To those good-mannered and agreeable children, Susie and Clara Clemens, this book is affectionaly inscribed by their father....

The quality of mercy⁠ ⁠… is twice bless’d; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes; ’Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. Merchant of Venice...

I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who had it of his father, which latter had it of his father, this last having in like manner had it of his father⁠—and so on, back and still back, th...

In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day anoth...

Let us skip a number of years. London was fifteen hundred years old, and was a great town⁠—for that day. It had a hundred thousand inhabitants⁠—some think double as many. The streets were very narrow,...

Tom got up hungry, and sauntered hungry away, but with his thoughts busy with the shadowy splendors of his night’s dreams. He wandered here and there in the city, hardly noticing where he was going, o...

After hours of persistent pursuit and persecution, the little prince was at last deserted by the rabble and left to himself. As long as he had been able to rage against the mob, and threaten it royall...

Tom Canty, left alone in the prince’s cabinet, made good use of his opportunity. He turned himself this way and that before the great mirror, admiring his finery; then walked away, imitating the princ...

Tom was conducted to the principal apartment of a noble suite, and made to sit down⁠—a thing which he was loth to do, since there were elderly men and men of high degree about him. He begged them to b...

Somewhat after one in the afternoon, Tom resignedly underwent the ordeal of being dressed for dinner. He found himself as finely clothed as before, but everything different, everything changed, from h...

About five o’clock Henry VIII awoke out of an unrefreshing nap, and muttered to himself, “Troublous dreams, troublous dreams! Mine end is now at hand: so say these warnings, and my failing pulses do c...

At nine in the evening the whole vast river-front of the palace was blazing with light. The river itself, as far as the eye could reach citywards, was so thickly covered with watermen’s boats and with...

We left John Canty dragging the rightful prince into Offal Court, with a noisy and delighted mob at his heels. There was but one person in it who offered a pleading word for the captive, and he was no...

The royal barge, attended by its gorgeous fleet, took its stately way down the Thames through the wilderness of illuminated boats. The air was laden with music; the river banks were beruffled with joy...

As soon as Miles Hendon and the little prince were clear of the mob, they struck down through back lanes and alleys toward the river. Their way was unobstructed until they approached London Bridge; th...

A heavy drowsiness presently fell upon the two comrades. The king said⁠— “Remove these rags”⁠—meaning his clothing. Hendon disapparelled the boy without dissent or remark, tucked him up in bed, then g...

Toward daylight of the same morning, Tom Canty stirred out of a heavy sleep and opened his eyes in the dark. He lay silent a few moments, trying to analyze his confused thoughts and impressions, and g...

The next day the foreign ambassadors came, with their gorgeous trains; and Tom, throned in awful state, received them. The splendors of the scene delighted his eye and fired his imagination at first, ...

The dinner hour drew near⁠—yet strangely enough, the thought brought but slight discomfort to Tom, and hardly any terror. The morning’s experiences had wonderfully built up his confidence; the poor li...

Miles Hendon hurried along toward the Southwark end of the bridge, keeping a sharp lookout for the persons he sought, and hoping and expecting to overtake them presently. He was disappointed in this, ...

The troop of vagabonds turned out at early dawn, and set forward on their march. There was a lowering sky overhead, sloppy ground under foot, and a winter chill in the air. All gaiety was gone from th...

When the king awoke in the early morning, he found that a wet but thoughtful rat had crept into the place during the night and made a cosy bed for itself in his bosom. Being disturbed now, it scampere...

The high hedge hid him from the house, now; and so, under the impulse of a deadly fright, he let out all his forces and sped toward a wood in the distance. He never looked back until he had almost gai...

The old man glided away, stooping, stealthy, catlike, and brought the low bench. He seated himself upon it, half his body in the dim and flickering light, and the other half in shadow; and so, with hi...

Once more “King Foo-foo the First” was roving with the tramps and outlaws, a butt for their coarse jests and dull-witted railleries, and sometimes the victim of small spitefulness at the hands of Cant...

Hendon forced back a smile, and bent down and whispered in the king’s ear⁠— “Softly, softly, my prince, wag thy tongue warily⁠—nay, suffer it not to wag at all. Trust in me⁠—all shall go well in the e...

The short winter day was nearly ended. The streets were deserted, save for a few random stragglers, and these hurried straight along, with the intent look of people who were only anxious to accomplish...

As soon as Hendon and the king were out of sight of the constable, his Majesty was instructed to hurry to a certain place outside the town, and wait there, whilst Hendon should go to the inn and settl...

The king sat musing a few moments, then looked up and said⁠— “ ’Tis strange⁠—most strange. I cannot account for it.” “No, it is not strange, my liege. I know him, and this conduct is but natural. He w...

The cells were all crowded; so the two friends were chained in a large room where persons charged with trifling offences were commonly kept. They had company, for there were some twenty manacled and f...

Meantime Miles was growing sufficiently tired of confinement and inaction. But now his trial came on, to his great gratification, and he thought he could welcome any sentence provided a further impris...

When Hendon’s term of service in the stocks was finished, he was released and ordered to quit the region and come back no more. His sword was restored to him, and also his mule and his donkey. He moun...

Whilst the true king wandered about the land poorly clad, poorly fed, cuffed and derided by tramps one while, herding with thieves and murderers in a jail another, and called idiot and impostor by all...

When Tom Canty awoke the next morning, the air was heavy with a thunderous murmur: all the distances were charged with it. It was music to him; for it meant that the English world was out in its stren...

Let us go backward a few hours, and place ourselves in Westminster Abbey, at four o’clock in the morning of this memorable Coronation Day. We are not without company; for although it is still night, w...

Miles Hendon was picturesque enough before he got into the riot on London Bridge⁠—he was more so when he got out of it. He had but little money when he got in, none at all when he got out. The pickpoc...

When the mysteries were all cleared up, it came out, by confession of Hugh Hendon, that his wife had repudiated Miles by his command, that day at Hendon Hall⁠—a command assisted and supported by the p...

One hears much about the “hideous Blue Laws of Connecticut,” and is accustomed to shudder piously when they are mentioned. There are people in America⁠—and even in England!⁠—who imagine that they were...

Christ’s Hospital Costume⁠—It is most reasonable to regard the dress as copied from the costume of the citizens of London of that period, when long blue coats were the common habit of apprentices and ...