That Belgium is now one of the European kingdoms, living by its own laws, resting on its own bottom, with a king and court, palaces and parliament of its own, is known to all the world. And a very nic...

I shall never forget my first introduction to country life in Ireland, my first day’s hunting there, or the manner in which I passed the evening afterwards. Nor shall I ever cease to be grateful for t...

John Munroe Bell had been a lawyer in Albany, State of New York, and as such had thriven well. He had thriven well as long as thrift and thriving on this earth had been allowed to him. But the Almight...

In the happy days when we were young, no description conveyed to us so complete an idea of mysterious reality as that of an Oriental city. We knew it was actually there, but had such vague notions of ...

Few Englishmen or Englishwomen are intimately acquainted with the little town of Le Puy. It is the capital of the old province of Le Velay, which also is now but little known, even to French ears, for...

There is nothing so melancholy as a country in its decadence, unless it be a people in their decadence. I am not aware that the latter misfortune can be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon race in any part ...

I am an Englishman, living, as all Englishman should do, in England, and my wife would not, I think, be well pleased were anyone to insinuate that she were other than an Englishwoman; but in the circu...

The Pyreneean valley in which the baths of Vernet are situated is not much known to English, or indeed to any travellers. Tourists in search of good hotels and picturesque beauty combined, do not gene...

Circumstances took me to the Holy Land without a companion, and compelled me to visit Bethany, the Mount of Olives, and the Church of the Sepulchre alone. I acknowledge myself to be a gregarious anima...

Why Mrs. General Talboys first made up her mind to pass the winter of 1859 at Rome I never clearly understood. To myself she explained her purposes, soon after her arrival at the Eternal City, by decl...

The prettiest scenery in all England⁠—and if I am contradicted in that assertion, I will say in all Europe⁠—is in Devonshire, on the southern and southeastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart...

I first saw the man who kept his money in a box in the midst of the ravine of the Via Mala. I interchanged a few words with him or with his wife at the hospice, at the top of the Splugen; and I became...

The house of Heine Brothers, in Munich, was of good repute at the time of which I am about to tell⁠—a time not long ago; and is so still, I trust. It was of good repute in its own way, seeing that no ...

It is generally supposed that people who live at home⁠—good domestic people, who love tea and their armchairs, and who keep the parlour hearthrug ever warm⁠—it is generally supposed that these are the...

I would wish to declare, at the beginning of this story, that I shall never regard that cluster of islets which we call Bermuda as the Fortunate Islands of the ancients. Do not let professional geogra...

“Let the boys have it if they like it,” said Mrs. Garrow, pleading to her only daughter on behalf of her two sons. “Pray don’t, mamma,” said Elizabeth Garrow. “It only means romping. To me all that is...

Of all the spots on the world’s surface that I, George Walker, of Friday Street, London, have ever visited, Suez in Egypt, at the head of the Red Sea, is by far the vilest, the most unpleasant, and th...

There is perhaps no form of life in which men and women of the present day frequently find themselves for a time existing, so unlike their customary conventional life, as that experienced on board the...

“But I’m not a widow, and I haven’t got two mites.” “My dear, you are a widow, and you have got two mites.” “I’ll tell both of you something that will astonish you. I’ve made a calculation, and I find...

Christmas of 1860 is now three years past, and the civil war which was then being commenced in America is still raging without any apparent sign of an end.1 The prophets of that time who prophesied th...

Who can say what is a lady? My intelligent and well-bred reader of either sex will at once declare that he and she knows very well who is a lady. So, I hope, do I. But the present question goes furthe...

On the northern coast of Cornwall, between Tintagel and Bossiney, down to the very margin of the sea, there lived not long since an old man who got his living by saving seaweed from the waves, and sel...

The gentle Euphemia lived in a castle, and her father was the Count Grandnostrel. The wise Alasco, who had dwelt for fifty years in the mullioned chamber of the North Tower, was her tutor, and he taug...

The gentle Euphemia lived in a castle, and her father was the Count Grandnostrel. The wise Alasco, who had dwelt for fifty years in the mullioned chamber of the North Tower, was her tutor, and he taug...

