

IV That We Should Rise with the Lark.

(From the "Essays of Elia")107

William Hazlitt—(Born in 1778, died in 1830.)

Hamlet.

(From the "Characters of Shakespeare's Plays")111

Thomas de Quincey—(Born in 1785, died in 1859.)

I Dreams of an Opium-Eater.

(From the "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater")115

II Joan of Arc.

(From the "Biographical and Historical Essays")123

III Charles Lamb.

(From the "Literary Reminiscences")128

Lord Byron—(Born in 1788, died in 1824.)

I Of His Mother's Treatment of Him.

(A letter to his half-sister, Augusta)134

II To His Wife after the Separation.

(A letter written in Italy)138

III To Sir Walter Scott.

(A letter written in Italy)140

IV Of Art and Nature as Poetical Subjects.

(From the "Reply to Bowles")143

Percy Bysshe Shelley—(Born in 1792, died in 1822.)

I In Defense of Poetry.

(From an essay written some time in 1820-21)151

II The Baths of Caracalla.

(From a letter to Thomas Love Peacock)155

III The ruins of Pompeii.

(A letter to Thomas Love Peacock)158

George Grote—(Born in 1794, died in 1871.)

I The Mutilation of the Hermæ.

(From Chapter LVIII of the "History of Greece")165

II If Alexander Had Lived.

(From Chapter XCIV of the "History of Greece")172

Thomas Carlyle—(Born in 1795, died in 1881.)

I Charlotte Corday.

(From the "History of the French Revolution")179

II The Blessedness of Work.

(From "Past and Present")187

III Cromwell.

(From "Heroes and Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History")190

IV In Praise of Those Who Toil.

(From "Sartor Resartus")201

V The Certainty of Justice.

(From "Past and Present")202

VI The Greatness of Scott.

(From the essay on Lockhart's "Life of Scott")206

VII Boswell and His Book.

(From the essay on Croker's edition of Boswell)214

VIII Might Burns Have Been Saved?

(From the essay on Burns)223

Lord Macaulay—(Born in 1800, died in 1859.)

I Puritans and Royalists.

(From the essay on Milton)233

II Cromwell's Army.

(From Chapter I of the "History of England")238

III The Opening of the Trial of Warren Hastings.

(From the essay on Hastings)242

IV The Gift of Athens to Man.

(From the essay on Mitford's "History of Greece")248

V The Pathos of Byron's Life.

(From the essay on Moore's "Life of Byron")251

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings