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                               THE BEST

                               _of the_

                           WORLD'S CLASSICS

                         RESTRICTED TO PROSE



                          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

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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