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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 28
1,860 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 28 of 39.
Sketch-Book of the North
George Eyre-Todd
The spirit of Scotland is captured through a series of evocative vignettes, traversing ancient battlefields, quiet Highland glens, and bustling city streets to reveal a landscape rich in history and enduring natural beauty.
The Morality of Woman, and Other Essays
Ellen Key
A collection of essays on the evolution of woman’s role, this work argues that true morality in relationships must stem from love rather than legal or social dogma. It challenges the conventional structures of the early twentieth century, insisting that an individual’s integrity is the only foundation for a…
Essays from the Chap-Book: Being a Miscellany of Curious and interesting Tales, Histories, &c
Various
This collection gathers critical essays and literary sketches from a pivotal era of American letters, offering a candid look at the aesthetic tensions of the late nineteenth century. These pieces capture a moment when traditional sensibilities collided with emerging modernism.
Music and bad manners
Carl Van Vechten
The concert hall is rarely a place of civility, yet we often mistake its stifling silence for reverence. This collection of essays pulls back the velvet curtain on the erratic, often explosive world of early 20th-century music.
Library Essays
Arthur E. (Arthur Elmore) Bostwick
A veteran librarian reflects on the evolving purpose of the public institution, offering a timeless perspective on the duty to balance community needs with professional standards.
The Physiology of Marriage, Part 3
Honoré de Balzac
This analytical work dissects the volatile landscape of marriage, presenting the husband as a beleaguered strategist navigating the unpredictable, often deceptive maneuvers of his wife. It offers a cynical, humorous, and deeply calculated study of domestic power dynamics.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 93, No. 570, April, 1863
Various
This Victorian periodical serves as a time capsule, capturing the geopolitical anxieties, imperial ambitions, and domestic sentiments of mid-nineteenth-century Britain through a diverse collection of essays and narratives.
The awful Australian
Montague Grover
A scathing, satirical dissection of Australian society from the perspective of an uncompromising visitor, this work serves as an abrasive "case for the prosecution" against a nation the author deems arrogant, uncultured, and terminally self-satisfied.
A Traveller in Little Things
W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
A wandering naturalist drifts through the English countryside, collecting small, ephemeral truths about village life, childhood, and the ghosts of memory. This gentle work offers an intimate, episodic look at the quiet corners of the world.
Australian Essays
Francis Adams
This collection of essays and dialogues captures the intellectual ferment of 1880s Australia, offering a sharp, unsentimental portrait of a young society grappling with its identity, colonial legacy, and future.
Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century
Caroline Frances Cornwallis
This exploration of nineteenth-century faith examines the fractured landscape of Christian belief, arguing that the spirit of the Gospel is often lost in the rigid, divisive structures of sectarian partisanship.
Notes and Queries, Number 139, June 26, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
This journal serves as a nineteenth-century clearinghouse for scholars and enthusiasts, gathering obscure historical, linguistic, and genealogical inquiries into a single, collaborative forum. It remains a fascinating artifact of Victorian intellectual curiosity and communal research.
A Broader Mission for Liberal Education: Baccalaureate Address, Delivered in Agricultural College Chapel, Sunday June 9, 1901
John H. (John Henry) Worst
The pursuit of knowledge should not distance a person from the realities of work; rather, a truly liberal education must bridge the divide between the hand and the mind to prepare citizens for a life of purposeful action.
Address to the Non-Slaveholders of the South: on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery
Lewis Tappan
Non-slaveholding Southerners are the intended audience for this urgent appeal, which argues that the institution of slavery actively impoverishes the white working class while concentrating power in the hands of a wealthy, aristocratic minority.
