4 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
4 chapters
DE QUINCEY'S WRITINGS.
DE QUINCEY'S WRITINGS.
It is the intention of the publishers to issue, at intervals, a complete collection of Mr. De Quincey's Writings, uniform with this volume. The first four volumes of the series will contain,— I. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Suspiria De Profundis. II. Biographical Essays. III. Miscellaneous Essays. IV. The Cæsars....
17 minute read
ON
ON
From my boyish days I had always felt a great perplexity on one point in Macbeth. It was this: the knocking at the gate, which succeeds to the murder of Duncan, produced to my feelings an effect for which I never could account. The effect was, that it reflected back upon the murder a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity; yet, however obstinately I endeavored with my understanding to comprehend this, for many years I never could see why it should produce such an effect. Here I pause for on
2 hour read
SECOND PAPER ON MURDER,
SECOND PAPER ON MURDER,
DOCTOR NORTH: You are a liberal man: liberal in the true classical sense, not in the slang sense of modern politicians and education-mongers. Being so, I am sure that you will sympathize with my case. I am an ill-used man, Dr. North—particularly ill used; and, with your permission, I will briefly explain how. A black scene of calumny will be laid open; but you, Doctor, will make all things square again. One frown from you, directed to the proper quarter, or a warning shake of the crutch, will se
27 minute read
JOAN OF ARC[1]
JOAN OF ARC[1]
What is to be thought of her ? What is to be thought of the poor shepherd girl from the hills and forests of Lorraine, that—like the Hebrew shepherd boy from the hills and forests of Judæa—rose suddenly out of the quiet, out of the safety, out of the religious inspiration, rooted in deep pastoral solitudes, to a station in the van of armies, and to the more perilous station at the right hand of kings? The Hebrew boy inaugurated his patriotic mission by an act , by a victorious act , such as no m
32 minute read