OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# The Old Bachelor (Congreve)/Prologue by Anne Bracegirdle

PROLOGUE. Spoken by Mrs. Bracegirdle.
How this vile world is changed! In former days Prologues were serious speeches before plays, Grave, solemn things, as graces are to feasts, Where poets begged a blessing from their guests. But now no more like suppliants we come; A play makes war, and prologue is the drum. Armed with keen satire and with pointed wit, We threaten you who do for judges sit, To save our plays, or else we’ll damn your pit. But for your comfort, it falls out to-day, We’ve a young author and his first-born play; So, standing only on his good behaviour, He’s very civil, and entreats your favour. Not but the man has malice, would he show it, But on my conscience he’s a bashful poet; You think that strange—no matter, he’ll outgrow it. Well, I’m his advocate: by me he prays you (I don’t know whether I shall speak to please you), He prays—O bless me! what shall I do now? Hang me if I know what he prays, or how! And ’twas the prettiest prologue as he wrote it! Well, the deuce take me, if I han’t forgot it. O Lord, for heav’n’s sake excuse the play, Because, you know, if it be damned to-day, I shall be hanged for wanting what to say. For my sake then—but I’m in such confusion, I cannot stay to hear your resolution.
[Runs off.]
# The Old Man Made Young Again

In the time when our Lord still walked this earth, he and St. Peter stopped one evening at a smith's and received free quarters. Then it came to pass that a poor beggar, hardly pressed by age and infirmity, came to this house and begged alms of the smith. St. Peter had compassion on him and said, "Lord and master, if it please thee, cure his torments that he may be able to win his own bread." The Lord said kindly, "Smith, lend me thy forge, and put on some coals for me, and then I will make this ailing old man young again." The smith was quite willing, and St. Peter blew the bellows, and when the coal fire sparkled up large and high our Lord took the little old man, pushed him in the forge in the midst of the red-hot fire, so that he glowed like a rose-bush, and praised God with a loud voice. After that the Lord went to the quenching tub, put the glowing little man into it so that the water closed over him, and after he had carefully cooled him, gave him his blessing, when behold the little man sprang nimbly out, looking fresh, straight, healthy, and as if he were but twenty.
The smith, who had watched everything closely and attentively, invited them all to supper. He, however, had an old half-blind crooked, mother-in-law who went to the youth, and with great earnestness asked if the fire had burnt him much. He answered that he had never felt more comfortable, and that he had sat in the red heat as if he had been in cool dew. The youth's words echoed in the ears of the old woman all night long, and early next morning, when the Lord had gone on his way again and had heartily thanked the smith, the latter thought he might make his old mother-in-law young again likewise, as he had watched everything so carefully, and it lay in the province of his trade. So he called to ask her if she, too, would like to go bounding about like a girl of eighteen. She said, "With all my heart, as the youth has come out of it so well."
So the smith made a great fire, and thrust the old woman into it, and she writhed about this way and that, and uttered terrible cries of murder. "Sit still; why art thou screaming and jumping about so?" cried he, and as he spoke he blew the bellows again until all her rags were burnt. The old woman cried without ceasing, and the smith thought to himself, "I have not quite the right art," and took her out and threw her into the cooling-tub. Then she screamed so loudly that the smith's wife upstairs and her daughter-in-law heard, and they both ran downstairs, and saw the old woman lying in a heap in the quenching-tub, howling and screaming, with her face wrinkled and shrivelled and all out of shape. Thereupon the two, who were both with child, were so terrified that that very night two boys were born who were not made like men but apes, and they ran into the woods, and from them sprang the race of apes.
# The Old Man Outwitted, or, The Fortunate Lovers (1804)

ΤΗΕ
Old Man Outwitted;
OR, THE
Fortunate Lovers.
To which are added,
THRO' THE WOOD LADDIE.
HOW HAPPY THE SOLDIER.
THE MARRIAGE ACT.
FRIENDSHIP'S A JEWEL.
G L A S G O W,
Printed by J. and M. Robertson, Saltmarket, 1804.
* The Fortunate Lovers
* Thro' the Wood Laddie
* How Happy the Soldier
* The Marriage Act
* Friendship's a Jewel
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# The Old Man In the Corner/XXXVI

