THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Kate GordonA^oore BOOKS AND READING. STANDARD WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The Human Intellect, i vol. 8vo. . $5 oo Ele,ments of Intellectual Science, i vol. crown 8vo. . . . . . . . 3 oo American Colleges and the American Public, i vol. izmo. . . . . i 50 Sent post-paid on receipt of price. BOOKS AND READING OB WHAT BOOKS SHALL I READ HOW SHALL I READ THEM? NOAH PORTER, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale College. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A SELECT CATALOGUE OP BOOKS. — and books we know Are a substantial world, both pure and good ; Round these, with ten Irils strong as flesh and blood. Our pastime and our happiness will grow. NEW YOEK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743 AND 745 Broadway. 1882. COPTBIGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 18T0. CoPTniGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBSER"S SONS, 1881. Tnow's PrI.NTING and BooKBINUtNG COMFANV, 201-313 /"-"ft tllfl •">/. NEW VORK. A. 10 I Ml, THIS VOLUME 13 INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS HONORED FRIEND, MISS MARY LUCAS HILLHOUSE, WHOSE LONO AND USEFUL LIFE HAS BEEN ENTHUSIASTICALLY DF VOTED TO BOOKS AND READING; AND NONE THE LESS WISELY AND EFFICIENTLY, TO THE MANY GOOD OBJECTS WHICH HAVE ENLISTED HER WOMANLY SYMPATHIES .iND HER SAGACIOUS BENEVOLENCE. 854257 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The papers contained in this volume have grown out of a lecture which was written several years ago. and has been often repeated. The lecture was originally designed to meet the wants of younger and older persons who might be in a condition to be profited by a few practical sugges- tions, enforced by illustrations from well-known authors. The papers have been expanded with a similar intent. The didactic form and manner of the lecture has been designedly retained as al- lowing greater condensation and directness, and as more appropriate to the position of a teacher and counsellor. Useful suggestions have not been omitted even though to many they might seem common-place. The illustrations have usually been derived from authors who might be sup- posed to be familiar to the reader. The wants of those beginning to read have been especially con- sidered, wdiile those w^ho are more or less fami- V vi Preface. liar with books and practised in reading have not been wholly overlooked. A sufficiently extended account of the aims of the author and of the plan of this series of papers is given in the First Chapter. In executing the plan proposed, the author has been led to discuss somewhat more at length than he had intended, the prominent characteristics of different classes of Books and the conditions of success in dijQferent descriptions of Reading. He hopes that the effect of these discussions may lead to more comprehen- sive and elevated estimates of authors and of lite- rature on the part of those who read themselves or who direct the reading of others, and that in this and other ways, the volume may stimulate to a wise selection of Books and to enlightened and successful methods of Reading. October, 1870. CONTEl^TS. CHAPTER I. Introductory, ..... PAGE CHAPTER n. What is a Book? And What is it to Kead? . . 18 CHAPTER IIL How to Read — Attention in Reading, . . . .28 CHAPTER IV. How to Read with Interest and Effect, . . .37 CHAPTER V. The Relations of the Re.\der to His Author, . . 48 CHAPTER VI. The Ltfluence of Books and Reading on the Opinions and Principles, .62 CHAPTER Vn. The Moral Influence of Books and Reading — The Read- ing OF Fiction, ....... 72 y^ii Contents. CHAPTER ^111. PAGE LMAGrS-ATITE LlTER-iTURE : ItS REPRESENTATIONS OF MoRAL Evil, 81 CHAPTER IX. The EelictIous Ch.\racter axd Influence of Books ant) Re.\ding, 101 CHAPTER X. A Christian Literature : How Concer'ed and Defined, 111 CHAPTER XI. A History and Historical Reading, . . . . 125 CHAPTER XII. How to Read History, 143 CHAPTER XIII. A Course of Historical Re.^ing, .... 166 CHAPTER XIV. Biography antd Biographical Reading, . . . .195 CHAPTER XV. Novels and Novel Reading, 218 CHAPTER XVI. Poetry ant) Poets, 240 CHAPTER XVII. The Criticism and History of Literature, . . .205 Contents. ix CHAPTEK XVIII. PAGE The Criticism of English Litekature, .... 285 CHAPTEE XIX. Books of Science and Duty, 303 CHAPTER XX. Religious Books and Sunday Reading, .... 322 CHAPTER XXI. Newspapers and Periodicvls, 341 CHAPTER XXII. The Library, 360 Appendix, 379 Index, 419 BOOKS AND READING: OE, WHAT BOOKS SHALL I READ, AND HOW SHALL I READ THEM? CHAPTER I. INTEODUCTORY. Were a South-sea Islander to be suddenly taken up jfrom his savage home and set down in one of the great cities of Europe, — among the many strange objects which he would see, one of the most incomprehensible would be a public library. A cathedral he would at once understand. Its vast area would suggest a counterpart in the inclosure which from his childhood onward he had known and feared as a place of worship. Its clustered pillars and lofty arches would bring to mind a well-remembered grove of old and stately trees, "with sounding walks between;" the dreaded dwell- ing of some cruel deity, or the fit arena for some "abhorred rite." The altar, the priests, the reverent worshipers, would speak to his mind their own meaning. A military parade he might comprehend without an in- terpreter's aid. The measured tread of gathered legions would, indeed, differ not a little from the wild rush of his own barbarous clan ; the inspiring call of trumpet and horn, 2 Books and Reading. [Chap, l of fife and drum, blending with all those nameless instru- ments which make the music of war so splendid and so spirit-stirring, would be unlike the horrid, dissonant noises, with which the savage sounds out his bloody errand; but the object and purpose of the show would be seen at a glance, and would wake up all the warrior in his bosom. A festive gathering of lords and ladies gay would be quite an intelligible affair, and the more closely he should' look into the particulars of the transaction, the more nu- merous, it is possible, might be the points of resemblance J)etween the barbaric and the fashionable assembly. A gallery of paintings, adorned with the proudest tro- j>hies of genius, might not be altogether without meaning; ibr though the savage would look upon the creations of ilaphael or Titian with somewhat such an eye as that with which Caliban looked upon Miranda, yet the uses of such a collection, which the price of his own kingdom could net buy, would not be entirely beyond his comprehension. But a public library would be too much for him. It would prove a mystery quite beyond his reach. Its de- sign and its utility would be alike incomprehensible. The front of the edifice within which the library was placed, might indeed command his admiration: and within, the lofty arches, the lengthened aisles and the labyrinthine succession of apartments, might attract and bewilder him. The books even, rising one above another in splendid lines, and dressed in gilt and purple and green, might seem to his savage eye a very pretty sight; though they would plea.'Je that eye just as well if carved and colored upon the solid wall, or if, as has been the fancy of certain owners of liljraries, the volumes had been wrought from solid wood — fit books for the wooden heads that owned them. The mystery of the library to the savage, would be tM hooks in it, — what they were, what they were for, and why Chap, l] Introductory. 3 they were thought worthy to be lodged in a building so imposing, and watched with such jealous care. If he should linger among the apartments for reading, and watch the movements of the inmates, his wonder would be likely to increase. His eye might rest upon Dr. Dryasdust, the antiquarian, as with anxious look and bustling air he rushes into one closet after another, takes volume after volume from its dusty retreat, looks into each as the con- juring priest at home looks into a tree or a stone to see the spirit within, and after copying from each in strange char- acters, stuffs the manuscript into his pocket, and walks off as proudly as though, like the self-same priest, he had caught and bagged the spirit in some feti9h, amulet, or me- ye and kindles his cheek, and sends madness through his frame. He is astonished at the reader of fiction, looking upon what seems to him a vacant page, and yet seeming to see in its enchanted lines a world of spirits, — living, moving, talking, walking, loving, hating, fighting, dying. Should he seek an explanation of the enigma, the expla- nation would rather deepen than solve the mystery. Here is a volume, his interpreter might say, by the aid of whose characters the shipmaster can guide his vessel to your island-home as easily as you can follow a forest path. From this volume you can learn the story of that famous white captain who first landed upon your shores, in the days of your great-grandfather, and was there killed and buried; and — mystery above mystery — in this little book which gives an account of the discovery of your country by the