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                               THE BEST

                               _of the_

                           WORLD'S CLASSICS

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                          HENRY CABOT LODGE

                          _Editor-in-Chief_


                          FRANCIS W. HALSEY

                          _Associate Editor_


                  With an Introduction, Biographical

                     and Explanatory Notes, etc.

                            IN TEN VOLUMES

                              Vol. VIII

                        CONTINENTAL EUROPE--II




                       FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

                         NEW YORK AND LONDON



                         COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY

                       FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

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The Best of the World's Classics

VOL. VIII

CONTINENTAL EUROPE--II

       *       *       *       *       *




CONTENTS

VOL. VIII--CONTINENTAL EUROPE--II


FRANCE--CONTINUED
1805-1909

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE--(Born in 1805, died in 1859.)

The Tyranny of the American Majority.
(From Chapter XV of "Democracy in America." Translated by Henry Reeve)

ALFRED DE MUSSET--(Born in 1810, died in 1857.)

Titian's Son After a Night at Play.
(From "Titian's Son." Translated by Erie Arthur Bell)

THEOPHILE GAUTIER--(Born in 1811, died in 1872.)

Pharaoh's Entry into Thebes.
(From the "Romance of a Mummy." Translated by M. Young)

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT--(Born in 1821, died in 1880.)

Yonville and Its People.
(From Part II of "Madame Bovary." Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling)

JOSEPH ERNEST RENAN--(Born in 1823, died in 1892.)

An Empire in Robust Youth.
(From the "History of the Origins of Christianity.")

HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE TAINE--(Born in 1828, died in 1893.)

I   Thackeray as a Satirist.
    (From Book V, Chapter II, of the "History of English Literature."
    Translated by H. van Laun)

II  When the King Got up for the Day.
    (From "The Ancient Regime." Translated by John Durand)

EMILE ZOLA--(Born in 1840, died in 1902.)

Glimpses of Napoleon III in Time of War.
(From "La Debacle." Translated by E. P. Robins)

ALPHONSE DAUDET--(Born in 1840, died in 1897.)

I   A Great Man's Widow.
    (From "Artists' Wives." Translated by Laura Ensor)

II  My First Dress Coat.
    (From "Thirty Years of Paris." Translated by Laura Ensor)

GUY DE MAUPASSANT--(Born in 1850, died in 1893.)

Madame Jeanne's Last Days.
(From the last chapter of "A Life." Translated by Eric Arthur Bell)


GERMANY

1483-1859


MARTIN LUTHER--(Born in 1483, died in 1546.)

Some of His Table Talk and Sayings.
(From the "Table Talk.")

GOTTHOLD E. LESSING--(Born in 1729, died in 1781.)

I   Poetry and Painting Compared.
    (From the preface to the "Laocoon." Translated by E. C. Beasley and
    Helen Zimmern)

II  Of Suffering Held in Restraint.
    (From Chapter I of the "Laocoon." Translated by Beasley and Zimmern)

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE--(Born in 1749, died in 1832.)

I   On First Reading Shakespeare.
    (From "Wilhelm Meister." Translated by Thomas Carlyle)

II  The Coronation of Joseph II.
    (From Book XII of the "Autobiography." Translated by John Oxenford)

FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER--(Born in 1759, died in 1808.)

I   The Battle of Lutzen.
    (From the "History of the Thirty Years' War." Translated by A. J. W.
    Morrison)

II  Philip II and the Netherlands.
    (From the introduction to the "History of the Revolt of the
    Netherlands." Translated by Morrison)

WILHELM VON SCHLEGEL--(Born in 1767, died in 1845.)

Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
(From the "Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature." Translated by
John Black, revised by A. J. W. Morrison)

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT--(Born in 1769, died in 1859.)

An Essay on Man.
(From his "General Review of Natural Phenomena." in Volume I of
"Cosmos." Translated by E. C. Otto and W. S. Dallas)

HEINRICH HEINE--(Born in 1799, died in 1856.)

Reminiscences of Napoleon.
(From Chapters VII, VIII and IX of "Travel Pictures." Translated by
Francis Storr)


ITALY

1254-1803


MARCO POLO--(Born in 1254, died in 1324.)

A Description of Japan.
(From the "Travels.")

DANTE ALIGHIERI--(Born in 1265, died in 1321.)