THE END
He had paused, absorbed in meditation. The young girl also was silent. Some memory too vague as yet to take a definite form was persistently haunting her—one thought was hammering away in her brain, and playing havoc with her nerves. That thought was the inexplicable feeling within her that there was something in connection with that hideous crime which she ought to recollect, something which—if she could only remember what it was—would give her the clue to the tragic mystery, and for once ensure her triumph over this self-conceited and sarcastic scarecrow in the corner.
He was watching her through his great bone-rimmed spectacles, and she could see the knuckles of his bony hands, just above the top of the table, fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting, till she wondered if there existed another set of fingers in the world which could undo the knots his lean ones made in that tiresome piece of string.
Then suddenly—á propos of nothing, Polly remembered—the whole thing stood before her, short and clear like a vivid flash of lightning:—Mrs. Owen lying dead in the snow beside her open window; one of them with a broken sash-line, tied up most scientifically with a piece of string. She remembered the talk there had been at the time about this improvised sash-line.
That was after young Greenhill had been discharged, and the question of suicide had been voted an impossibility.
Polly remembered that in the illustrated papers photographs appeared of this wonderfully knotted piece of string, so contrived that the weight of the frame could but tighten the knots, and thus keep the window open. She remembered that people deduced many things from that improvised sash-line, chief among these deductions being that the murderer was a sailor—so wonderful, so complicated, so numerous were the knots which secured that window-frame.
But Polly knew better. In her mind's eye she saw those fingers, rendered doubly nervous by the fearful cerebral excitement, grasping at first mechanically, even thoughtlessly, a bit of twine with which to secure the window; then the ruling habit strongest through all, the girl could see it; the lean and ingenious fingers fidgeting, fidgeting with that piece of string, tying knot after knot, more wonderful, more complicated, than any she had yet witnessed.
"If I were you," she said, without daring to look into that corner where he sat, "I would break myself of the habit of perpetually making knots in a piece of string."
He did not reply, and at last Polly ventured to look up—the corner was empty, and through the glass door beyond the desk, where he had just deposited his few coppers, she saw the tails of his tweed coat, his extraordinary hat, his meagre, shrivelled-up personality, fast disappearing down the street.
Miss Polly Burton (of the Evening Observer) was married the other day to Mr. Richard Frobisher (of the London Mail). She has never set eyes on the man in the corner from that day to this.
FINIS
# The New International Encyclopædia/Lexington (Kentucky)

Edition of 1905. See also Lexington, Kentucky on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​ LEXINGTON. A city and the county-seat of Fayette County, Ky., 98 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio; on the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Lexington and Eastern, the Louisville and Nashville, the Queen and Crescent Route, the Southern, and other railroads (Map: Kentucky, G 2). It is the centre of the widely celebrated ‘blue grass region,’ is well built, and has a public library, the State Asylum for the Insane, Kentucky Reform School, Kentucky University (Christian), organized in 1836, State Agricultural and Mechanical College, Sayre Female Institute, Hamilton and McClelland female colleges, Saint Catherine's Academy (Roman Catholic), and other educational institutions. Other points of interest are Woodland Park, the racetracks, and several noted stock farms. Lexington is commercially important as the market for the ‘blue grass’ district, and is well known also for the manufacture of Bourbon whisky. The manufactures include also flour, saddlery and harness, carriages and wagons, canned goods, and planing-mill, foundry, and machine-shop products. The government is administered under a charter of 1894, by a mayor, elected every four years, a bicameral council, and subordinate officials, the majority of whom are chosen by the people. Population, in 1890, 21,567; in 1900, 26,369.
In 1775 several hunters, including Robert Patterson, Simon Kenton, and William McConnell, stopped on the site of Lexington, gave it its present name to commemorate the battle of Lexington, and built a cabin to confirm their title to the land. A permanent settlement was made by Patterson four years later. In 1782 the town was incorporated by the Virginia Legislature. From 1792 to 1793 it was the capital of Kentucky, and here, in 1792, assembled the first State Legislature. In 1832 a city charter was secured. It was the home from 1797 until his death of Henry Clay, in memory of whom a noteworthy monument has been erected.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Lexington (Virginia)

