Guide

“ `But the costs, my dear sir, the costs of all this,` reasoned the attorney when he had recovered from his momentary surprise. `If the defendant be a man of straw, who is to...

“Three years had elapsed, when a gentleman alighted from a private carriage at the door of a London attorney, then well known as a man of no great nicety in his professional dealings; and...

“The tale told itself at once; some scattered garments lay on the beach; a human head was just visible above the waves at a little distance from the shore; and an old man, wringing...

“When the fever left him, and consciousness returned, he awoke to find himself rich and free: to hear that the parent who would have let him die in jail—would! who had let those who...

From the huge whirlpool which the sinking wreck occasioned, arose a shriek so loud and shrill—the death-cry of a hundred drowning creatures, blended into one fierce yell—that it rung far above the war-cry of...

“She had fainted one evening in her husband`s arms, and he had borne her to the open window, to revive her with the air, when the light of the moon falling full upon her...

“The father and mother looked on upon this, and upon each other, with thoughts of agony they dared not breathe in words. The healthy, strong-made man, who could have borne almost any fatigue of...

“Many eyes, that have long since been closed in the grave, have looked round upon that scene lightly enough, when entering the gate of the old Marshalsea Prison for the first time: for despair...

Charles Dickens (1812—1870)The son of a government clerk, Charles Dickens was born at Portsea in 1812. His family moved to London shortly after his birth. The early London life of the Dickens family was...

Phaedrus (15 B.C.?—55 A.D.?)It was the chief distinction of this writer to have collected the Fables of Jesop (or whoever it was who wrote Alsop`s works) and rewritten them for the Romans. His collection...