I   That Long Descent Makes No Man Noble.
    (From Book IV, Chapter XIV of "The Banquet." Translated by Katharine
    Hillard)

II  Of Beatrice and Her Death.
    (From "The New Life." Translated by Charles Eliot Norton)

FRANCESCO PETRARCH--(Born in 1304, died in 1374.)

Of Good and Evil Fortune.
(From the "Treatise on the Remedies of Good and Bad Fortune.")

GIOVANNI BOCCACIO--(Born probably in 1313, died in 1375.)

The Patient Griselda.
(From the "Decameron.")

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI--(Born in 1469, died in 1527.)

Ought Princes to Keep Their Promises?
(From Chapter XVIII of "The Prince.")

BENVENUTO CELLINI--(Born in 1500, died in 1571.)

The Casting of His "Perseus and Medusa."
(From the "Autobiography." Translated by William Roscoe)

GIORGIO VASARI--(Born in 1511, died in 1574.)

Of Raphael and His Early Death.
(From "The Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and
Architects." Translated by Mrs. Jonathan Foster)

CASANOVA DE SEINGALT--(Born in 1725, died probably in 1803.)

His Interview with Frederick the Great.
(From the "Memoirs.")


OTHER COUNTRIES

1465-1909


DESIDERIUS ERASMUS--(Born in 1465, died in 1536.)

Specimens of His Wit and Wisdom.
(From various books)

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES--(Born in 1547, died in 1616.)

I   The Beginnings of Don Quixote's Career.
    (From "Don Quixote." Translated by John Jarvis)

II  Of How Don Quixote Died.
    (From "Don Quixote." Translated by John Jarvis)

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN--(Born in 1805, died in 1875.)

The Emperor's New Clothes.
(From the "Tales.")

IVAN SERGEYEVITCH TURGENEFF--(Born in 1818, died in 1883.)

Bazarov's Death.
(From "Fathers and Children." Translated by Constance Garnett)

HENRIK IBSEN--(Born in 1828, died in 1906.)

The Thought Child.
(From "The Pretenders." Translated by William Archer)

COUNT LEO TOLSTOY--(Born in 1828.)

Shakespeare Not a Great Genius.
(From "A Critical Essay on Shakespeare." Translated by V. Tchertkoff
and I. F. M.)

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FRANCE (Continued)

1805-1909




ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

     Born in Paris in 1805, died in 1859; studied law, taking his
     degree in 1826; traveled in Italy and Sicily; in 1831
     visited the United States under a commission to study the
     penitentiary system; returning published a book on the
     subject which was crowned by the French Academy; from
     private notes taken in America then wrote his masterpiece,
     "Democracy in America," which secured his election to the
     Academy in 1841; spent some years in public life and then
     retired in order to travel and write.




THE TYRANNY OF THE AMERICAN MAJORITY[1]


I hold it to be an impious and execrable maxim that, politically
speaking, the people has a right to do whatever it pleases; and yet I
have asserted that all authority originates in the will of the
majority. Am I then in contradiction with myself?

[Footnote 1: From Chapter XV of "Democracy in America." Translated by
Henry Reeve.]

A general law, which bears the name of justice, has been made and
sanctioned not only by a majority of this or that people, but by a
majority of mankind. The rights of every people are consequently
confined within the limits of what is just. A nation may be considered
in the light of a jury which is empowered to represent society at
large and to apply the great and general law of justice. Ought such a
jury, which represents society, to have more power than the society in
which the law it applies originates?

When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right which
the majority has of commanding, but I simply appeal from the
sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind. It has been
asserted that a people can never entirely outstep the boundaries of
justice and of reason in those affairs which are more peculiarly its
own; and that consequently, full power may fearlessly be given to the
majority by which it is represented. But this language is that of a
slave.

A majority, taken collectively, may be regarded as a being whose
opinions, and most frequently whose interests are opposed to those of
another being, which is styled a minority. If it be admitted that a
man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging his
adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach?
Men are not apt to change their characters by agglomerating; nor does
their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the
consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never
willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited
authority which I should refuse to any one of them.