Edition of 1905. See also Lexington, Virginia on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​ LEXINGTON. A town and the county-seat of Rockbridge County, Va., about 45 miles northwest of Lynchburg; on the north fork of the James River, and on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (Map: Virginia, E 4). It has picturesque surroundings, and is the centre of a fertile agricultural region. There are some manufactures. The town is the seat of Washington and Lee University (q.v.), and of the Virginia Military Institute, founded in 1839. Among objects of special interest are the statues of Generals Lee and Jackson, whose graves are also here. The famous Natural Bridge (q.v.) is 14 miles south, and in the opposite direction are several mineral springs which have become popular resorts. Lexington owns and operates its water-works. Population, in 1890, 3059; in 1900, 3203.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Libel (admiralty practice)

Edition of 1905. See also Libel (admiralty law) on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
LIBEL (OF. libel, libelle, libeau, Fr. libelle, from Lat. libellus, diminutive of liber, book, inner bark of a tree). In admiralty practice, the first pleading of the complainant, which is filed in the office of the clerk of the court to commence the action. It is in the form of a petition addressed to the judge of the court by name, setting forth the nature and facts of the claim and containing a prayer that process issue in the proper manner. If the action is against an individual, a citation (q.v.) will issue directing him to appear and answer; if against a vessel, a writ issues to an officer of the court directing him to attach it, which is considered sufficient notice to the owners. The libel must be verified by the libellant, as the claimant is called, or his agent if he is without the jurisdiction.
The name was borrowed from the Roman law where a pleading known as the libellus conventionis was employed to commence an action. The word libel continued to designate the first pleading in an action under the civil law. It corresponds to a complaint or declaration in other actions. See Admiralty Law.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Libel (common law)

Edition of 1905. See also Defamation on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
LIBEL. A term of the common law, descriptive of that species of defamation (q.v.) which is committed by writing or its equivalent. It is a criminal offense as well as a civil wrong. It consists of the publication of that which tends to bring another into hatred, contempt, or ridicule. Special damage to its victim need not be shown. Nor is the truth of a libelous publication always a defense. Many of our State constitutions declare that it is not a defense to a criminal prosecution, unless published with good motives and for justifiable ends. Fair reports of legislative debates, judicial proceedings, and
similar transactions do not subject their publishers to action for libel. Various other immunities are accorded to news-gatherers and publishers by modern statutes. These should be examined in each jurisdiction.
A defamatory writing will not subject its author to an action, either civil or criminal, until it is published. For the purposes of a criminal prosecution, it is published as soon as any one knowingly exposes it to the sight of another, who is capable of understanding it. Accordingly, the writer of a defamatory article may be liable criminally, when he sends it in a sealed envelope to the one defamed. To render him liable in a civil action for damages, however, the writing must have been communicated to a third person; save in a few States, where the rule has been changed by statute. Such communication need not have been intentional. One who sends the writing to a third person by mistake may inflict as great an injury upon the victim of his defamation as though he had planned the injury. Nor can the publisher of a libel screen himself from civil responsibility by saying that it was a joke. In the language of a great judge, “No one can cast about firebrands and death, and then escape from being responsible by saying he was in sport.”
A century and a half ago the weight of judicial authority favored the rule that the defamatory character of a publication was a question for the court and not for the jury. Mansfield's enforcement of this rule elicited the most violent criticism, and led to the enactment of a statute known as Fox's Libel Act (32 Geo. III., c. 60). “Although this statute only applies to criminal proceedings, it has been followed by analogy in civil actions for libel, and no plaintiff is entitled to succeed either in England or in the United States, unless the jury find that the publication is libelous. In a civil action, if the judge is of the opinion that the publication complained of is not defamatory, he may direct that the plaintiff be non-suited. Consult: Odgers, A Digest of the Law of Libel and Slander (3d ed., London, 1896); Newell, The Law of Libel and Slander in Civil and Criminal Cases (2d ed., Chicago, 1898); Townshend, Treatise on the Wrongs Called Slander and Libel (4th ed., New York, 1890); Pollock, The Law of Torts (6th ed., New York and London, 1901); Bigelow, The Law of Torts (7th ed., Boston, 1901). See also the articles Defamation; Slander; Tort.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Libera