white man, will be found the sufficient reason why hia majesty, our king, has a right to burn your towns, to shoot 4 Books and Reading. [Chaf. l down your people, to take possession of your land and bring you Jiither as a captive; all by authority of dis- covery, and of a title-deed from some king or other poten- tiite who never saw the country which he gave away. This lesson concerning the nature and value of books ■would probably be quite enough for once, and would send the poor barbarian away, well satisfied that a book was in- deed a very wonderful thing, and that a collection of books ■well deserved to be deposited in a dwelling so adorned and so secure. Were our savage to remain longer among his civilized brethren, and gradually to master the mysteries of their social state, his estimate of the influence of boolcs would be likely to gather strength. To say nothing of their past in- fluence in bringing a nation up to a point at which he could only wonder and be silent, their present power to de- termine the character and destiny of single individuals might startle and surprise him. A few pages in a single volume fall as it were by chance under the eye of a boy in his leisure hours. They fascinate and fix his attention; they charm and hold iiis mind ; and the result is, that the boy becomes a sailor and is wedded to the sea for his life. No force nor influence can undo the work "begun by those few pages; no love of father or mother, no temptation of money or honor, no fear of suffering or disgrace, is an overmatch for the enchantment conjured up and sustained by that exciting volume. A single book has made the boy a seaman for life; perhaj)s a pirate, wretched in his life and death. Another book meets the eye of another youth, and wakes in his bosom holy aspirations, which, all his life after, burn on in the useless flames of a painful asceticism, or in a kindly love to God and man. Another youth in an unhappy hour meets still another volume, and it makes him a hater of his fellow-man and a blasphemer of his God. One book makes one man a believer in goodness and love Chap. I.] Introductory. 5 and truth ; another book makes another man a denier or doubter of these sacred verities. These thoughts may serve to introduce our subject and to suggest its importance. Books and Reading are the theme — or rather the themes — on Avhich it is proposed to offer a series of free and familiar thoughts, principally of a practical nature. The importance of the subject is not only great, but it is constantly increasing. Books, as an element of influence, are becoming more and more import- ant, and reading is the employment of a widening circle. Books of all sorts are now brought within the reach of most persons who desire to read them. The time has gone by when the mass of the community were restricted to a score or two of volumes : the Bible, one or two works of devotion, two or three standard histories, and a half- dozen novels. Many intelligent men can recollect the time when all the books on which they could lay their hands were few, and were read and re-read till they were dry as a remainder biscuit, or as empty as a thrice- threshed sheaf. There are ladies now living, who were well educated for their time, to whom the loan or the gift of a new book was an important event in their history, making a winter memorable, and now their daughters or grand-daughters dispatch a novel or a poem before dinner. All the known books for children, two generations ago, were some half a score; whereas, at present, new "juveniles" are prepared by the hundred a year, and the library of a child ten years old is very often more numerous and costly than was that of many a substantial and intelligent household. The minds of tens of thousands are stimulated and oc- cupied with books, books, books, from three years old on- ward through youth and manhood. We read when we sit, when we lie down, and when we ride ; sometimes when we eat and when we walk. When we travel we en- 6 Books and Reading. [Chap. i. counter a moving library on every railway car, and a fixed library at every railway station. Books are prepared for railway reading, and Railway Library is the title of more than one series of books in America, England, France, and Germany. We read when we are well and when we are ill, when we are bnsy and when we are idle, and some even die with a book in hand. There is little use for the caution now-a-days, " Beware of the man of one book." If it be true, as it may be, that single books make an im- pression less marked and decisive than formerly, so that a bad or inferior book may do less harm than it once did, it >,3 also true that bad books and inferior books are far more i^ommon than they once were. Their poison is also moro Kubtle and less easily detected, for as the taste of readers becomes omnivorous, it becomes less discriminating. Be- sides, the readiness with which good men, and men sturdy iu their principles too, read books which they despise and fxbhor, has introduced a freedom of practice on this sub- ject, at which other generations Avould have stood aghast. In many cases too, if the principles are not corrupted by reading, the taste is vitiated. Or if nothing worse hap- pens, delicacy of appreciation suffers from the amount of intellectual food which is forced upon us, and the satisfac- tion is far less keen and exquisite than was enjoyed by readers of a few books of superior merit. The number of persons who ask the questions: What BOOKS SHALT. I RKAD? AND HOW SHALL I READ THEM? is very great. Those who are beginning to feel an inter- est in books and reading, and who long for friendly direc- tion, ask these questions more frequently than they receive wise and satisfactory answers. Intelligent young men, who have finished their education at school — clerks, ap- prentices, farmers, teachers who are moved by a wise and sincere desire for self-culturo and self-improvement — ask the same questions of thcmsslves and others. If they go Chap. I.] Introductory. 7 into a bookstore, they are bewildered by the number and variety of the books from which they are to select, and their chance selection is as likely, to say the least, to be bad as good. It will rarely happen that it is the best which could be made. The bookseller can tell them what books are popular and have a run, but this recommenda- tion is of a doubtful character. They may have access to a well-selected library, but still they are at fault, not knowing how or what to choose for their immediate and individual w^ants. Students also, who are in a course of education at school or college, or who, having finished their course, would mark out for themselves a generous ]>lan of private reading, are often greatly at a loss for the !)est answers to the questions which they would ask. Their time is limited, and they pertinaciously inquire : — What books ought I to read first of all, and what next in order ? In what way can a student form and direct a taste for the highest kind of literature ? How far can he trust, and ought he to follow his fancy; how far should he thwart and oppose his taste, and seek to form it anew ? Are there any fixed principles of criticism, by which the best books may be known, and a taste for them formed and fixed? Young ladies, too, who are sooner released from the confinement of school-life and the drudgery of imposed studies — who often fix the taste and prescribe the fashion for the reading of the village or the circle in which they move — ofl:en sadly suffer for the want of a little direction. Their sensibility is fresh, their fancy is wake- ful, their taste is easily moulded. If guided aright, they might attain to a cultivated acquaintance with those ima- ginative writers who would inspire the purest and tender- est emotions and enrich the fancy with the noblest images ; who would elevate their tastes and confirm good and noble principles. For the want of such direction, it often hap- pens that such young ladies read themselves down into an 8 Books and Beading. [Chap. L utter waste and frivolity of thought, feeling, and purpose. The trash}"^ literature in which they delight, becomes the cheap and vapid representative of their empty minds, their heartless affections, and their frivolous characters. Besides the classes already named, there are heads of families who wish to form libraries, smaller or greater, which may instruct and amuse V)oth themselves and their households, but who often choose books that defeat the very aims which they propose to accomplish, and react with more or less evil upon their children. What books shall they buy and how shall they judge of books? Above all, how shall they train themselves and others to the best use of the books which they possess and read ? We would in these papers meet this variety of wants ; not completely — to attempt which would be idle — but in part, so far as our limits will allow. To give a complete catalogue of the best books, even in a few departments of literature, would be quite impossible. Such a catalogue would be dry reading at best — as dry as a volume of statistics, or a report of the census, and of far less interest and authority ; for no man, on such a subject, would blindly yield himself to the direction of any single mind. A partial catalogue with a critique upon each author, would be little better. All that can be accomplished is to furnish thoughts and principles which may awaken the mind to wise activity, and illustrate them by examples from books and authors. We would show that the books which we read even carelessly, exert an influence upon us which is far more potent than we are apt to think, and that we ought to select our books — above all our favorite 6ooks — with a more jealous care than we choose our friends and intimates. We would also show that reading 18 more than the amusement of an hour and the gratifica- tion of a cajiricious fancy : that it is an employment which may leave behind the most powerful impress for good, or Chap. I.] Introductory. 