I do not think that it is possible to combine several principles in
the same government so as at the same time to maintain freedom and
really to oppose them to one another. The form of government which is
usually termed mixt has always appeared to me to be a mere chimera.
Accurately speaking, there is no such thing as a mixt government, with
the meaning usually given to that word; because in all communities
some one principle of action may be discovered which preponderates
over the others. England in the last century--which has been more
especially cited as an example of this form of government--was in
point of fact an essentially aristocratic state, altho it comprized
very powerful elements of democracy; for the laws and customs of the
country were such that the aristocracy could not but preponderate in
the end, and subject the direction of public affairs to its own will.
The error arose from too much attention being paid to the actual
struggle that was going on between the nobles and the people, without
considering the probable issue of the contest, which was really the
important point. When a community actually has a mixt government--that
is to say, when it is equally divided between two adverse
principles--it must either pass through a revolution or fall into
complete dissolution.

I am therefore of opinion that some one social power must always be
made to predominate over the others; but I think that liberty is
endangered when this power finds no obstacle which can <DW44> its
course, and force it to moderate its own vehemence.

Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing. Human beings
are not competent to exercise it with discretion. God only can be
omnipotent, because His wisdom and His justice are always equal to His
power. But no power on earth is so worthy of honor for itself that I
would consent to admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant authority.
When I see that the right and the means of absolute command or of
reverential obedience to the right which it represents are conferred
on a people or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a democracy, a
monarchy or a republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny; and I journey
onward to a land of more hopeful institutions.

In my opinion, the main evil of the present democratic institutions of
the United States does not arise, as is often asserted in Europe, from
their weakness, but from their irresistible strength. I am not so much
alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at
the very inadequate securities which exist against tyranny.

When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom
can he apply for redress? If to public opinion, public opinion
constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it represents the
majority, and implicitly obeys its instructions; if to the executive
power, it is appointed by the majority, and is a passive tool in its
hands. The public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury
is the majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases; and
in certain cases, even the judges are elected by the majority. However
iniquitous or absurd the evil of which you complain may be, you must
submit to it as well as you can.

If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so constituted as
to represent the majority without necessarily being the slave of its
passions, an executive so as to retain a certain degree of
uncontrolled authority, and a judiciary so as to remain independent of
the other two powers, a government would be formed which would still
be democratic, without incurring any risk of tyranny.

I do not say that there is a frequent use of tyranny in America at the
present day; but I maintain that no sure barrier is established
against it, and that the causes which mitigate the government are to
be found in the circumstances and the manners of the country more than
in its laws.




ALFRED DE MUSSET

     Born in 1810, died in 1857; educated at the College of Henry
     II in Paris; published "Tales of Spain and Italy," a volume
     of verse, in 1829; followed by other collections of verse in
     1831 and 1832; went to Italy in 1833 with George Sand, with
     whom he quarreled in Venice and returned to France;
     published "Confessions of a Child of the Century" in 1836;
     wrote stories and plays as well as poems; elected to the
     Academy in 1852.




TITIAN'S SON AFTER A NIGHT AT PLAY[2]


In the month of February of the year 1580 a young man was crossing the
Piazzeta at Venice at early dawn. His clothes were in disorder, his
cap, from which hung a beautiful scarlet feather, was pulled down over
his ears. He was walking with long strides toward the banks of the
Schiavoni, and his sword and cloak were dragging behind him, while
with a somewhat disdainful foot he picked his way among the fishermen
lying asleep on the ground. Having arrived at the bridge of Paille,
he stopt and looked around him. The moon was setting behind the
Giudecca and the dawn was gilding the Ducal Palace. From time to time
thick smoke or a brilliant light could be seen from some neighboring
palace. Planks, stones, enormous blocks of marble, and debris of every
kind obstructed the Canal of the Prisons. A recent fire had just
destroyed the home of a patrician which lined its banks. A volley of
sparks shot up from time to time, and by this sinister light an armed
soldier could be seen keeping watch in the midst of the ruins.

[Footnote 2: From De Musset's story, "Titian's Son." Translated for
this collection by Eric Arthur Bell. Titian's son, who was named
Pomponio, had been destined for the Church, but proving wasteful and
dissipated, his father caused the benefice intended for him to be
transferred to a nephew. Through the death of Titian's other son
Orazio, an artist of repute, who died soon after Titian and during the
same plague, Pomponio inherited the handsome fortune his father had
left and completely squandered it.]

Our young man, however, did not seem to be imprest either with this
spectacle of destruction or with the beauty of the sky, tinged with
the rosy colors of the dawning day. He looked for some time at the
horizon,