Introductory Note: Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Introductory note on Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Volume 26, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Volume 26, Harvard Classics)
Disguised as a man, a Russian noblewoman exploring the mountains of Poland came upon a secret prison. Fate linked the lives of this woman and the unknown prisoner. (Volume 26, Harvard Classics) Calderon, after a life of adventure, died May 5, 1681.
When science was struggling for a place in popular education, Huxley distinguished himself as its champion. While the arts were to beautify life and increase pleasure, Huxley saw science as a means of benefiting man's prosperity. (Volume 28, Harvard Classics) Huxley born May 4, 1825.
Introductory note on Thomas Henry Huxley (Volume 28, Harvard Classics)
Traveling from court to court in the stirring days of the Renaissance, Machiavelli studied the intrigues of princes. His writings have affected the destiny of mighty dynasties. (Volume 36, Harvard Classics) Machiavelli born May 3, 1469.
Introductory note on Niccolo Machiavelli (Volume 36, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Michael Faraday (Volume 30, Harvard Classics)
Everything has to have a beginning, so too with the science of electricity. Here we learn the very rudiments, the inceptions of science that have revolutionized the world. Faraday explains in a simple way the truths of electricity. (Volume 30, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on William Hazlitt (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)
Once Hazlitt and his friends took to discussing the famous people they would like to meet --- Guy Fawkes, Sir Isaac Newton, Chaucer, Boccaccio, Cromwell, Garrick, and Judas. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on American Historical Documents (Volume 43, Harvard Classics)
Washington declared that the strength of the new nation lay in the "pure and immutable principles of private morality." A free government, fortified by the virtues and affection of its citizens, can command the respect of the world. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) Washington inaugurated April 30, 1789.
Introductory note on The Thousand and One Nights (Volume 16, Harvard Classics)
Sindbad, a poor man, recited woeful verses before the magnificent dwelling of Sindbad of the Sea. The great Sindbad, hearing him, invited the poor Sindbad to a feast and told the wonderful story of his fabulous fortune. (Volume 16, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on The Book of Ecclesiastes (Volume 44, Harvard Classics)
Three hundred years before Christ, a preacher in Jerusalem complained that there was no new thing under the sun. Everything considered new had really existed in the time of the fathers. Sophisticated and modern is this writer of 2,300 years ago. (Volume 44, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Ralph Waldo Emerson (Volume 5, Harvard Classics)
The Puritan world feared Beauty. Emerson, great American essayist and philosopher, declared that the world was made for beauty, and openly worshiped at beauty's shrine. (Volume 5, Harvard Classics) Emerson died April 27, 1882.
Introductory note on David Hume (Volume 37, Harvard classics)
Just what constitutes a miracle? Does Science indorse miracles? One wonders why such marvelous things do not happen often nowadays. Hume tells why. (Volume 37, Harvard Classics) David Hume born April 26, 1711.
Introductory note on Tacitus (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)
Men who danced among sharp swords --- who gambled with their lives --- who took their women to the battlefields to encourage the brave and shame the cowardly --- these were the primitive Germans who made Roman emperors tremble. (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Charles Darwin (Volume 11, Harvard Classics)
At the rate at which elephants naturally increase, Darwin estimated that in 750 years there could be nearly 19,000,000 elephants. But did Darwin consider the ravages of civilization and circuses? (Volume 11, Harvard Classics)
Shaken and disillusioned by the treachery of his elder daughter, King Lear suspected even the faithful Cordelia of evil designs. Her most tender efforts to comfort him failed to drive away the insistent specter of his madness. (Volume 46, Harvard Classics) Shakespeare died April 23, 1616.
Introductory note on The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare (Volume 46, Harvard Classics)
Immanuel Kant, the most influential of German philosophers, taught that it was man's duty to be happy, for an unhappy man is tempted to sin. Seekers after happiness find aid and inspiration in Kant's writings. (Volume 32, Harvard Classics) Immanuel Kant born April 22, 1724.
Introductory note on Immanuel Kant (Volume 32, Harvard Classics)
Through the pages of a book the reader sees the life of past days. Carnivals, processions, battles, coronations, voyages - the whole history of the world and its people is revealed in a stupendous pageant. Taine was a Frenchman who wrote an unsurpassed history of English literature; its introduction reveals the unusual combination of an imaginative and an analytical style. (Volume 39, Harvard Classics) H. A. Taine born April 21, 1828.
Introductory note on Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (Wikipedia)