Tom's Learning Notes

The Elegies (Greek: ἐλεγείων) are a body of short poems written some time in the sixth century BCE by Theognis of Megara, although some later poems are thought to have found their way into the collection. His authentic work is often seen as exemplary of the conservative values of the aristocratic symposia which emerged in response to the development of the Greek polis.

The Elegies at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Perseus: The Elegiac Poems of Theognis, translated by J. M Edmonds. HTML and XML format.
Wikisource: Theognis of Megara, multiple external scans.
Greek texts
Perseus: ἐλεγείων. HTML and XML format.
Wikisource: Ελεγείαι Θεόγνιδος
Bilingual texts
Internet Archive: Elegy and Iambus, Vol I. Bilingual Loeb edition.

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas on the Sublime and the Beautiful is a 1757 work by Edmund Burke, with an Introduction on Taste added two years later.

Burke's argument, widely influential in the eighteenth century, sought to establish the distinct nature of two sentiments: the beautiful, characterised as graceful and elegant; and the sublime, characterised as grand and terrible; the former linked to those objects likely to cause pleasure, the latter to those which arouse pain and fear.

The Sublime and the Beautiful at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol I. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats. 
Internet Archive: On the Sublime and Beatiful, Reflections on the French Revolution, Letter to a Noble Lord. Harvard Classics edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Sublime and the Beautiful. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: On the Sublime and Beautiful. HTML and other formats.

The Provincial Letters (French: Lettres provinciales) were published by Blaise Pascal from 1656 to 1657. Under the pseudonymous guise of Louis de Montalte, a Parisian writing to a correspondent in the country, he launched a blistering satirical attack on Jesuit theology. Although banned by the French Crown, the eighteen letters were widely read and influential.

The Provincial Letters at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Internet Archive: The Provincial Letters, Pensees, Scientific Letters. The former translated by Thomas M'Crie. Great Books of the Western World edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Provincial Letters, translated by Thomas M'Crie. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: The Provincial Letters, translated by Thomas M'Crie. HTML and other formats.
French texts
Wikisource: Les Provinciales. HTML and other formats.

The Odes (Latin: Carmina) are a collection of lyric poems by the Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (known in English as Horace). Modelled on the Greek odes of Sappho and Alcaeus, they address a range of public and private subjects, and reflect the reconcilitation of Horace, a republican soldier during the Civil War, with the regime of Augustus.

The first three books, published in 23 BCE, are dedicated to the emperor's literary adviser, Maecenas, who was introduced to Horace by Virgil. A fourth volume was added a decade later.

The Odes at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Internet Archive: Odes and Epodes, translated by C.E Bennett. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Odes and Carmen Saeculare. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Perseus: Odes, translated by John Conington. HTML and XML formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Odes, translated by A.S. Kline (2003). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Works of Horace, translated into English Prose by C. Smart. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: Odes, translated by Wikisource (incomplete). HTML and other formats.
Wikisource: The  Odes and Carmen Saeculare, translated by John Conington (incomplete). HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Gutenberg: Odes and Epodes, edited by Gordon Jennings Laing and Paul Shorey. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Perseus: Carmina, HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Carmina. HTML and other formats.

On the Sublime (Greek: Περì Ὕψους Perì Hýpsous) is a work on literary criticism written in Greek at some point during the Roman empire. The manuscript tradition attributes the work to 'Dionsysius or Longinus' and its true provenance has been the subject of much debate.

The concept of the sublime reflects the author's commendation of writing in a grand, elevated style, citing many examples from classical literature. The work is not mentioned by any other ancient writer, but became particularly influential during the eighteenth century.

On the Sublime at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Attalus: On the Sublime, translated by W.H. Fyfe. HTML format.
Gutenberg: On the Sublime. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: On the Sublime, translated by H. L. Havell. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): On the Sublime, translated by W. Rhys Roberts. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: On the Sublime, translated by H. L. Havell. HTML and other formats.
Greek texts
Internet Archive: Aristotle, The Poetics; "Longinus", On the Sublime; Demetrius, On Style. Bilingual Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: De Sublimitate. HTML and XML formats.

