Introductory Note: Buddha
Introductory note on Buddha (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on Buddha (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)
The thousandth celestial wife of the Garland God slipped and fell to earth, where she took mortal form and served as an attendant in a temple. Death finally released her and she went back to heaven to tell her lord of the ways of men. (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on American Historical Documents (Volume 43, Harvard Classics)
All Americans should know this treaty which finally inaugurated an era of peace and good understanding with England. For over a hundred years this peace has been unbroken. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) Treaty with Great Britain proclaimed Feb. 18. 1815.
While acting in one of his own plays, Molière was suddenly stricken and died shortly after the final curtain. He took an important role in "Tartuffe" which introduces to literature a character as famous as Shakespeare's Falstaff. (Volume 26, Harvard Classics) Molière died Feb. 17, 1673.
Introductory note on Molière (Volume 26, Harvard Classics)
Ants have slaves who work for them. These slaves make the nests, feed the master ants, tend the eggs, and do the moving when a colony of ants migrate. Darwin minutely describes the habits and lives of the industrious ants and their marvelous social organization --- a wonder to mankind. (Volume 11, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Charles Darwin (Volume 11, Harvard Classics)
The romantic and heedless loves of Antony and Cleopatra figure prominently in history, literature, and drama. Dryden made a fascinating play from the story of Antony, who sacrificed the leadership of Rome, reputation, and life itself for love of the Egyptian queen, who followed him in death. (Volume 18, Harvard Classics) Mark Antony offers Cæsar crown at Rome, Feb. 15, 44 B. C.
Introductory note on John Dryden (Volume 18, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Blaise Pascal (Volume 48, Harvard Classics)
Pascal --- an original genius --- purposed to master everything that was new in art and science. He was a mathematician and scientist as well as a religious enthusiast and moralist, and he shows a decidedly human side of his nature in this superb essay on Love. (Volume 48, Harvard Classics) St. Valentine's Day.
At the age of fifty-eight Benvenuto Cellini shaved his head and retired to a monastery to write his own story of murder, passion, and great deeds of the Renaissance. His life is a vivid picture of the most colorful period in history, a period when statecraft and religion and black magic and assassination were naively mingled in men's lives. (Volume 31, Harvard Classics) Benvenuto Cellini died Feb. 13, 1570.
Introductory note on Benvenuto Cellini (Volume 31, Harvard Classics)
Lincoln himself thought his famous Gettysburg Address was a failure. To-day the whole world acclaims its greatness. Cast in bronze, it hangs on the wall of Balliol College, Oxford, regarded as the perfection of English prose. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) Abraham Lincoln born Feb. 12, 1809.
Introductory note on Abraham Lincoln (Noted Speeches of Abraham Lincoln)
Descartes was slain through the eccentric whim of a queen who demanded that he tutor her in the freezing dawn in the dead of winter. His philosophy lives in this essay. (Volume 34, Harvard Classics) René Descartes died at Stockholm, Feb. 11, 1650.
Introductory note on René Descartes (Volume 34, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Voltaire (Volume 34, Harvard Classics)
Voltaire once visited Congreve. This famous dramatist requested to be regarded only as a plain gentleman. "Had you been that I should never have come to see you," Voltaire cynically replies. (Volume 34, Harvard Classics) William Congreve baptized Feb. 10, 1670.
Introductory note on Tacitus (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)
Tacitus, the historian, visited the virile German tribes in their primitive homes on the banks of the Rhine He was surprised to learn that the men so active and eager in war lolled in indolence during the intervals between. (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)
"But I, the Queen of a' Scotland, maun lie in prison strang." Burns sings of poor Mary bound by chains, yearning for the day when flowers would "bloom on her peaceful grave." (Volume 6, Harvard Classics) Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded Feb. 8, 1587.
Introductory note on Robert Burns (Volume 6, Harvard Classics)
Introductory note on Samuel Johnson (Wikipedia)
Johnson was not always a conventional guest. Graciously treated, he responded in like manner, but offended, Johnson could wield a pen dripping with vitriol. (Volume 39, Harvard Classics) Samuel Johnson writes to Lord Chesterfield, Feb. 7, 1755.
Introductory note on Christopher Marlowe (Volume 46, Harvard Classics)
"The reluctant pangs of abdicating royalty in 'Edward' furnished hints which Shakespeare scarcely improved in his 'Richard the Second,' and the death scene of Marlowe's King moves to pity and terror." -CHARLES LAMB. (Volume 46, Harvard Classics) Christopher Marlowe born Feb. 6, 1564.
Introductory note on The Thousand and One Nights (Volume 16, Harvard Classics)
Trapped in a valley filled with huge diamonds guarded by venomous serpents, Sindibad devised a clever means of escaping with many of the glittering jewels. (Volume 16, Harvard Classics)