And in those days there was the rinderpest in the land among the cattle, and the swine were plagued with a sore disease, and there had gone forth an edict and a command from the Queen’s Councillors th...

’Twas midnight, and there came a soft knock at the door of Alasco the Wise. But Alasco heard it not, for he was drinking in the wisdom of the ancients with all his senses, and his ears were deaf to al...

And in the morning the Count of Grandnostrel called for his daughter. And his eyes were red with drinking, and his breath was thick, and he sat with his head between his hands. For he had drunk the bl...

In the upper chamber of a small cottage, covered with ivy and vines, lay the lord of Mountfidget, hurt unto death. For one of the arrows had touched him on the nape of the neck, and the point had been...

But as the page sank upon the floor, a small bottle fell from his breast coat-pocket, and the widow saw that it was labelled “antidote for the oil of strychnine.” Then the widow’s heart leaped for joy...

Alascco the Wise had been left in the forest, and was unable to stir another step. “ ’Tis the blood of the Mountfidget,” he had said, when he saw the gouts upon the path. “I know it by its purple hue,...

And then they all returned to the Castle of Grandnostrel, and on their way they took up the wise Alasco, who had remained in the forest. “Nay, father,” said the damsel smiling, “but thou hast been rig...

It is nearly thirty years since I, Archibald Green, first entered the little town of Ballymoy, in the west of Ireland, and became acquainted with one of the honestest fellows and best Christians whom ...

As all the world knows, the old fortifications of Vienna have been pulled down⁠—the fortifications which used to surround the centre or kernel of the city; and the vast spaces thus thrown open and for...

There was something almost grand in the rash courage with which Fred Pickering married his young wife, and something quite grand in her devotion in marrying him. She had not a penny in the world, and ...

In the spring and early summer of the year last past⁠—the year 1866⁠—the hatred felt by Venetians towards the Austrian soldiers who held their city in thraldom, had reached its culminating point. For ...

It was in the month of August. The world had gone to the moors and the Rhine, but we were still kept in town by the exigencies of our position. We had been worked hard during the preceding year, and w...

We have known many prettier girls than Mary Gresley, and many handsomer women⁠—but we never knew girl or woman gifted with a face which in supplication was more suasive, in grief more sad, in mirth mo...

The little story which we are about to relate refers to circumstances which occurred some years ago, and we desire therefore, that all readers may avoid the fault of connecting the personages of the t...

We hardly feel certain that we are justified in giving the following little story to the public as an Editor’s Tale, because at the time to which it refers, and during the circumstances with which it ...

We hardly feel certain that we are justified in giving the following little story to the public as an Editor’s Tale, because at the time to which it refers, and during the circumstances with which it ...

A fortnight had been given to us to prepare our matter, and during that fortnight I saw none of my colleagues. I purposely kept myself apart from them in order that I might thus give a fairer chance t...

Some few years since we received the following letter:⁠— Dear Sir, I write to you for literary employment, and I implore you to provide me with it if it be within your power to do so. My capacity for ...

Some few years since we received the following letter:⁠— Dear Sir, I write to you for literary employment, and I implore you to provide me with it if it be within your power to do so. My capacity for ...

During the next month we saw a good deal of Mr. Julius Mackenzie, and made ourselves quite at home in Mrs. Grimes’s bedroom. We went in and out of the Spotted Dog as if we had known that establishment...

We think that we are justified in asserting that of all the persons with whom we have been brought in contact in the course of our editorial experiences, men or women, boys or girls, Mrs. Brumby was t...

“After all, Christmas is a bore!” “Even though you should think so, Mr. Archer, pray do not say so here.” “But it is.” “I am very sorry that you should feel like that; but pray do not say anything so ...

“After all, Christmas is a bore!” “Even though you should think so, Mr. Archer, pray do not say so here.” “But it is.” “I am very sorry that you should feel like that; but pray do not say anything so ...

Kirkby Cliffe Church stands close upon the River Wharfe, about a quarter of a mile from the parsonage, which is on a steep hillside running down from the moors to the stream. A prettier little church ...