![Cover of Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 5 [December 1902]: Illustrated by Color Photography](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/birds-and-nature-vol-12-no-5-december-1902-illustrated-by-color.webp)
Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 5 [December 1902]: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
This collection captures a fleeting moment of turn-of-the-century natural history, blending scientific observation, poetry, and a genuine, Victorian-era wonder for the American landscape. It serves as both a field journal and an early pedagogical tool, curated to foster an intimate, observational relationship…
Evergreens
Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
Evergreen spirits are the quiet, sturdy souls who endure life’s tempests without complaint or pretense. They are the friends who remain constant, providing a foundation of reliability long after the flashier charms of youth have faded.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 20. December, 1877
Various
A kaleidoscopic window into 1877, this collection captures the era’s restless spirit through travelogues, political dispatches, and the vibrant, often turbulent friction between old-world tradition and modern ambition.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 394, October 17, 1829
Various
This collection serves as a vibrant microcosm of early nineteenth-century British intellectual curiosity, curating a diverse array of cultural, historical, and narrative threads for the inquisitive reader. It offers an evocative snapshot of a world rapidly expanding its horizons through print.
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 03: Massillon to Mason
Unknown
These eleven historic sermons explore the nature of human imperfection, the necessity of divine grace, and the persistent, often agonizing, search for spiritual light in an unpredictable world.
Count the Cost: An Address to the People of Connecticut, On Sundry Political Subjects, and Particularly on the Proposition for a New Constitution
David Daggett
Before pulling up a flourishing hill of corn to search for worms, a prudent farmer must pause to consider if the act might destroy the crop entirely. This central warning serves as the cornerstone for a rigorous defense of Connecticut’s established political order during a period of intense revolutionary fervor.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 306: New Series, Saturday, November 10, 1849
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century periodical offers a fascinating, kaleidoscopic view of Victorian intellectual life, blending serious moral philosophy with practical advice, travelogues, and cautionary tales. It captures a world in the midst of rapid transformation.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 5, May 1849
Various
This collection serves as a vibrant time capsule of American literary life in the spring of 1849, blending social satire, adventure, and philosophical inquiry. It offers a multifaceted view of the nineteenth-century intellectual landscape through the lens of a popular monthly magazine.
Heretics And Heresies: From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'
Robert Green Ingersoll
Thinking for oneself is often the greatest risk a person can take; it is the path that transforms a free mind into a target for institutional rage. This work serves as an impassioned, historical indictment of how religious authorities have historically used the label of heresy to silence intellectual progress and…
Post mortem: Essays, historical and medical
C. (Charles) MacLaurin
Great figures of history are often framed by the myths they inspire, yet they were first and foremost physical beings governed by the frailties of the human body. This collection of essays examines the intersection of high-stakes historical events and the often-overlooked medical conditions that may have shaped the…
Representative British Orations Volume 1 (of 4): With Introductions and Explanatory Notes
Unknown
This collection of historical speeches preserves the pivotal moments when influential voices shaped the trajectory of a nation. It offers an intimate look at the power of rhetoric to define the boundaries between authority and liberty.
The commonwealth of cells
H. G. F. (Herbert George Flaxman) Spurrell
A continuous burn of energy keeps living substance intact while constantly changing it, separating organic life from simple non-living chemistry.
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 14 (of 32)
John Wesley
A collection of letters, journals, and formal defenses forms a passionate blueprint for early Methodism, insisting that true faith requires both deep internal experience and visible, practical holiness.
Clergymen of the Church of England
Anthony Trollope
A gentle, clear-eyed examination of the nineteenth-century Victorian clergy reveals a human workforce navigating ancient hierarchies, shifting political landscapes, and the quiet absurdities of an established institution.
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 15, October 10, 1840
Various
A brief shift in fashion transforms a beloved landscape into an forgotten wasteland, while simple rural figures silently steer the romantic destinies of their neighbors.
![Cover of The Voice of Faith in the Valley of Achor: Vol. 1 [of 2]: being a series of letters to several friends on religious subjects](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-voice-of-faith-in-the-valley-of-achor-vol-1-of-2-being-a-series-of.webp)
The Voice of Faith in the Valley of Achor: Vol. 1 [of 2]: being a series of letters to several friends on religious subjects
J. (John) Church
Through the iron bars of imprisonment, an outcast minister turns his private cellar of despair into a fortress of unyielding, sovereign faith.
