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Chronicles and Characters

By Robert Lytton (Owen Meredith): In Two Volumes
Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton (1831-1891)
  
[dedication]

collapse sectionI. 
VOL.I
  
PRELUDE.
 I. 
I.OPIS AND ARGE.
 II. 
II.CROESUS AND ADRASTUS.
 III. 
III.GYGES AND CANDAULES.
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BOOK II.
  
THANATOS ATHANATOU.
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BOOK III. ROMANCES.
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LICINIUS.
 I. 
PART I. THE TIME.
 II. 
PART II. THE MAN.
 III. 
PART III. THE GODS.
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PART IV. THE PAST.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
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PART V. THE PRESENT.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 VI. 
PART VI. THE FUTURE.
  
GENSERIC.
  
IRENE.
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BOOK IV.
  
THE SCROLL AND ITS INTERPRETERS.
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BOOK V. LEGENDS AND ROMANCES.
  
MOHAMMED.
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THE ROSES OF SAADI.
 I. 
I.MOSES AND THE DERVISH.
 II. 
II.THE BOY AND THE RING.
 III. 
III.THE EYES OF MAHMUD.
  
THE APPLE OF LIFE.
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BOOK VI.
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THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
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PART I.
 I. 
I.THE EMPEROR ISAAC.
 II. 
II.IS SAD.
 III. 
III.AND SO IS HIS BROTHER ALEXIUS: WHO PROPOSES
 IV. 
IV.A PARTY OF PLEASURE.
 V. 
V.WHICH ENDS UNPLEASANTLY.
 VI. 
VI.OUT OF THE LIGHT, INTO THE DARK.
 VII. 
VII.ALEXIUS THE YOUNGER FLIES FROM ALEXIUS THE ELDER.
 VIII. 
VIII.AND TRIES HIS FORTUNES AND HIS FRIENDS.
 IX. 
IX.A GREAT MAN.
 X. 
X.AND SOME NOTABLE MEN.
 XI. 
XI.LE VALET DE CONSTANTINOPLE.
 XII. 
XII.A BLIND MAN SEES FAR.
 XIII. 
XIII.QUOT HOMINES TOT SENTENTIAE.
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PART II.
 I. 
I. THE EMPEROR MAKES A PROCLAMATION.
 II. 
II. AND RECEIVES THE AMBASSADORS.
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VOL. II. BOOK VI. (Continued.) THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
 I. 
I.HOW THE EMPEROR PICKED UP WHAT THE DEVIL LET FALL.
 II. 
II.GAVE AWAY WHAT HE NO LONGER POSSESSED.
 III. 
III.WHAT WAS SHOWN TO THEOCRITE, THE MONK.
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PART IV.
 I. 
I.JUSTICE
 II. 
II.ARMED
 III. 
III.BY SEA AND LAND
 IV. 
IV.IS TRIUMPHANT.
 V. 
V.SICUT FUMUS.
 VI. 
VI.TWO BLIND MEN.
 VII. 
VII.THE DOGE IS OBSTINATE.
 VIII. 
VIII.VERTIGO.
 IX. 
IX.A DARK DEED.
 X. 
X.THE FULNESS OF TIME.
 XI. 
XI.THE HORSES OF LYSIPPUS.
 XII. 
XII.AND THE LION OF ST. MARK.
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BOOK VII. LEGENDS, BALLADS, AND ROMANCES.
  
FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LANDS.
  
DOGE ORSO'S NIGHT'S WORK.
  
SALZBURGENSIS VAGABUNDUS.
  
A KING AND A QUEEN.
  
FAIR YOLAND WITH THE YELLOW HAIR.
  
TRIAL BY COMBAT.
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RABBI BEN EPHRAIM'S TREASURE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX.
 X. 
X.
 XI. 
XI.
 XII. 
XII.
 XIII. 
XIII.
 XIV. 
XIV.
 XV. 
XV.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII.
 XVIII. 
XVIII.
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CATTERINA CORNARO.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
  
JACQUELINE,
  
THE DIRGE.
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BOOK VIII. NARRATIVE, DRAMATIC, AND LYRICAL.
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THE DEAD POPE.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX.
 X. 
X.
 XI. 
XI.
 XII. 
XII.
 XIII. 
XIII.
 XIV. 
XIV.
 XV. 
XV.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII.
 XVIII. 
XVIII.
 XIX. 
XIX.
 XX. 
XX.
 XXI. 
XXI.
  
THOMAS MÜNTZER TO MARTIN LUTHER.
  
ADOLPHUS, DUKE OF GUELDERS.
  
THE DUKE'S LABORATORY.
  
VANINI
  
JOHN PETER CARAFA.
  
PICAROONS.
  
CHRISTIAN, THE DOL-HARTZOG.
  
ELISABETTA SIRANI.
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RICHELIEU.
 I. 
I. THE POETS.
 II. 
II THE THREE ESTATES.
 III. 
III. WALLENSTEIN'S DEATH.
  
THE DAUPHIN.
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BOOK IX. HERE AND THERE.
  
ATLANTIS.
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MISERY.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI.
 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
  
MELANCHOLIA.
  
LAST WORDS
  
A BEATEN ARMY.
  
A POOR MAN
  
A MAN OF SCIENCE
  
A GREAT MAN.
  
MABEL MAY.
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[section]
  
EPILOGUE.

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IV.

The woman, stone-cold 'neath the stony looks
Of this rag-robed Medusa, shrank away
Abasht; not daring, at the first, to say
Such words as, meant for comfort, might have been
Too much like insult to that grim-faced Queen,
Or King, whiche'er it was, of Wretchedness.
Her own much misery seem'd so much less
Than this, flung down before her,—by God sent,
It may have been, for her admonishment.
But, at the last, she timidly drew near
And whisper'd faintly in the creature's ear
‘Have you no home?’
No look even made reply,
Much less a word. But on the stolid sky
The stolid face stared ever.
‘Are you cold?’
A sort of inward creepy movement roll'd
The rustled rags. And still the stolid face
Perused the stolid sky. Perhaps the case
Supposed was too self-evident to claim
More confirmation than what creeping came
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To crumble those chill rags; subsiding soon,
As tho' to be unnoticed were a boon,
All kinds of notice having proved unkind.
Such creatures as men hunt are loth to find
The hole discovered where they hide; and, when
By chance you stir them out of it, they then
Make haste to feign to be already dead,
Hoping escape that way.
The woman said
More faintly ‘Are you hungry?’
There, at once
Finding intensest utterance for the nonce,
With such a howl 'twould chill your blood to hear
The wolf-jaws wail'd out ‘Hungry? ha, look here!’
And, therewith, fingers of a skeleton claw
Tearing asunder those foul rags, you saw
. . . . Was it a woman's breast? It might be so.
It look'd like nothing human that I know.
She, whose faint question such shrill response woke,
Stood stupified, stunn'd, sick.
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