The Odes (Greek: επινίκιες ωδές), in four books, are the only works of of the Archaic Greek poet Pindar c. 518 – 438 BC) to survive in complete form. Each book is named after one of the major panhellenic festivals, and collects poems dedicated to various victors at their associated games.

Widley admired for his elevated style, Pindar was considered one of the nine canonical lyric poets by Alexandrian scholars of the Hellenistic period.

The Odes at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Gutenberg: The Extant Odes of Pindar, translated by Ernest Myers. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT format.
Internet Archive: The Odes of Pindar, translated by Richmond Lattimore. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: Olympian, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmean Odes, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Odes of Pindar. Multiple translations. HTML and other formats.
Greek texts
Loebulus: L056 - Pindar -- Odes of Pindar, including the Principal Fragments, translated by Sir John Sandys. Bilingual Loeb edition. PDF format.
Perseus: Olympian, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmean Odes. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Πίνδαρος. HTML and other formats.

A Journal of the Plague Year is a 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe, which purports to be an eyewitness account of the great plague which struck London in 1665. It contains much authentic detail based on extensive research. Its place between history and fiction has consequently been the subject of a longstanding and inconclusive debate.

A Journal of the Plague Year at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: A Journal of the Plague Year. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: A Journal of the Plague Year, Everyman's Library edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): A Journal of the Plague Year. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: A Journal of the Plague Year. Ongoing transcription project.

Other Resources
Librivox: A Journal of the Plague Year. Public domain audiobook.
London Fictions: A Journal of the Plague Year, review by Dermot Kavanagh.
Medical History: A Journal of the Plague Year, Oxford World Classics edition reviewed by Alice Ford-Smith.
Wikipedia: Daniel Defoe - A Journal of the Plague Year

Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe - Moll Flanders - two novels which also purport to be authentic first person accounts.
Samuel Pepys: Diary - an actual eyewitness account of the 1665 plague.
Bloom's Western Canon: A Journal of the Plague Year is included.

Robinson Crusoe is a 1719 novel by Daniel Defoe. Like several of Defoe's works, it purported to be a genuine autobiography, in this case that of an English seaman, shipwrecked for many years on a desert island off the coast of South America, who nevertheless manages to maintain a civilised existence with the help of a native servant, Friday.

The novel proved immediately and enduringly popular, inspiring a genre of castaway stories, sometimes known as Robinsonades. Modern critics have often interpreted Crusoe as representing an emergent economic individualism. 

Robinson Crusoe at online book shops
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT format.
Internet Archive: Robinson Crusoe. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. EPUB, HTML and MOBI formats.
Wikisource: Robinson Crusoe. HTML and other formats.

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe.

The eponymous heroine recounts a picaresque life story that was presented as a genuine autobiography on first publication. The title page records that Flanders was 'born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was twelve years a whore, five times a wife (whereof once to her own brother) twelve years a thief, eight years a transported felon in Virginia, at last grew rich, liv'd honest, and died a penitent.'

Moll Flanders at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT format.
Internet Archive: Moll Flanders. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide: The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. EPUB, HTML and MOBI formats.
Wikisource: Moll Flanders. HTML and other formats.

Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady, is a 1748 novel by Samuel Richardson. Composed as a series of letters, it portrays the young heroine's attempt to maintain her virtue and independence in the face of a domineering family, and of the villainous attentions of the libertine Robert Lovelace.

Clarissa at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: Clarissa - Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript | Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4 | Vol. 5 | Vol. 6 | Vol. 7 | Vol. 8 | Vol. 9. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT format. 

Internet Archive: Clarissa Harlowe, from the Complete Novels of Samuel Richardson: Vol. I | Vol. II | Vol. III | Vol. IV | Vol. V | Vol. VI | Vol. VII | Vol VIII. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.

University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Clarissa Harlowe. EPUB, HTML and MOBI format.

Other Resources

The Guardian: The 100 best novels - No 4 – Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748), by Robert McCrum, 14 October 2013.

Librivox: Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson, in 9 Volumes. Public domain audiobook.

Wikipedia: Samuel Richardson - Clarissa

The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes

Samuel Richardson: Pamela.

Rousseau: Julie, ou la Nouvelle Heloise

Bloom's Western Canon: Clarissa is listed.