Introductory note on Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Volume 26, Harvard Classics)

Disguised as a man, a Russian noblewoman exploring the mountains of Poland came upon a secret prison. Fate linked the lives of this woman and the unknown prisoner. (Volume 26, Harvard Classics)

Calderon, after a life of adventure, died May 5, 1681.

Introductory note on Thomas Henry Huxley (Volume 28, Harvard Classics)

When science was struggling for a place in popular education, Huxley distinguished himself as its champion. While the arts were to beautify life and increase pleasure, Huxley saw science as a means of benefiting man's prosperity. (Volume 28, Harvard Classics)

Huxley born May 4, 1825.

Introductory note on Niccolo Machiavelli (Volume 36, Harvard Classics)

Traveling from court to court in the stirring days of the Renaissance, Machiavelli studied the intrigues of princes. His writings have affected the destiny of mighty dynasties. (Volume 36, Harvard Classics)

Machiavelli born May 3, 1469.

Introductory note on Michael Faraday (Volume 30, Harvard Classics)

Everything has to have a beginning, so too with the science of electricity. Here we learn the very rudiments, the inceptions of science that have revolutionized the world. Faraday explains in a simple way the truths of electricity. (Volume 30, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on William Hazlitt (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)

Once Hazlitt and his friends took to discussing the famous people they would like to meet --- Guy Fawkes, Sir Isaac Newton, Chaucer, Boccaccio, Cromwell, Garrick, and Judas. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)