9 which may reduce the soul to utter barrenness and waste, and even scathe it as with devouring fire. We would treat also of the diiFerent kinds of books and the methods of reading appropriate to each. We hope also to give some direction to the taste, and this without the dry and formal precepts of the schools, or the captious and positive dogmatism of the professed critic. The taste, as applied to books and reading, like the eye for color and form, may be -educated, or rather it may be taught how to educate itself. We would aid in this effort at self-culture ; es- pecially would we indicate what are the methods and ways of reading imaginative literature, which may cause it to yield pure and exquisite delight, to add power to the intellect, and to impart a grace and finish to the char- acter and life. We are not insensible to the perils which are incident to our attempt. Not a few have undertaken to answer the questions which we have proposed, and have succeeded very indifferently. Many a young man has asked his re- spected teacher or trusted adviser " What and how shall I read?" and been put off with tiresome platitudes and solemn commonplaces for an answer, coupled with the titles of half a score of works, which every person is sup- posed to be acquainted with, and which are deemed em- inently judicious and safe reading. The manuals usually known as " Courses of Reading," though useful to a cer- tain extent, usually lack the germinant force of fundament- al principles in respect to the object of reading and the estimate of authors. The list of books which Dr. John- son recommended to a clerical friend, is a good example of most of the catalogues which are hastily prepared even by em'nent critics. " Universal History (ancient) — Rollings Anoient History — Puffenrhrf^s Introduction to History — Vertofs History of the Knights of Malta — Vertot^s Revolu- tions of Portugal — Vertofs Revolutions of Sweden — Carte's 10 Books and Reading. [Chap. I. History of England — Present State of England — Geogra- phical Grammar — Fridcaux's Connection — Nelson's Fasts and Festivals — Didi/ of Man — Gentleman's Religion — Cla- rendon's History — Watts' Improvement of the Mind — Watt^ Logic — Nature Displayed — Lowth's English Grammar — Blachcall on the Classics — Sherlock's Sermons — Burnet's Life of Hale — Dupin's History of the Church — Shuck- ford's Connections — Law's Serious Ccdl — Walton's Com" plete Angler — Sandys' Travels — Sj^rat's History of the Royal Society — England's Gazetteer — Goldsmith's Roman History — some Commentaries on the Bible." This list seems to include works of three different classes. Books of standard authority and permanent value ; books which had happened to please Dr. Johnson's permanent or tem- porary humor ; books which had happened to occur to his mind when he was writing out the catalogue for his young friend. The most exciting and satisfactory com- ments on books and reading are not usually found in formal treatises, but in such incidental remarks as those which are recorded by Boswell of Dr. Johnson, or are met with in Montaigne's rambling and free-spoken essay " Of Books," or in the essay of Bacon on ''Studies," (in Locke's Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study,) or in Charles Lamb's '' iJeta/ihed ThougJits on Books and Reading," or in Ilazlitt's many incisive essays and Coleridge's wonderfully stimulating criticisms, or in two or three good thoughts from Carlyle's address at Edinburgh mis-named " On the Choice of Books" or the essay of R. W. Emerson on "Books" in the volume entitled "Society and Soli' tude," which is characteristic of the author, even to his remarks about "Jesus " and "the Bibles of the world." All manuals entitled " Courses of Reading " must be exposed to the objection noticed by the elder D'Israeli, that they necessarily fall behind the times the mo- ment they come up to them. A course of reading that Chap. I.] Introductory. 1\ should be complete in one month must begin to be defec- tive the next. Courses of reading from an elder adviser or friend to a pupil or jwotege, even if they are hastily prepared, serve a good purpose as pictures of the times. They cast more or less light upon the culture and knowledge which prevailed when they were written. A very distinguished clergyman of New England, furnishes the following list of books for a young pastor in 1792. " In Divinity, you will not wonder if I recommend President Edwards' writings in general ; Dr. Bellamy's and Dr. Hopkins' ; Presiderd Davies^ Sermons; Robert Walker^ s Sermons; Howe's do; Addison's Evidences ; Beattie's Evidences of Christianity ; Leland's View of Deistical Wj'iters; Berry Street Sermons ; — in History Prideaux's Conriection ; Rollings Ancient His- tory ; Goldsmith's Roman History ; do. History of Eng- land, or Rider's History of England which is more prolix and particular; Robertson's History of North America ; do. History of Charles V; Hutchinson's History of Ilassachu- setts ; Ramsay's History of the War ; Guthrie's and Morse's Geography ; Josephus' History of the Jews ; — Watts on the Mind ; Locke on the Human Understanding ; — Spectcw tor ; Guardian ; Tattler ; Rambler ; Pamela ; Clarissa ; Grandison ; Telemachus ; Don Quixote ; Anderson's Voy-.- age ; Cook's Voyages ; 3Iilton ; Young's Night Thoughts ; Vicesimus Knox's Essays ; Do. On Education ; — Buchan's Family Physician ; Tissot on Health. — These may be sufficient — but additions may be easily made. The great danger will be of getting useless and hurtful books, es- pecially Novels and Romances which generally corrupt, especially young minds ; beside the loss of the purchase money and the time spent in the reading of them." Another paper of a later date was prepared by a clergy- man, of some reputation for literature, for a young lady, whose mind the writer sought to direct, and, as is very 12 Books and Reading. [Chap. I. likely, whose heart and hand he sought to win. It is as follows : " List of Books for a young lady's Library." " Cannes small Bible (with marginal references) ; Hornets JParaphrase on the Fsalms ; 3Irs. Hannah Morels Strictures on Female Education; 3Irs. Chapone's Letter's to her Niece ; Grove on the Sacrament ; Mason on Self-Know- ledge ; Doddridge's Rise and Progress, etc. ; Newton on the Prophecies ; Guide to Domestic Happiness and the Refuge ; Cowper's Works, 2 vols. : Young's Night Thoughts ; Ele- gant Extracts in Poetry ; Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia f The Rambler ; Thomson's Seasons ; Dwight's Conquest of Canaan ; Washington's Life ; Trumbull's History of Con- vecticui. This list of books might be enlarged, and perhaps upon recollection some alteration might be made, but these are well calculated to mend the heart, to direct the imagination and thoughts to proper objects, and to give command over them upon good principles. To read profitably we should always then have some object in view more than merely to pass away time, by letting words run off our tongue or through our minds. * * * Order and system in any business, and certainly in cul- tivating the mind, is really necessary, if we would be benefited by study. It is by having a few books well chosen and attentively and perse veringly read, that we fix in our mind useful principles. Books are multiplied without number, and it becomes perplexing to run fr©ra one to another, and none are well understood when we read in this manner. The Bible should always stand first in our esteem and be read first daily. It affords every Bpecies of reading, — history, biography, poetry, etc., — and Bhows the heart in its true character." If anything would discourage us from prosecuting the plan of writing upon Books and Reading, it would be the perusal of this paper of well-meant truisms and well-worn commonplaces. It does not follow, however, because Chai>. I] Introductory. 