Introductory note on Jean Froissart (Volume 35, Harvard Classics)
Sep 23, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 776
In the days when kings rode to battle leading their troops it was possible to make good the boast of the doughboy: "I'll bring you a king for a souvenir." (Volume 35, Harvard Classics) Froissart dates Battle of Poitiers, Sept. 22, 1356.
Sep 23, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 775
Introductory note on Virgil (Volume 13, Harvard Classics)
Sep 22, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 774
The Sybil, an old witch, personally conducts Æneas through the gate and into the jaws of hell, where terrors abound on every hand and frightful mysterious forms rule. There he is told of the greatness and glory that was to come. (Volume 13, Harvard Classics) Virgil died Sept. 21, 19 B. C.
Sep 22, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 773
Introductory note on Mohammed (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)
Sep 20, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 772
The Koran defines the powers of a husband over his wives. Thus a woman unfaithful to her lord may be walled up alive. (Volume 45, Harvard Classics) Mohammed arrives at Kuba after "The Flight," Sept. 20, 622.
Sep 20, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 771
Introductory note on Miguel de Cervantes (Volume 14, Harvard Classics)
Sep 19, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 770
Held as a Moorish slave for five years, Cervantes was submitted to almost daily tortures. But even the horrors of slavery could not dull his sense of humor, as evinced by his most witty and amusing novel. (Volume 14, Harvard Classics) Cervantes ransomed from slavery, Sept. 19, 1580.
Sep 19, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 769
Introductory note on Richard Henry Dana (Volume 23, Harvard Classics)
Sep 19, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 768
Every sight was full of beauty. We were coming back to our homes, and the signs of civilization from which we had been so long banished --" wrote Dana, as his ship entered Boston Harbor. (Volume 23, Harvard Classics) Dana returns from two-year voyage, Sept. 18, 1836.
Sep 19, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 767
Introductory note on John Greenleaf Whittier (The Ridpath's Library of Universal Literature)
Sep 18, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 766
For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.'" On this theme Whittier based the story of a fair farmer girl and a rich judge. (Volume 42, Harvard Classics) Whittier died Sept. 17, 1892.
Sep 18, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 765
Introductory note on William Harrison (Volume 35, Harvard Classics)
Sep 17, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 764
"Such felons as stand mute [do not confess] are pressed to death by huge weights laid upon a board that lieth over their breast and a sharp stone under their backs." Old English punishments, recorded by Holinshed, make startling reading. (Volume 35, Harvard Classics)
Sep 17, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 763
Introductory note on George Washington (The Ridpath's Library of Universal Literature)
Sep 16, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 762
George Washington retired to private life in 1796, entrusting "the preservation of the Union" to the "love of liberty." His last appeal is a vital message to American citizens, as pertinent today as when he penned it. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) George Washington published "Farewell Address," Sept. 15, 1796.
Sep 16, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 761
Introductory note on Dante Alighieri (Volume 20, Harvard Classics)
Sep 15, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 760
Dante, having journeyed through Hell and Purgatory, comes at last to St. Peter on his throne. St. Peter calls for the aid of St. James and St. John before passing final judgment on Dante's righteousness. (Volume 20, Harvard Classics) Dante died Sept. 14, 1321.
Sep 15, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 759
Introductory note on John Bunyan (Volume 15, Harvard Classics)
Sep 14, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 758
From cockfighting, bear baiting, and like sports, the wife of John Bunyan converted him to a life of humility and reverence. While imprisoned for preaching, he used his idle time in writing a fantastic story of a soul's salvation -- probably the most famous allegory ever written. (Volume 15, Harvard Classics) John Bunyan liberated and pardoned, Sept. 13, 1672.
Sep 14, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 757
Introductory note on Elizabeth Barrett Browning (The Ridpath's Library of Universal Literature)
Sep 13, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 756
In all literary history there is no happier love story than that of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. During their secret courtship Miss Barrett sent Browning many beautiful love letters written in verse. (Volume 41, Harvard Classics) Browning married Elizabeth Barrett, Sept. 12, 1846.
Sep 13, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 755
Introductory note on Adam Smith (Volume 10, Harvard Classics)
Sep 11, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 754
What regulates wages, on what do they depend? Adam Smith, world's authority on economic problems, advances his theories on these matters. (Volume 10, Harvard Classics)
Sep 11, 2021•17 min•Ep. 753
Introductory note on Oliver Wendell Holms (Volume 42, Harvard Classics)
Sep 11, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 752
One of America's famous New Englanders, Oliver Wendell Holmes, devoted his life principally to medicine. His name, however, was made famous through his poem, "Old Ironsides," by which he saved America's most famous battleship from destruction when her fighting days were ended. (Volume 42, Harvard Classics)
Sep 11, 2021•7 min•Ep. 751
Introductory note on Ralph Waldo Emerson (Volume 5, Harvard Classics)
Sep 09, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 750
"There are days during the year," says Emerson, "when the world of nature reaches perfection." Can anyone escape this call, especially in the glorious Indian Summer? (Volume 5, Harvard Classics) Emerson retires from the ministry, Sept. 9, 1832.
Sep 09, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 749
Introductory note on Hermann Von Helmholtz (Volume 30, Harvard Classics)
Sep 08, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 748
There was a time when the snow fell and did not melt in summer. Then from the frozen north there descended huge masses of ice that covered northern Europe and most of North America. Glaciers reveal a new world to us. (Volume 30, Harvard Classics) Helmholtz died Sept. 8, 1894.
Sep 08, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 747