Edition of 1905. See also Libera (mythology) on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
LIB'ERA. In Roman mythology, the wife of Liber, the wine god, identified with Persephone. Her festival, Liberalia, occurred on the 17th of March.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Libelt, Karol

Edition of 1905. See also Karol Libelt on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
LIBELT, lē'bĕlt, Karol. (1808-75). A Polish politician and author, born in Posen. He studied in Berlin; entered the Polish Revolutionary army in 1830, and was imprisoned for nine months at Magdeburg. From 1840 to 1845 he edited at Posen two Polish newspapers; in 1845 was a member of the Revolutionary Central Committee, and in the next year was elected a member of the Provisional Government at Cracow. He was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment for his part in this uprising, but regained his freedom after the revolution of March, 1848. He was a member of the Prague Slavic Congress, of the Frankfort Parliament of 1848, and in 1873 was elected to the Prussian Lower House. His writings include: Filozofia i krytyka (1845-50), Hegelian in tendency; Estetyka (1851); Umnictevo (1857), a system of ethics; Dziela (1875); Zbior pism pomniejszych (1849-51), political papers; Dziewica Orléanska (1847); and the sketches Humor i pravada (1852).
# The New International Encyclopædia/Lexington (Missouri)

Edition of 1905. See also Lexington, Missouri on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​ LEXINGTON. A city and the county-seat of Lafayette County, Mo., 40 miles east of Kansas City, on the south bank of the Missouri River, and on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé and the Missouri Pacific railroads (Map: Missouri, C 2). It has the Wentworth Military Academy, Central Female College, and Baptist Female College. The city is the centre of a hemp-growing region; and coal is mined in the vicinity and extensively shipped. The government is administered under a charter of 1848, subsequently amended, by a mayor, elected biennially, and a unicameral council. Lexington was settled in 1825, and incorporated about five years later. Population, in 1890, 4537; in 1900, 4190. There is a hill to the northeast of the city, where in September, 1861, 3000 Union soldiers, under Col. James Mulligan, sustained a siege against 18,000 Confederates under Gen. Sterling Price, at last surrendering the town and garrison on the 20th. A few days later Price withdrew, leaving only a small garrison, and on October 16th, a Union force of about 230 under Major J. White released the Union prisoners here and captured about 70 of the Confederates.
# The New International Encyclopædia/Lexis, Wilhelm

Edition of 1905. See also Wilhelm Lexis on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​ LEX′IS, Wilhelm (1837—). A German political economist, born at Eschweiler, near Aix-la-Chapelle. He studied mathematics and natural science at the University of Bonn, and in 1861 went to Paris, where the economics of France chiefly claimed his attention. He was appointed professor of political economy at the University of Strassburg in 1872, and accepted a call to the chair in the same branch at Dorpat in 1874, at Freiburg in 1876, at Breslau in 1884, and at Göttingen in 1887. A partial list of his writings includes: Einleitung in die Theorie der Bevölkerungsstatistik (1875); Zur Theorie der Massenerscheinungen in der menschlichen Gesellschaft (1877); Die Wirkung der Getreidezölle (1889); Der gegenwärtige Stand der Währungsfrage (1896); Die neuen französischen Universitäten (1901). In collaboration with others he edited Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaft (7 vols., 2d ed., Jena, 1898-1901).
# The New International Encyclopædia/Libby Prison

