Table of Contents
Richard de Bury—(Born in 1281, died in 1345.)
In Praise of Books. (From the "Philobiblon")
Sir John Mandeville—(Reputed author.)
I: The Route from England to Constantinople. (From the "Travels")
II: At the Court of the Great Chan. (From the "Travels")
John Wyclif—(Born about 1324, died in 1384.)
The Baptism of Christ. (Being a translation from the Gospel of Mark)
Geoffrey Chaucer—(Born about 1340, died in 1400.)
Of Acquiring and Using Riches. (One of the prose "Canterbury Tales")
William Caxton—(Born about 1422, died in 1491.)
Of True Nobility and Chivalry. (From the "Game and Playe of Chesse." Translated by Caxton from the French original)
Sir Thomas Malory—(Born about 1430, died after 1470.)
Of the Finding of a Sword for Arthur. (From the "Morte d'Arthur")
Sir Thomas More—(Born in 1478, died in 1535.)
Life in Utopia. (From the "Utopia")
John Knox—(Born in 1505, died in 1572.)
An Interview with Mary Queen of Scots. (From the "History of the Reformation in Scotland")
Roger Ascham—(Born in 1515, died in 1568.)
Of Gentle Methods in Teaching. (From the "Schoolmaster")
John Foxe—(Born in 1516, died in 1587.)
The Death of Anne Boleyn. (From the "Book of Martyrs")
Sir Walter Raleigh—(Born in 1552, died in 1618.)
The Mutability of Human Affairs. (From the Preface to the "History of the World")
Francis Bacon—(Born in 1561, died in 1626.)
I: Of Travel. (From the "Essays")
II: Of Riches. (From the "Essays")
III: Of Youth and Age. (From the "Essays")
IV: Of Revenge. (From the "Essays")
V: Of Marriage and Single Life. (From the "Essays")
VI: Of Envy. (From the "Essays")
VII: Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature. (From the "Essays")
VIII: Of Studies. (From the "Essays")
IX: Of Regiment of Health. (From the "Essays")
William Shakespeare—(Born in 1564, died in 1616.)
I: Brutus to His Countrymen. (From "Julius Cæsar")
II: Shylock in Defense of His Race. (From the "Merchant of Venice")
III: Hamlet to the Players. (From "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark")
Ben Jonson—(Born in 1573, died in 1637.)
Shakespeare and Other Wits. (From "Timber; or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter")
Izaak Walton—(Born in 1593, died in 1683.)
I: The Antiquity of Angling. (From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
II: Of the Trout. (From Part I, Chapter IV, of "The Compleat Angler")
III: The Death of George Herbert. (From the "Lives")
James Howell—(Born in 1595, died in 1666.)
I: The Bucentaur Ceremony in Venice. (From the "Familiar Letters")
II: The City of Rome in 1621. (From the "Familiar Letters")
Sir Thomas Browne—(Born in 1605, died in 1682.)
I: Of Charity in Judgments. (From the "Religio Medici")
II: Nothing Strictly Immortal. (From Chapter V of "Urn Burial")
