It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear,
distinct, and connected narrative of the lives of those great personages
who have in various ages of the world made themselves celebrated as
leaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in the public
affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence on the
history of the human race. The end which the author has had in view is
twofold: first, to communicate such information in respect to the
subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader to
possess; and, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the events
described and the characters delineated as they may legitimately teach
to the people of the present age. Though written in a direct and simple
style, they are intended for, and addressed to, minds possessed of some
considerable degree of maturity, for such minds only can fully
appreciate the character and action which exhibits itself, as nearly all
that is described in these volumes does, in close combination with the
conduct and policy of governments, and the great events of
international history.

Sku: historyofjuliuscaesar

I was born under the Blue Ridge, and under that side which is blue in the
evening light, in a wild land of game and forest and rushing waters.
There, on the borders of a creek that runs into the Yadkin River, in a
cabin that was chinked with red mud, I came into the world a subject of
King George the Third, in that part of his realm known as the province of
North Carolina.
The cabin reeked of corn-pone and bacon, and the odor of pelts. It had
two shakedowns, on one of which I slept under a bearskin. A rough stone
chimney was reared outside, and the fireplace was as long as my father
was tall. There was a crane in it, and a bake kettle; and over it great
buckhorns held my father’s rifle when it was not in use. On other horns
hung jerked bear’s meat and venison hams, and gourds for drinking cups,
and bags of seed, and my father’s best hunting shirt; also, in a
neglected corner, several articles of woman’s attire from pegs.

Sku: completepgeditionoftheworks

The Australian continent is not distinguished, as are many other
continents of equal and even of less extent, by any prominent
geographical feature. Its mountains seldom exceed four thousand feet in
elevation, nor do any of its rivers, whether falling internally or
externally, not even the Murray, bear any proportion to the size of the
continent itself. There is no reason, however, why rivers of greater
magnitude, than any which have hitherto been discovered in it, should not
emanate from mountains of such limited altitude, as the known mountains
of that immense and sea-girt territory. But, it appears to me, it is not
in the height and character of its hilly regions, that we are to look for
the causes why so few living streams issue from them. The true cause, I
apprehend, lies in its climate, in its seldom experiencing other than
partial rains, and in its being subject to severe and long continued
droughts. Its streams descend rapidly into a country of uniform equality
of surface, and into a region of intense heat, and are subject, even at a
great distance from their sources, to sudden and terrific floods, which
subside, as the cause which gave rise to them ceases to operate; the
consequence is, that their springs become gradually weaker and weaker,
all back impulse is lost, and whilst the rivers still continue to support
a feeble current in the hills, they cease to flow in their lower
branches, assume the character of a chain of ponds, in a few short weeks
their deepest pools are exhausted by the joint effects of evaporation and
absorption, and the traveller may run down their beds for miles, without
finding a drop of water with which to slake his thirst.

Sku: centralaustraliaV2

Australia, forming as it does a vast island continent in the Southern world, lies to some extent within the tropical range, for the Tropic of Capricorn traverses its northern part. At present, however, its most densely populated portion lies just outside the tropics, and it is this semi-tropical part of Australia with which we have mostly to do. And apart, too, from the mere fact of Australia being between certain parallels of latitude, which makes its climate tropical or semi-tropical, as the case may be, its position is peculiar in that it forms this enormous ocean-girt continent already described.

Sku: artoflivinginaustralia

William John Wills was born at Totnes, in Devonshire, on the 5th of
January, 1834. He had, therefore, attained the full age of
twenty-seven at the time of his death. Even in infancy, his
countenance was interesting and expressive. He began to speak and
walk alone before he had completed his first year. His lively
disposition gave ample employment to his nurses, though I cannot
remember that he ever worried one, through peevishness or a
fractious temper. As soon as he could talk distinctly, he evinced
an aptitude to name things after his own fancy; and I may fairly
say, that he was never a child in the common acceptation of the
term, as he gave early indications of diligence and discretion
scarcely compatible with the helplessness and simplicity of such
tender years. About the time of his completing his third year, Mr.
Benthall, a friend and near neighbour, asked permission to take him
for a walk in his garden.

Sku: successfulexploration

Exceedingly anxious about the missing party; started out to the cart,
found missing party had arrived there all safe on 29th, and started early
on the 30th on their return. Immediately started back to lake, horse
knocked up; obliged to camp with him and arrived at camp on Wednesday 2nd
at 6 a.m., missing party not returned: thought I would never see them
again, and an awful blow it would be to me, in the first place the loss
of my two best men and the four camels I had so much reliance in. At once
on arrival sent for three horses and took Bell and Jack (the native) with
me to endeavour to get traces of them or the camels; proceeded east to
the end of the lake and round the eastern end northward but no traces
whatever; returned to camp with the intention of proceeding westward in
search with Jack, and to my infinite pleasure found they, with the
camels, had some short time before returned in a most exhausted state,
their mouths, tongues, and throats in a most pitiable condition, and
perfectly worn out; had they been out the remainder of that day without
success they (the men) must have perished.

Sku: intariorofaustralia

These stations are established on creeks which come down from the western
slopes of the Coast Range–here extending in a north and south
direction–and meander through plains of more or less extent to join the
Condamine River; which–also rising in the Coast Range, where the latter
expands into the table-land of New England–sweeps round to the
northward, and, flowing parallel to the Coast Range, receives the whole
drainage from the country to the westward of the range. The Condamine
forms, for a great distance, the separation of the sandstone country to
the westward, from the rich basaltic plains to the eastward. These
plains, so famous for the richness of their pasture, and for the
excellency of the sheep and cattle depastured upon them, have become
equally remarkable as the depositaries of the remains of extinct species
of animals, several of which must have been of a gigantic size, being the
Marsupial representatives of the Pachydermal order of other continents.

Sku: overlandaustralia

My first experience of country life in France, about thirty years ago,
was in a fine old chateau standing high in pretty, undulating, wooded
country close to the forest of Villers-Cotterets, and overlooking the
great plains of the Oise–big green fields stretching away to the
sky-line, broken occasionally by little clumps of wood, with steeples
rising out of the green, marking the villages and hamlets which, at
intervals, are scattered over the plains, and in the distance the blue
line of the forest. The chateau was a long, perfectly simple, white
stone building. When I first saw it, one bright November afternoon, I
said to my husband as we drove up, “What a charming old wooden house!”
which remark so astonished him that he could hardly explain that it
was all stone, and that no big houses (nor small, either) in France
were built of wood. I, having been born in a large white wooden house
in America, couldn’t understand why he was so horrified at my
ignorance of French architecture.

Sku: chateauandcountry1