September 7: The King's Love (Vol. 49, pp. 199-209)

The opening to an ancient Irish epic from the 12th century, "The Destruction of Da Derega's Hostel," is featured today. It is a familiar story, a warrior-king smitten with a beautiful woman, with troubles to follow.

September 6: The Pride of All Scotchmen (Vol. 25, pp. 393-403)

Thomas Carlyle's "Sir Walter Scott" is today's reading, an ode to the Scottish novelist and poet. Called the father of the historical novel, he died broke -- literally writing himself to death in his last years to pay off his debts. Scott's heirs would be the ones to reap the benefits.

September 5: Survival of the Fittest (Vol. 11, pp. 353-357)

On this day in 1857, Darwin first outlined his theory of natural selection. He found that those organisms that were better able to adapt to their environments were more likely to survive and reproduce than those that had trouble or could not adapt. The favorable variations that allow members of the same species to survive are then transmitted to successive generations.

Darwin's theory of natural selection held that the origin and diversification of species results from the gradual accumulation of these individual modifications. This is the key element of his theory of evolution, as we learn from today's reading from "The Origin of Species."

September 4: Voltaire Criticizes (Vol. 34, pp. 85-93)

Another selection from Voltaire's "Letters on the English," in which he made some rather unfavorable comparisons of French customs to those of the English. The French authorities, naturally, disagreed and threatened Voltaire with prison.

September 3: Seven Years to Reach England (Vol. 43, pp. 174-179)

On this day in 1783, England and the United States signed the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War and formally recognized the American colonies as free and independent states. It took more than seven years of fighting from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia for this day to happen.

Tellingly, England could have driven a hard bargain. Instead, it conceded to the new republic all land between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi River, with the northern boundary pretty much as it is today. It also gave the Americans fishing rights off the Canadian coast. The generous terms of this treaty reduced tensions between the United States and England and ultimately set the stage for a lasting friendship between the two nations.

September 2: Too Great a Price for Love (Vol. 18, pp. 88-100)

More of the Antony and Cleopatra saga, this time from Dryden's "All For Love." It was on this day in 31 B.C. that the Battle of Actium was fought. Instead fighting, Antony fled to be with his great love. To him, she was worth forfeiting an empire for.

September 1: Expelled from College, Founded a City (Vol. 1, pp. 321-331)

William Penn was arrested for preaching in London on this day in 1670. For being a Quaker, he got tossed out of Oxford. But, of course, he went on to bigger and better things in the New World.