Edition of 1905. See also Libby Prison on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
LIBBY PRISON. A Confederate military prison during the Civil War, situated in Richmond, Va. It was a building three stories high in front and four in the rear, containing six rooms (excluding the cellar), each about 105 by 45 feet. Before the Civil War it was used by its owner, a Mr. Libby, as a tobacco warehouse. It was first used as a prison after the first battle of Bull Run, and continued to be thus used until the close of the war. At times as many as 1200 prisoners were confined there, most of them being Federal officers. The Confederate officers in immediate charge were Major Thomas P. Turner, commander, and Richard Turner, inspector. The prisoners suffered terribly from starvation, cold, and other causes, and many died or had their health permanently shattered while in confinement. Many attempts at escape were made, the most famous being that of February 9, 1864, when 109 prisoners made their exit through a tunnel 50 feet in length, which had been laboriously excavated by a small party of men under Col. Thomas E. Rose. Of the 109, 48 were recaptured, 2 were accidentally drowned, and 59 reached the Federal lines. In 1888-89 the building was taken apart, carried to Chicago, and there reconstructed. In September, 1889, many valuable relics having been stored in it, it was formally opened as the Libby Prison War Museum.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Morris, Clara

See also Clara Morris on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
​Mor′ris, Clara, well-known actress and writer, was born in 1849 in Toronto, Canada, but at the age of three months was taken to Cleveland, where she received an elementary education. To assist her widowed mother she became a member of a reputable ballet, and was fortunate in receiving valuable instruction in the art of acting. She soon became the leading lady of the company, and later attained distinction in the best theater at Cincinnati. In 1870 she joined the famous company established by Mr. Daly for his Fifth Avenue Theater, New York City. She became one of the leading actresses of America, excelling in parts that exhibit strong emotions. In 1874 she married Fred. C. Harriott. When ill-health compelled her to retire from the stage in 1885, she commenced writing books and also articles for magazines. Among her works are Little Jim Crow, A Silent Singer, A Pasteboard Crown, Life on the Stage (personal experiences and recollections) and Stage Confidences.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Motion, Laws of

See also Dynamics (mechanics) on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
​Mo′tion, Laws of, generally the three great generalizations in which Newton described the effect of forces upon bodies. See Dynamics where these laws are stated. Compare, also, Newton's Laws of Motion by P. G. Tait for an extraordinarily clear, brief and elegant discussion of this subject.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Morrill, Justin Smith

See also Justin Smith Morrill on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
​Mor′rill, Justin Smith, an American statesman, was born in Orange County, Vt., April 14, 1810. He had only a common-school education, and at an early age he engaged in business, which he later gave up for farming. He was elected to Congress in 1855, remaining in the house of representatives from 1855 to 1867, at which time he was elected to the United States senate, and later was re-elected for six successive terms of six years each. His congressional service exceeded in length that of any living colleague. He held for many years in the house the important position of chairman of the committee of ways and means, and he was the author of the tariff bill of 1861 known by his name. He wrote Self-Consciousness of Noted Persons, published in 1886. He died on Dec. 28, 1898, at the capital of the nation.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Morris, Robert

See also Robert Morris (financier) on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
​Morris, Robert, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Lancashire, England, Jan. 20, 1734. He came to America when 13 and entered a counting-house at Philadelphia, becoming a partner finally. He opposed the Stamp-Act and was elected to the Congress of 1775. He voted at first against the Declaration of Independence, but signed it when it was adopted. He was again in Congress in 1777, and chiefly managed the finances of the country. In 1781 he was elected superintendent of finance, and had almost entire control of the money operations of the new government. He established the Bank of North America in 1782, and in supplying the army in 1781 issued his own notes for over $1,000,000, which were finally repaid. He resigned in 1784, declining in 1788, when senator, the secretaryship of the treasury offered him by Washington. From 1789 to 1795 he represented Pennsylvania in the United States senate. He, with Gouverneur Morris, sent the first American vessel to Canton in 1784. He lost his fortune by speculation, and was confined in prison for debt during the last years of his life. He died at Philadelphia, May 8, 1806.