On the following morning⁠—Christmas morning⁠—when she woke, her headache was gone, and she was able, as she dressed, to make some stern resolutions. The ecstasy of her sorrow was over, and she could s...

In spite of her piteous condition and near prospect of death, Isabel Lownd completed her round of visits among her old friends. That Christmas should be kept in some way by every inhabitant of Kirkby ...

John Thomas was a clerk in the post-office, beloved by all who knew him; but he never did any work, usually had a novel and a bottle of brandy in his desk, and broke the heart of the Junior Assistant ...

John Thomas was a clerk in the post-office, beloved by all who knew him; but he never did any work, usually had a novel and a bottle of brandy in his desk, and broke the heart of the Junior Assistant ...

John Thomas was a clerk in the post-office, beloved by all who knew him; but he never did any work, usually had a novel and a bottle of brandy in his desk, and broke the heart of the Junior Assistant ...

Why wouldn’t she? It was now two years since she had consented to be kissed, or, as may perhaps have been the case, had been kissed without her consent by the Rev. Abraham Dribble. Mr. Dribble had bee...

On Monday, April 1, Mary Tomkins received the following letter: Only that he pleads a previous promise to you, John Thomas would be my bridegroom. I have his heart, I know. And, oh! and oh! and oh! it...

When Mr. Dribble married the Right Honorable Catharine Mount Energy, the widow of the Earl of Pieponder, Mary Tomkins shut herself up for three weeks in her aunt’s store-closet. She was visited of cou...

When Mr. Dribble married the Right Honorable Catharine Mount Energy, the widow of the Earl of Pieponder, Mary Tomkins shut herself up for three weeks in her aunt’s store-closet. She was visited of cou...

When the Right Honorable Catharine Mount Energy, Countess of Pieponder, died, which she did the week after she had married Mr. Dribble, it was discovered that her affairs were very much out of order. ...

“About this time there came to town an old gentleman from the country, who had known Mary’s father, and he brought with him his daughter Jemima. Jemima Robinson and Mary Tomkins were fast friends, tho...

Jemima Robinson was a sprightly girl, and if anyone had dominion over Mary Tomkins it was she. “Marry come up, Molly!” she said, “how many men do you think are going to die for you? If I were Johnny T...

Jemima Robinson was a sprightly girl, and if anyone had dominion over Mary Tomkins it was she. “Marry come up, Molly!” she said, “how many men do you think are going to die for you? If I were Johnny T...

On the next morning, John Thomas was gazetted postmaster-general. He had invented a new farthing postage-stamp, and it was felt that his claims could not be passed over. He expelled the novel and the ...

The Bishop of Rochester sat in his palace, and over against him sat Mrs. Dribble, his second wife. No more powerful lady ever assisted to carry a crozier. Lord Thomas quaffed his ruby wines in a West-...

Everyone remembers the severity of the Christmas of 187‒. I will not designate the year more closely, lest I should enable those who are too curious to investigate the circumstances of this story, and...

Everyone remembers the severity of the Christmas of 187‒. I will not designate the year more closely, lest I should enable those who are too curious to investigate the circumstances of this story, and...

With her eye still fixed upon her burden, she glanced up at the number of the door⁠—333. She had been determined all through not to forget that. Then she turned the latch and crept in. The chamber als...

But her husband was not sleeping. He was not even in bed, as she had left him. She found him sitting there before the fireplace, on which one half-burned log still retained a spark of what had once pr...

It had been visible to Mrs. Brown from the first moment of her arrival on the ground floor that “something was the matter,” if we may be allowed to use such a phrase; and she felt all but convinced th...

“Please, sir, we were to ask for Mr. Jones,” said the servant, putting his head into the carriage after both Mr. and Mrs. Brown had seated themselves. “Mr. Jones!” exclaimed the husband. “Why ask for ...

If ever there was a Tory upon earth, the Frau Frohmann was a Tory; for I hold that landed possessions, gentle blood, a gray-haired butler behind one’s chair, and adherence to the Church of England, ar...

