Copyright, 1909, by

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY


The Best of the World's Classics

VOL. VII

CONTINENTAL EUROPE—I


CONTENTS

Vol. VII—Continental Europe—I

Page
[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.)
I[Gargantua in His Childhood.]
(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhart and Motteux)[58]
II[Gargantua's Education.]
(From "The Inestimable Life of the Great Gargantua." Translated by Urquhartand Motteux)[64]
III[Of 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.)
I[A Word to His Readers.]
(From the preface to the "Essays." Translated by John Florio)[90]
II[Of Society and Solitude.]
(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)[92]
III[Of His Own Library.]
(From the essay entitled "Of Three Commerces." The Cotton translation, revised by W. C. Hazlitt)[94]
IV[That the Soul Discharges Her Passions upon False Objects Where True Ones Are Wanting.]
(From the essay with that title. The Cotton translation)[99]
V[That 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.)
I[Great News from Paris.]
(From a letter dated Paris, December 15, 1670)[123]
II[An 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.)
I[In the Service of Dr. Sangrado.]
(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)[129]
II[As an Archbishop's Favorite.]
(From "Gil Blas." Translated by Tobias Smollett)[135]
[Duc de Saint-Simon]—(Born in 1675, died in 1755.)
I[The Death of the Dauphin.]
(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)[141]
II[The Public Watching the King and Madame.]
(From the "Memoirs." Translated by Bayle St. John)[145]
[Baron de Montesquieu]—(Born in 1689, died in 1755.)
I[Of the Causes Which Destroyed Rome.]
(From the "Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans")[150]
II[Of 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.)
I[Of Bacon's Greatness.]
(From the "Letters on England")[160]
II[England's Regard for Men of Letters.]
(From the "Letters on England")[164]
[Jean Jacques Rousseau]—(Born in 1712, died in 1778.)
I[Of Christ and Socrates][170]
II[Of 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.)
I[The Death of Père Goriot.]
(From the concluding chapter of "Père Goriot." Translated by Helen Marriàge)[210]
II[Birotteau'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.)
I[The Battle of Waterloo.]
(From Chapter XV of "Cosette," in "Les Misérables." Translated by Lascelles Wraxall)[228]
II[The 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]