13 advice upon any subject is especially liable to degenerate into meaningless generalities, that advice should never be given ; nor, because it is comparatively easy to discourse safely with uplifted eye-brows about the books we read and the companions we choose, that such counsel should never be given at all. The much-needed pilot-boat must run the risk of being itself stranded upon dangerous fiats and beguiling shallows, if it would preserve the vessel from being ingulfed in the deeper seas, and the more terri- ble breakers. There are not a few readers who reject all guidance and restraint — some from inclination, and some from a the- ory that counsel and selection interfere with the freedom of individual taste and the spontaneity of individual genius. Their motto in general is: "of all the sorts of vice that prevail advice is the most vexatious." So far as reading is concerned, it is, "In brief, sir, study what you most affect." One person, they insist, cannot advise for another, because one cannot put himself in the place of another. " Read what speaks to your heart and mind; let your own feelings be your guide, and leave critics and advisers to their sta])id analyses and narrow or prejudiced judgments. Read tliat you may enjoy, not that you may judge; that you may gather impulse and inspiration, not that you may under- stand the reasons or explore the sources of the instruction and enjoyment which you unconsciously derive from the books in which you most delight." There is truth and force in this position, we grant. No man can read with profit that which he cannot learn to read with pleasure. If I do not myself find in a book something which I my- self am looking for, or am ready to receive, then the book is no book for me whatever, however much it may be for another man. But to assert that one cannot help another to select and to judge of books is, in principle, to renounce all instruction and dependence on those who are older and 14 Boolcs unci Reading. [Chap. I. wiser than we. To be consistent, it would turn every man into a liermit or a savage. Such a position is sometimes silly self-conceit; sometimes simple pride; sometimes it is a vohi])tuous animalism that would find in literature both stimulus and excuse for sensual indulgence. The wise ad- viser would respect the tastes of each reader, and would even bid him both gratify and follow them, but he can do something to aid him in discernino; what they are, and why, and how far they are to be allowed, or, if need be, re- strained. Inspiration, genius, individual tastes, elective alHnities, do not necessarily exclude self-knowledge, self- criticism, or self-control. If the genius of a man lies in the development of the individual person that he is, his manhood lies in finding out by self-study what he is and what he may become, and in wisely using the means that are fitted to form and perfect his individuality. Others are especially jealous of the use of any moral standard in the critical judgments of books, or in the ad- vice which is furnished concerning methods of reading. Such persons would be instinctively repelled from the pa- pers which we propose to write, as they may have already inferred that Ave intend to use ethical considerations very freely, and perhaps severely. Against this they will in- wardly protest in thoughts like these: — What has litera- ture to do with morality? Poetry and fiction, essays and the drama, history and biography — everything in short which we usually call literature — aim to present man and his experiences as they are, and not as they ought to be. It is the aim and end of all these to describe, and not to judge; to paint to the life, and not to praise or condemn. The reader, not the writer, may judge if he will and as he will. But, in order to be able to judge, one must see all bides of human nature and human life, and these must be portrayed with energy and truth as they are; he must sur- vey every manifestation of the human soul, the evil ajs Chap. I.] Jntroductori/. 15 well as ihi^ good, the passionate as truly as the self-con- trolled. The censor who brings the laws of duty to mea- sure and regulate our reading, avIio judges of books as he judges of men, interferes with the freedom that gives all its life to literature and most of the zest and value to read- ing. There is some truth in all this ; or rather, there is a truth which is perverted into this caricature and error. What the truth is, and how far it may be carried without perver- sion and danger, we will show as we proceed. For the present, we observe that no mistake can be more serious than to suppose that the law of conscience and the rules of duty have nothing to do with the production and enjoy- ment of literature, as many modern libertines in the field of imaginative writing would have us believe. Ethical ideals are produced by the same creative imagination which furnishes the poet and the novelist their materials and their power. Ethical truth is but another name for imagination holding "the mirror up to nature," i. e., to nature in man, or human nature. Nature in man invariably prescribes ethical standards, and to these the imagination responds when she sets forth fiction as fact, poetry as truth, and his- toiy as reality in its highest import and loftiest significance. Not only is this true, but much more than this can be shown most satisfactorily. If the lessons of these facts teach anything, they teach that literature must respect ethical truth if it is to reach its highest achievements, or attain that place in the admira- tion and love of the human race which we call fame. The literature which does not respect ethical truth, ordinarily survives as literature but a single generation. The \vriter who gives himself to any of the untruths which are known as superficial, sensual, Satanic, godless, or unchristian, ordi- narily gains for himself either a brief notoriety or an unen- viable immortality. He is either lost, or damned to fume. 16 liooka and Reading. [Chap. I Of all the shams that pass current, with those who write or with those who read, that is the flimsiest whicli hopes to outrage or cheat the human conscience. While, then, on the one hand we contend for a somewhat liberal construc- tion of the ethic^al and religious code as applied to the pro- duction and use of literary works, we insist that certain rules on this subject can be easily ascertained, and should be uncompromisingly enforced. But we as earnestly affirm that neither ethical truth, nor even relijjious earnestness, does of itself qualify a writer to produce, or require the reader to read a work which has no other ground on which to enforce its claims to attention and respect. It is not enough to say of a book, that it is good or goodish, that it is Christian or safe, in order to justify its having been written or printed. There prevails not a little cant and hollowness, if not gross imposition and downright dishon- esty, in the use of the phrases " Christian literature" and " safe or wholesome reading/' as we may have occasion to illustrate at some length. We wish it to be understood that we do not write for scholars or litterateurs, but for readers of English; not for bibliographers or bibliomaniacs, to whom literature and reading are a profession, a trade, or a passion ; but for those earnest readers to whom books and reading are instruction and amusement, rest and refreshment, inspiration and re- laxation. Our })apers will be familiar and free, not affected or constrained. Usefulness is their aim and olyect, and this aim will control the selection and illustration of the topics which may suggest themselves as we proceed. But enough of tin's premising. We promise nothing, and yet we would attempt something. What we propose, ji" accomplished, will make these papers useful rather than exciting. They will be the minister of pleasure in their remote results, rather than by immediate excitement Ch^p. I.-] Introductory. 17 "While then, as all well-mannered writers do, we ask the attention of the reader, we trust it will be given with a clear understanding of the character of what we propose to offer him, and with no extravagant expectations con- cerning its interest or its worti. 2 CHAPTER II. WHAT IS A BOOK? AND WHAT IS IT TO READ? It may appear very much like trifling to ask these questions. Nothing is more familiar and nothing seems better understood. We may, however, tiud it useful to define, somewhat formally, what a book is, a-^d what it is to read a book. Cliildren, as wc know, are very generally taught that whatever is })rintcd is to be regarded with deference. The fiction is useful if not necessary, first, to prevent them from tearing books, and next, to train them to listen to the wisdom of books with a teachable spirit. In consequence, they learn very easily to esteem all books as alike oracles of wisdom and truth. Mr. H. Crabb Robinson tells us that when a child he was corrected for mis-spelling a word on the authority of his spelling-book. On being told that the word was wrongly printed he says " I was quite confounded. I believed as firmly in the infallibility of print as any good Catholic can in the infallibility of his Church. I knew that naughty boys would tell stories, but how a l)ook could contain a falsehood was quite incomprehensible." — [Diary, Chap, ii.) Not a few men live and die with a similar impression, and never cease to astcem a })ook as in some way endowed with a mysterious authority by the very fact that it is a book. This opinion is well expressed in the lines " 'Tis pleasant, Burc, to bcc one's name in print ; A book's a book, although there's nothing in't." Following this tradition there are very intelligent men who 18 Chap. II.] WJmt a Book is, and what it is to read. 19 would never think of spending fifteen minutes in listening to stupidity or commonplace from a man's lip.s, who make it their duty and imagine it useful, solemnly to read, to weigh, and consider, any amount of dullness which an ac- credited author chooses to print, especially if it is done on expensive white paper and with a fair and wide margin. Men who will detect and spurn a lie, if it is spoken, will read lies by the hundred, if they are only printed ; and Avhen they read two books which contradict each other flatly in respect to statements of fact, will wonder how it can be possible that both should be worthy of credit, and yet as they are books they must of course be true, though they cannot see how. Very grave and Christian citizens — the stiff asserters of law and order — will read ars:uments that tend to the destruction of the family, with its sacred confidence and endearments — which would overturn every tribunal, unlock every prison, and make murder and arson as common as a change of the wind, and admire the pro- foundness of their wisdom. Xay — let it not be spoken above a whisjier — modest and virtuous ladies, who would blush at an innocent remark, if it happens to be unfortu- nate or equivocal in its language, will read sentences, nay, pages, that are equivocal neither in language nor in senti- ment, and pronounce them enchanting and delightful. Let it be observed and remembered, that a book is al- ways written by a man, and that it is never by any magic or mystery any better than its author makes it to be. This author may be a wise man or a fool. He may be an honest man or a knave. He may be a man of the best intentions, but slightly, or more than slightly, elevated with a little " too gude a conceit o' himsel'." He may have something to say which it is worth the while should be said, and yet not know how to say it. But whatever he is, or knows, and has the power to communicate, that \,\'A he write down in his book, wliether he thereby writes 20 Books and Beading. [Chap, il himself clown a sage, or writes himself down after the earnest desire of Justice Dogberry. When we set ourselves to read a book, what do we do ? "We place ourselves in communication with a living man. We go back with him to the time when he penned the volume. We think over the thoughts which he then thought, we sympathize with the feelings which he ex- perienced, we behold the wondrous creations which his eye, "in fine frenzy rolling," saw enter his door and live and move about him — the men and women, or the spirits of heaven and hell, to which he gave being in his mind then, and which he re-creates in our minds now. The theme may be God and man's concerns with God : and we sympathize, it may be, with the inspired Psalmist, as he utters the language of bitter repentance, of exulting hope, of unshaken fortitude, or earnest supplication ; we follow the thoughts of the eloquent apostle, who discourses so sublimely of the loftiest themes ; or we listen, in the atti- tude of love or of worship, to the words of Him who spake as never man spake. Or perhaps Barrow pours out before us a redundantly flowing stream of thoughts, weighty for sense and copious in diction ; or Baxter speaks to our hearts in fiery directness ; or Taylor amazes us by his mellifluent speech and his never-ending imagery; or South astonishes us by his wit, while he instructs us with his wisdom. Or, we confer with Bacon, who drops like l)earls those pregnant observations that come home to "men's business and bosoms," or, after taking us by a rapid survey over what had already been accomplished in the field of .science, loads us to a height from which his j)roj)hetic eye can discern fields yet undiscovered. Spenser conducts us by devious but beguiling wanderings through the long ])ilgrimage of " Una and the milk-white lamb," till the Fairy Queen and fairy land become real to our thoughts and familiar to our memory. Shakspeare lets c&AP. II.] What a Book is, and what it is to read. 21 loose upon us a host of beings, the most wonderful that were ever created by a human fancy, or that can be gazed upon by thq "mind's eye" of the re-creating reader. Mil- ton opens before us the gates of heaven, and we are daz- zled at the magnificence of the scene, overwhelmed by the splendid array of the angelic host, or confounded by the glimpses which we catch of the infinite glories of the Un- created and Eternal. Or " On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, Th' infernal doors," and the archangel ruined stands before us, with his com- peei's — sublime in intellect, degraded by sin, scarred and seared by suffering, yet proud and unsubdued in their relentless wills. Scott, "the magician of the North," marshals before us, with breathless haste, those marvellous creations of his genius, which are as familiar as household words. Dickens and Thackeray, " George Eliot " and Mrs. Oliphant, with many others, send us almost weekly, regular installments from their brain and bid us review with them the creations which they produce for our plea- sure. The journalist or reviewer takes us into his closet, and discourses to us with wisdom or wildness, in soberness or extravagance, of the interests that concern the common weal, or the themes which are uppermost for the hour or the week. To read an author is, hoAvever, more than to hold com- munion with a mind in its ordinary state, or by the usual method of hearing the conversation of a person, even in his happiest mood. For by the act of writing the mind is ordinarily raised to its highest energy both of thought and feeling. It condenses as it were and intensifies itself: whatever is good into what is doubly good — whatever is bad into what is doubly bad. It is deliberate. It does not proceed in haste. If a fact is to be sta.'ed, it may be 22 Books and Reading. [^hap. it. examined with care and its truth established. If an oi)inion is to be expressed, it may be looked at from every side and in all its relations. What is spoken cajinot be re- called, but what is written can be revised. The mind in its calmer mood ean qualify and withdraw what it penned in fervid haste. New thoughts may modify its first con- clusions, new energy may be concentrated into some sinewy epithet, and new fervor may be expressed in a " winged word." It follows from this, that a book does not merely represent its author, but it represents the best part of him, — or, it may be, the worst. It gives the picture of his in- ner self in forms enlarged and ideally improved. The colors are more intense and more finely contrasted than in the real- ity of his ordinary ex})erience. Hence, reading a man's book is often worth far more than listening to his conversation. Hence, too, a good book is of more value to the world than a good man — for it is the best part of a good man — the good without the evil. Thus when a wise man dies, while his spirit is living on in one immortal life, he may be also living another immortality on earth — occupying perhaps a wider sphere than when he was in the body — his thoughts quickening the thoughts of others, as if he were present to speak them, his feelings inspiring the noblest feelings of others, and his principles prompting to worthy deeds after his own last action is done. It was by more than a figure that Milton wrote, in his Areopar/itica : " for books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a progeny of life in them as active as that soul whose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial, the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bre^J them." " As good almost kill a man as kill a good Vxx)k ; who kills a man kills a rea^mablo creature, God's image, but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God as it were in the eye." Chap. II.] What a Book is, and what it w to read. 23 The thought will doubtless occur, that this suggestion towards answering the questions, " what is a book, and what is it to read ?" applies to certain classes of books, but not to all. Tliere are many books, it may be said, which might as well have been written by an automaton as a man, — books from which we can by no means gather what kind of a man produced them — books which have little or no flavor of the personality of their author. We grant this of a few books, but the number is smaller than we should at first suspect, and it is literally true of no book what- ever, that its character and value are not greatly de- termined by the intellect and culture, the honor and honesty, of the man who made it. The traces of person- ality are also oftener to be discerned than we imagine. Not only does the man make the book in more respects than we are wont to believe, but he can be known and detected in his book and through his book, more frequent- ly than many readers notice. A dictionary seems to be removed the farthest from any savor or aspect of human personality ; and yet in any co- pious dictionary it is not difficult to discover the feelings and even the prejudices of