When a Man Comes to Himself
Woodrow Wilson
A quiet, transformative awakening awaits anyone willing to step outside the narrow circle of self-interest and measure their true place within the wider human community.
In the Firing Line: Stories of the War by Land and Sea
Arthur St. John Adcock
The frontline exposes human nature at its most raw, where ordinary men face catastrophic machinery with gallows humor, sudden courage, and deep camaraderie.
Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 88, July 5, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
An obscure manuscript in a fallen duke’s pocket, a centuries-old tale of a London porter turned pontiff, and the proper way to preserve the dead with salt all converge in a lively Victorian intellectual exchange.
Old Wine and New: Occasional Discourses
Joseph Cross
A collection of mid-nineteenth-century pulpit addresses balances traditional Christian orthodoxy with lush rhetorical art, urging believers to exchange rigid ritualism for an intimate, personal relationship with the divine.
State of the Union Addresses
Woodrow Wilson
A leader guides his country through peace, global war, and messy recovery while defining a nation's modern role on the world stage.
Notes and Queries, Number 177, March 19, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A dense, Victorian tapestry of scholarly debates, folk customs, and historical mysteries shows how an eager community of correspondents pieced together the past through collective curiosity.
Proof-reading
F. Horace (Francis Horace) Teall
A passionate, sharp-witted defense of the print shop's most crucial worker, this volume transforms the dry mechanics of text revision into a battle for linguistic clarity and professional respect.
Remarks of Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina on the bill to prevent the interference of certain federal officers in elections: delivered in the Senate of the United States February 22, 1839
John C. (John Caldwell) Calhoun
A fierce defense of state sovereignty frames federal overreach as an existential threat to constitutional liberty and economic fairness.
Small Talk at Wreyland. Second Series
Cecil Torr
An observant Devon country gentleman weaves local lore, antiquarian scholarship, and family memories into a quietly captivating portrait of rural English continuity.
A happy half-century, and other essays
Agnes Repplier
A witty, affectionate look at 18th- and 19th-century British intellectual life, from the rise of the novel to the cult of childhood, by a sharp-eyed observer of human folly.
If, Yes and Perhaps: Four Possibilities and Six Exaggerations with Some Bits of Fact
Edward Everett Hale
Bound by the tether of an unforgiving oath, a young officer learns what it means to be stripped from his nation’s memory and erased from the map of the world he loved.
Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons
Benjamin Franklin
A witness to the dawn of flight, a legendary statesman watches as humanity first slips the bonds of gravity to ascend into the clouds.
The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, February, 1880
Various
This journal presents a collection of late nineteenth-century essays that fiercely defend biblical orthodoxy against the encroaching tide of Darwinism, atheism, and secular philosophy. It serves as a time capsule of the intellectual skirmishes that defined religious discourse in 1880.
The Curse of Education
Harold Edward Gorst
Modern schooling acts as a mechanical press, flattening unique human minds into a uniform, mediocre shape. By forcing children into a rigid, one-size-fits-all curriculum, society systematically destroys individual genius and prepares youth for lives of frustration and incompetence.
The southern literary messenger, Vol. II., No. 9, August, 1836
Various
This collection captures the intellectual pulse of the 1830s, gathering essays, poetry, and political discourse into a single, vibrant portrait of an era’s preoccupation with history, governance, and the soul.
"'Tis Sixty Years Since": Address of Charles Francis Adams
Charles Francis Adams
Reflecting on a lifetime of public service, a seasoned observer examines the profound shifts in American society, politics, and technology that occurred between the mid-nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.
Everyday Americans
Henry Seidel Canby
This examination of the American character, written in the wake of the First World War, explores the enduring tension between the nation's inherited idealism and its entrenched, cautious conservatism. It asks whether a society built on the promise of freedom can overcome its own resistance to change.
On reading in relation to literature
Lafcadio Hearn
True reading is not the passive consumption of words, but an active, disciplined exercise of the intellect that transforms the reader as much as it reveals the text. Mastering this art requires patience, discrimination, and the courage to engage only with the best.