If ever there was a Tory upon earth, the Frau Frohmann was a Tory; for I hold that landed possessions, gentle blood, a gray-haired butler behind one’s chair, and adherence to the Church of England, ar...

Of late days, and up to the time of which we are speaking, the chief contest between the Frau, with the kaplan and Peter on one side, and Malchen with Fritz Schlessen on the other, was on that most im...

About two months after the events described in the last chapter, Malchen and Fritz Schlessen were sitting in the same little arbour, and he was again smoking his pipe, and again drinking his coffee. A...

Two or three weeks went by in the Brunnenthal without any special occurrence, and Malchen had not as yet spoken to her mother about her fortune. The Frau had during this time been in more than ordinar...

In the beginning of August, the Weisses and the Tendels and Herr Trauss had all left the Brunnenthal, and our friend Frau Frohmann was left with a house full of guests who were less intimately known t...

The lawyer returned to town, and on the next day the money was sent out to the Brunnenthal. Frau Frohmann had not winced when she demanded the sum needed, nor had she shown by any contorted line in he...

“But if there is more money, sir, that ought to make us all more comfortable.” This was said by the Frau to Mr. Cartwright a few days after her return from Innsbruck, and was a reply to a statement ma...

And so Frau Frohmann had raised her prices, and had acknowledged herself to all the world to have been beaten in her enterprise. There are, however, certain misfortunes which are infinitely worse in t...

Three shillings a day to cover all expenses of life, food, raiment, shelter, a room in which to eat and sleep, and fire and light⁠—and recreation if recreation there might be⁠—is not much; but when Lu...

Three shillings a day to cover all expenses of life, food, raiment, shelter, a room in which to eat and sleep, and fire and light⁠—and recreation if recreation there might be⁠—is not much; but when Lu...

As there was no immediate repetition of the offence the forgiveness soon became complete, and Lucy found the interest of her life in her endeavours to be good to this weak child whom chance had thrown...

Sophy went back to her work, and in a very few days was permanently moved from the seat which she had hitherto occupied next to Alec Murray and near to Lucy, to a distant part of the chamber in which ...

Lucy, when she got up to her own little room with the sovereign, sat for awhile on the bed, crying. But she could not in the least explain to herself why it was that she was shedding tears at this mom...

“Yes;” he said;⁠—“about my little boy. I could not say what I had to say in the street, though I had thought to do so.” Then he paused, and she sat herself down, feeling, she did not know why, as thou...

How great is the difference between doing our duty and desiring to do it; between doing our duty and a conscientious struggle to do it; between duty really done and that satisfactory state of mind whi...

How great is the difference between doing our duty and desiring to do it; between doing our duty and a conscientious struggle to do it; between duty really done and that satisfactory state of mind whi...

Of course there would be danger. Mrs. Miles had been aware of that from the commencement of things. There had been to her a sort of pleasure in feeling that she had undertaken a duty which might possi...

Matters became very unpleasant at the Park soon after Philip went away. There had been something in his manner as he left, and a silence in regard to him on Bessy’s part, which created, not at first s...

When these pretty oaths had been sworn, and while Mrs. Miles was too ill to keep her eyes upon them or to separate them, of course the two lovers were much together. For whispering words of love, for ...

When the old woman was alone she at once went to work in her own mind resolving what should be her course of proceeding. To yield in the matter, and to confirm the happiness of the young people, never...

When a man is asked by his friend if he knows of a horse to be sold he does not like immediately to suggest a transfer of the animal which he has in his own stable, though he may at the moment be in w...

There was nothing for it but to go, after the interview described in the last chapter. Mrs. Miles sent a message to the obstinate girl, informing her that she need not any longer consider herself as a...

The same post brought Bessy two letters from England about the middle of August, both of which the reader shall see;⁠—but first shall be given that which Bessy read the last. It was from Mrs. Miles, a...

The letters were read very often, and that from Mrs. Miles I think the oftener. Philip’s love was plainly expressed, and what more is expected from a lover’s letter than a strong, manly expression of ...