its author. Those of Dr. John- son are sufficiently manifest in respect to Excisemen, Pen- sioners, and his neighbors beyond the Tweed, by his -defini- tions of Excise, Pension, and Oats. Excise he defines as " A hateful tax, levied on commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid." Pension, he says, is "An allowance made to any one Avithout an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his countr\'." Pensioner is defined to be " A slave of state hired by stipend to obey his master." Oafs he describes as " A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland sup- ports the people." The private opinions of Xoah AVeb- 24 Books and Reading. [Chap. h 6ter look out ven- plainly through the judicial gravity with which he lays down the law concerning scores of words ; as for example, when he defines Dandy thus : " In modern usage, a male of the human species who dresses himself like a doll and who carries his character on hia back." Ever}- histori' purports to be an impartial recond of facts, and a faithful transcript of the great truths which may be inferred from them. The historian, at the first thoun them as the author's own. Dante and Milton, Goethe and Schiller, Byron and Bulwer, introduce upon their shifting stage an immense variety of characters, and speak or sing through each of them the thoughts and emotions that belong to each. Their own genius lies in the power to forget themselves completely in their characters, or rather to transform themselves into the heroes whom they per- sonate. But now and then occurs a sentence w^hich is weighty with a double meaning, becaase the author speaks his own cherished opinions through his hero, or a strain will recur so often and in a character so peculiar, that we recognize it as the sad refrain of the poet's own sorrow. Herein is seen the man, and hereby does the individual man assert his right over the impersonal genius. Scott and Shakspeare are the least personal and subjective, the most completely objective and dramatic of all modern writers. Scott was large-hearted and many-sided enough ordinarily to lose himself in his characters. But now and then the reader can detect the humane Scotch sheriff, as well as the romantic and prejudiced Tory, in characters and sayings in which neither would confess himself to be present. Shakspeare is rightly called the " myriad-minded :" and it may be hard to discern the man Shakspeare through the countless and strange variety of personages into which he so successfully transforms himself. But the man will speak out in the sonnets, which have been thought by many to have been wTitten in order to satisfy even Shakspeare's longing at times to write in his own character and to give utterance to his ow'n individuality. There are serious and solemn passages in his dramas in which no imitated voice is uttered: in which it is no masked histrionist who speaks, but Shakspeare's self utters sentiments and emo- tions that he could not repress. It is almost idle to ob- serve that neither Dickens nor Thackeray, Trollope nor George Eliot, can alwavs hide themselves in the motlev of 26 £oof:s and Reading. [Chap. il men whom their fancy has created. Coleridge and Southey, AVordsworth and Tennyson, usually sing their own songs, and from a loving, or, it may be, a saddened heart. We may truly utter the seeming paradox, that while it is the proof and trium])h of genias to be able to overcome and override the individual man, yet where the genius is not rooted in, and does not grow out of the intense affections and the earnest character of the writer's own individualitv he shows the art of a dexterous histrionist rather than the earnestness of a great nature. As for those authors who write to amuse the public, the perpetrators of humor of all sorts, and the producers of every variety of bagatelle to suit the reading-market, it is not easy for the man to hide his individuality behind the mask which he assumes, however grotesque and comical that mask may be. The features of the man will always shine tlirough the mask — if indeed there be a man be- neath it. For very great is the difference whether it be a cfown or a man which is behind — whether we see, through the disguise, the look half-vacant and half-villainous of which the venal and frivolous Bohemian can never rid himself, with all his tact and art, or the broad swimming eyes of love, with which Hood always looked out through his fun, or the sad earnestness into which Lamb relaxed so soon as he had stammered out his joke or his pun. It is scarcely needful to add that essavists and critics, the authors of moral, political and religious tracts and books, are supposed of course to Avrite their own opinions, wliich, tliough they be also the opinions of large masses of men, will be shaded by the color and hue of the minds from which they come, and be warmed with the feelings wliifh glow in the hearts of all thoughtful and eloquent wjuls. Let it not be thought for a moment, that the as- sertions — that a book is written by a man, and is just Chap. II.] H'^t a Book is, and what it is to read. 27 what its author makes it to be, and that to read a book is to converse with a living man — are barren truisms. We believe them to be fertile in important suggestions, and that if held fast in the mind they will serve as a clue to guide us safely and wisely through the labyrinth of books — which may mislead and bewilder as well as amuse and ennoble. We invite the reader's attention to the suggestions Avhich may be derived from them. These thoughts may suggest the principles which we need to guide us as we judge of books and read them — and may help us distinguish the books which are books, from those which are only " things in books' clothing," a.s well as teach us how to make the best use of those which are books indeed. CHAPTER III. HOW TO READ — ATTENTION IN EEADING. Let us tlion take our clue in hand and follow it out, feeling- our way along, in the suggestions and applications to which it \vill naturally conduct us. It is thought a great feat for a child to learn to read. The process is not a trivial one which is accomplished every day, and is going on in our nurseries and school- houses, by which the infant learns to distinguish letters, lo spell thorn into words, to look through written charac- ters, to interpret words into thoughts and feelings, and do all these so readily that the skill seems literally to have " come by nature." It is indeed a great feat, as we see j)laiiily when a full-grown man or woman attempts it for tiie first time, and as we mark the slow and painful steps by which such persons must halt and stumble for years, in order to master the mechanical part of the process. It is very rightly thought to be a most important step that is gained when either the child or the man has finished this apprenticeship, and to make a great diilerence with him to have overcome these obstacles. But why is it so important? What makes the difference so great? Who asks: what is all this for, and how may a man best use the power which is thus gained? It is not enough to say that it enables a person to transact business, to read his own ac- counts and letters from other people, to know what is go- ing on at New York or Washington, to pore over newspa- pers, to gape over a few tales of blood and murder, or now and then to extract a thought from a good book on Sunday. If this were all, it were indeed worth all the cost, as the 28 Chap. III.] Hoic to read: — Attention in Beading. 29 experience and the common sense of the world shows. The transactions and intercourse of civilized life depend on this acquisition ; and the unconscious discipline of civilized man that comes from the process, even in the limited and care- less uses to which it is applied, reward the pains-taking a thousand-fold. But suppose the question were asked more distinctly and more frequently: How may the power thus attained be used to the best advantage, and what are the uses to which it may be applied ? Shall we say or think that the instru- ment is too common to admit of improvement ? Then would one method of plowing be as good as another, and one plow would be as good as another; when all the world knows that from good plows and good plowing — to say nothing of the best looms and best weaving — come the wealth and luxury and civilization of millions of men. If the applications to which a common instrument may be turned are of no consequence whatever, then are potatoes as good as wheat because both are products of the plow, and the coarsest serge is as desirable as broadcloth from Leeds or silk from Lyons. But all this is too obvious to need an argument or illus- tration ; yet it is well to bestow a thought on truths so simple, for sometimes we are surprised by their extensive reach and even their tremendous import. Siirely if a man should form and use principles in regard to any subject, he should form and use them in respect to what and how he reads, and for what ends. If life is not all a holiday or a day dream, then reading should be pursued in an earnest and reflecting spirit. For he that opens a book does by this very act begin to converse with a man — good, bad or indiiferent as the case may be — with a man perhaps in his very best or worst phase or condition. If then you would scorn to take lessons or receive influences from an ijjnora- mus, a knave, or a known deceiver and seducer of tho 30 Books and Heading. [Chap. iil good, why not scorn to come nearer to any such man bj* reading -what is the image, the expression, nay perhaps the essence or embodiment of himself? If, when you are ad- mitted to tlie society of a wise or amusing man who givea instruction or entertainment in a winning and graceful manner, you think it important to be wakeful in his society and to catch and weigh every word ; why should you not feel the same necessity when he speaks to you through the written page ? And yet how many neglect the whole matter of what books they or their children read, or suifcr it to take its chance, for evil or for good ! Very good persons who would be slow to provide unwholesome or poisonous food, or to associate with mean or dangerous men, do both these things by the books with wdiich they and their families come into close and frequent contact. They and their children read such books as come in their way, or are talked about, or are cheap, or attractive. Or, if they are careful in choosing books, they have little care as to the w^ay in which they read them. This is not as it should be. It may involve a fearful and lasting wa'ong. If a man has but little time to read, he has no right to allow these golden hours of his life to be wasted and worse than wasted. If he reads a great deal, he has no right to allow influences which are silently but most powerfully affecting his whole character, to be what the chance or the mood of the hour decides them — to bring disease or health, life or death, to that which makes him a man. These in- fluences might be most healthful and exhilarating ; they might do much to make him a better, a more cheerful and self-relying man: and yet his time, it may be, is dawdled away in reading he knows not what, or in reading a good book in such a way that he knows not what he has read, any more than one can toll what he has said after being jaded by an evening party or wasted by a round of morning- calls. Chap. III.] tTow to read: — Attention in Heading. 31 Reading ought not to be aimless, even though its aim be to while away an hour. And reading when allowed for the merest relaxation is not exempt from the guidance of principles and, if need be, the restraints of conscience. As to habits of reading, and the attitude with which we are accustomed to present ourselves before our book and its author, these are of so great importance that our success or failure in the use of books is determined by them. "VVe are not so stupid or pedantic as to desire to form the reading of two persons after the same model, or to Jay down formal rules, for the mechanical adjustment and direction of the mental processes. But we earnestly desire to awaken each person to the dignity of forming his own rules for reading ; and of making his converse with books to contribute to and to grow from a character that is individual because it is formed by reflection. The first rule which we prescribe is: read with attention. This is the rule that takes precedence of all others. It stands instead of a score of minor directions. Indeed it comprehends them all, and is the golden rule. To gain the power and habit of attention, is the great difficulty to be overcome by young readers when they begin. The one reason why reading is so dull to multitudes of active and eager minds is that they have not acquired the habit of at- tending to books. The eye may be fastened upon the page, and the mind may follow the lines, and yet the mind not be half awake to the thoughts of the author, or the best half of its energies may be abroad on some wandering errand. The one evil that comes from omnivorous and indiscriminate reading is that the attention is wearied and overborne by the multitude of the objects that pass before it ; that the miserable habit is formed and strengthened of seeming to follow the author when he is half comprehended, of vacantly gazing upon the page that serves just to occupy 32 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. hi. and excite the fancy without leaving distinct and lasting impresc?ions. It was said of Edmund Burke, who was a great reader and a great thinker also, that he read every book as if he were never to see it a second time, and thus made it his own, a })ossession for life. Were his example imitated, much time would be saved that is spent in recalling things half remembered, and in taking up the stitches of lost thoughts. A greater loss than that of time would be avoided : the loss of the dignity and power which are pos- sessed by him who keeps his mind tense, active and wake- ful. It is veiy common to give the rule thus, " Whatever is worth reading at all, is Avorth reading well." If by " well " is intended \vitli the utmost stretch of attention, it is not literally true, for there are books which serve for pastime and amasement, books which can be inin through when we are more or less fagged or ill, and c^mnot and ought not to put forth our utmo.st energies of body and rnind. Then there are books which we may look through, as a merchant runs over the advertisements in a newspaper — taking up the thoughts that interest and concern us especially, as the magnet takes and holds the iron filings that are .scattered through a handful of .sand. But if everv part of a book be equally worthy our regard, as the writings of Arnold, Grote, Merivale, Gibbon, Burke, Web- ster, Miltfm, Shakspeare, or Scott, then should the en- tire energy of attention be aroused during the time of reading. The page should be read as if it were never to \y(t seen a second time; the mental eye should be fixed as if there were no other object to think of; the memory should grasp the facts, [i. e.) the dates, incidents, etc., like a vise; the impressions should be di.stinctly and sharply received; the feelings shf)uld glow intensely at all that is worthy and burn with indignation at everything which is bad. For the want of this habit, thoroughly matured and made per- vHAP. III.] Tlov) to read: — Attention in Reading. 33 manent, time is wasted, negligent habits are formed, the powers of the mind are systematically weakened by the veiy exercise which sliould give them strength, and read' ing, which ought to arouse and strengthen the intellect, produces, with many, no deeper and more abiding impres- sion than the shifting pictures of a magic lantern, or the fantastic groupings of the kaleidoscoixj — first a bewildering show, then confusion and vacancy. There is now-a-days a special danger from this inatten- tion. So many books are written, which are good enough in their way, und yet are the food for easy, i. e. lazy, reading, and they are so cheap M'ithal ; so much excitement prevails in respect to them, that an active mind is in danger of knowing many things superficially and nothing well, of being driven through one volume aftqr another with such breathless haste as to receive few clear impressions and no lasting influences. Passive reading is the evil habit against which most readers need to be guarded, and to overcome which, when formed, requires the most manful and persevering efforts. The habit is the natural result of a profusion of'books and the indolence of our natures and our times, which desires to receive thoughts, — or more exactly pictures, many of which are thin, hazy, and evanescent — rather than vigor- ously to react against them by an effort that thinks them over and makes them one's own. It is the intellectual dvs- pepsia which is induced by a plethora of intellectual diet, if that may be called intellectual which is the weak dilution of thought. Almost better not read at all, than to read in such a way. Certainly it is better to be forced to steal a half-hour from sleep, after a day of bodily toil, or to depend for your reading on an hour at a mid- day nooning when your fellow-laborers are asleep, if you but fix your whole mind on what you read, than to dawdle away weeks and months in turning over the leaves of 3 34 Books cold Beading. [Chap. hi. luindreds of volumes in search for something new, which is feebly conceived, as lazily dismissed, and as stupidly forgotten. Better read one history, one jjoem, or one novel, well, if it takes a year to despatch it at stolen inter- vals of time, than lazily to consume twelve hours of the day in a process which wastes the time, and, what is worse, wastes the intellect, the fancy, and the living soul. But how is the attention to be controlled? How can this miserable passiveness be prevented or overcome '/ Rules in great number have been prescribed. All sorts of directions have been devised. An ingenious author has advised that each sentence should be read through at a Bingl'2 breath ; the breath being retiiined until the sentence is finished. Some advise to read with the pen in hand; others to make a formal analysis of every volume ; others to repeat to ourselves, or to recite to others, the substance of each page and chapter. These, and other devices, are all of service in their way, and some of them we will con- sider in their appropriate place. But their chief value turns upon this, that they induce an interest or require an interest, either direct or indirect, in the sul)Jcct-matter which is read. AVhatcvor awakens the interest will be certain to fix and hold the attention. The hired lad in the countiy who steals an hour from sleep or rest, that he may get on a few pages in the odd volume of Plutarch or Rollin, which, having fallen in his way, has begun to un- fold before his astonished gaze the till then unknown history of the ancient world ; the errand-boy of the city, who stands trembling at the book-stall, lest the surly pro- prietor should <;ut short his borrowed pleasure from the page which he devours; these need no artificial devices to teach them to hf)ld the mind to the book, or to retain its contents. The great secret of their attention is to be found in the fresh interest with which they lay hold of the thoughts of the pictured page, and this remains ever CiiAP, III.] Hoio to read: — Attention in Heading. 