We must now go back to Launay. It will be remembered that Bessy received both her letters on the same day⁠—those namely from Mrs. Miles and from Philip⁠—and that they both came from Launay. Philip had...

Miss Gregory was certainly surprised when, on the entrance of the young man, Bessy jumped from her chair and rushed into his arms. She knew that Bessy had no brother, and her instinct rather than her ...

Bessy understood the condition of the old woman much better than did her son. “I am sad a little,” she said, on her way home, “because of her disappointment.” “Sad, because she is to have you⁠—you you...

It used to be said in the village of Beetham that nothing ever went wrong with Alice Dugdale⁠—the meaning of which, perhaps, lay in the fact that she was determined that things should be made to go ri...

It used to be said in the village of Beetham that nothing ever went wrong with Alice Dugdale⁠—the meaning of which, perhaps, lay in the fact that she was determined that things should be made to go ri...

“Perhaps he is coming here to see Miss Wanless,” Alice had said to herself. And in the course of that week she found that her surmise was correct. John Rossiter stayed only one night at the parsonage,...

Sir Walter Wanless was one of those great men who never do anything great, but achieve their greatness partly by their tailors, partly by a breadth of eyebrow and carriage of the body⁠—what we may cal...

It was told all through Beetham before a week was over that Major Rossiter was to marry the second Miss Wanless, and Beetham liked the news. Beetham was proud that one of her sons should be introduced...

When Major Rossiter discussed his own conduct with himself as men are so often compelled to do by their own conscience, in opposition to their own wishes, he was not well pleased with himself. On his ...

The Assistant Deputy Inspector-General, when he reached Brook Park, found that things were to be done on a great scale. The two drawing-rooms were filled with flowers, and the big dining-room was laid...

When the Major left Brook Park on the morning after the archery amusements he was quite sure of this⁠—that under no circumstances whatever would he be induced to ask Miss Georgiana Wanless to be his w...

The Major, when he left the doctor’s house, was more thoroughly in love with Alice than ever. There had been something in her gait as she led the way out through the window, and again, as with determi...

Then by degrees it began to be rumoured about the country, and at last through the lanes of Beetham itself, that the alliance between Major Rossiter and Miss Georgiana Wanless was not quite a settled ...

The bird that had flown in at the window and had been made welcome, had flown away ungratefully. Let him come again pecking as he might at the window, no more crumbs of love should be thrown to him. A...

In the little town of Plumplington last year, just about this time of the year⁠—it was in November⁠—the ladies and gentlemen forming the Plumplington Society were much exercised as to the affairs of t...

In the little town of Plumplington last year, just about this time of the year⁠—it was in November⁠—the ladies and gentlemen forming the Plumplington Society were much exercised as to the affairs of t...

Then there came about a conversation between the two young ladies which was in itself very interesting. They had not met each other for about a fortnight when Emily Greenmantle came to Mr. Peppercorn’...

That evening Mr. Greenmantle and his daughter sat down to dinner together in a very unhappy humour. They always dined at half-past seven; not that Mr. Greenmantle liked to have his dinner at that hour...

Mr. Peppercorn’s visit to the bank had been no doubt inspired by Dr. Freeborn. The Doctor had not actually sent him to the bank, but had filled his mind with the idea that such a visit might be made w...

Things went on at Plumplington without any change for a fortnight⁠—that is without any change for the better. But in truth the ill-humour both of Mr. Greenmantle and of Mr. Peppercorn had increased to...

How should Philip Hughes see Emily before she had been carried away to “foreign parts” by her stern father? As he regarded the matter it was absolutely imperative that he should do so. If she should b...

Miss Emily Greenmantle had always possessed a certain character for delicacy. We do not mean delicacy of sentiment. That of course belonged to her as a young lady⁠—but delicacy of health. She was not ...

“Now I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” said the Doctor to his wife a few days after the two marriages had been arranged in the manner thus described. It yet wanted ten days to Christmas, and it was known ...

This story was first published in December, 1863. ↩ See Sartor Resartus. ↩ I presume my readers to be generally aware that the headquarters of the National Telegraph Department are held at the top of ...