35 the great secret of the habit of successful reading even to the mind that has been disciplined to the most amazing feats of application. There are no arts of attention, no arts of memory, which can be compared with this natural and certain condition of success. Daniel Webster was one of the most earnest and in- telligent of readers all his life long. His favorite authors were read and re-read with a passionate fondness. His critical conversations upon the standard poets and essay- ists and orators of the English tongue are still remembered and quoted by those who were present to hear when tha mood and opportunity of discourse were upon him. In one of the last evenings of his life he beguiled the weariness of his attendants by reciting a poem from Cowper. How he came to be so successful and so intelligent a reader is ex- plained in his autobiography. Whatever he read, he read so often and so earnestly that he learned to repeat it. " We had so few books," he says, " that to read them once or twice was nothing ; we thought they were all to be got by heart." A small circulating library had been es- tablisl.ed in the neighborhood by his father and other per- sons, and among the books which he obtained from it was the Spectator. " I could not understand why it was ne- cessary that the author of the Spectator should take such great pains to prove that Chevy Chase was a good story ; that was the last thing I doubted." He tells us, " In those boyish days there were two things which I did dear- ly love, viz : reading and playing — passions which did not cease to struggle when boyhood was over." The man or boy who reads Avith attention thus quickened cannot read amiss if what he reads is worth perusing. Of his habits when a student he says : "Many other students read more than J did and knew more than I did. But so much as I read I made my own. AVhen a half Iioiu* or an hour at most had elapsed, I closed my book, and thought on 86 ^ook-ji and Reading. [Ch-^p- "I- what I had read. If there was anything peculiarly inter- esting or striking in the passage, I endeavored to recall it and lay it up in my memory, and commonly could effect my object." Sir Edward Sugden explained to Sir Thomas Powell Buxton the secret of his professional success in the following words: ''I resolved when beginning to read law, to make everything I acquired perfectly my own, and never to go to a second thing till I had entirely accomplished the first. Many of my competitors read as much in a day as I read in a week, but at the end of the twelve months my know- ledge was as fresh as on the day it was acquired, while theirs had glided away from their recollection." {Mem. of Sir T. F. Buxton, ch. xxiv.) Pie who would read with attention must learn to be interested in what he reads. He must feel wants or learn to create wants which must be supplied. If it be history that he would read with attention, he must feel deficiencies that will not let him rest till they are sujiplied ; he must be moved by a desire that will command its object. Is it X)oetry or fiction ? He must be excited by a restless appe- tite that longs to be amused with new pictures, or diverted by humorous scenes, or stirred by lofty ideals, or charmed y poetic melody, and that grows by what it feeds on. .ind the man must master, and not be mastered by, his in- creasing stock of knowledge and his treasured products of the imagination. He must exercise great and still greater energy in judging and applying the acquisitions he has made, making tliem accompany his musings, feed his memory, animate his principles, and guide his life. CHAPTER IV. HOW TO READ WITH INTEREST AND EFFECT. We have seen that a book is the creation of a living man, and should be regarded and judged somewhat as a man himself is tried and estimated. A few books are indeed almost impersonal, and might have been written by one man as readily as by another. These are to be judged chiefly by their value, i. e., by what they contain. But most books express more or less of the personality of their authors; and in reading them, we come in contact with living men. Good books, besides the value of what they contain and impart, have a positive worth in their effect on the principles, feelings and character. If this is true, then in reading we are properly said to come into communication with a human being, who Mill either instruct and elevate, or mislead and degrade us. From these fundamental conceptions of Books and Beading, we have beo-un to derive our rules for the selection of the books which we read, and for our own behaviour in using them. We have also seen that, for success in reading, we must read with attention, and to read with attention, we must read with an awakened and sustained interest. Though this interest when awakened must be regulated by the rules of prudence and duty, yet it often needs to be enkindled and sustained, if we are to read with attention and profit. It becomes then a question of prime concern how we can so arouse, sustain and direct our interest in the books which we read as to make our reading most effective for good. In answer to this somewhat comprehensive in- quiry, we reply: O I 38 Boolcs and Beading. [Chap. iv. 1. If we are at a loss what to read, or if we can think of nothing which we desire especially to read, it is well to ask oui'selves what we care most to learn or to think o^. Xo questions are more frequently pressed than these: "What shall I read? What shall I read next? With what books shall I begin a course of reading? What do you tliink will interest me?" Sometimes a person asks these questions cf nimself. More frequently he addresses them to another. The best answers which can be ffiven to them are suggested by other questions like these: "AVhat are you most interested to know? In what particulars does your ignorance most disturb or annoy you? With what class of facts and thoughts, principles or emotions would it please you best to be conversant?" If a person can answer these questions with any satisfaction to himself, he is in the way of knowing what books he ought to read first. For if he cannot without assistance find the book which he ought fii*st to lay hold of, he can be more easily directed by another, when his adviser knows what he cares most to know or vhat excites his keenest appetite. The great difficulty with the majority of readers is, that their sense is, of any wants which books can supply, inde- finite, or their desire to supply these wants is feeble. Or. if they are aware of their deficiencies in the general, they have neither the courage nor the patience to know them in the detail, and manfully to set about the work of removing them. To many persons the wants which books alone can supply are themselves either created or brought to light by the use of books. Many a man needs first to read and to read with interest, in order to have awakened in his soul a thirst for books and a taste for reading. There are however not a few who tlirough a sense of ignorance, or shame when brought in contact with those better rea^l than themselves, or through some other lucky though perhaps rude shock to their self-conceit and self- Chap. IV.] How to read ivith Interest and Effect. Sd content, are suddenly fired with a desire for knowledge from books. Of history they begin to have some inkling, and feel the first desire to learn the story of their own township, their own family, their own nation or their own race. Of eloquence they have some idea, and they seek to be excited by written oratory. Poetry may have moved their ears with its rhythmic melody or charmed their souls with its wizard imagery. The drama or the novel may- have startled and enchanted them by its pictured pages. Or perhaps the person who asks, "What shall I read?" or "With what shall I begin?" may have read and studied for years in a mechanical routine, and with a listless spirit; with scarcely an independent thought, with no plans of self-improvement, and few aspirations for self-culture. To all these classes the advice is full of meaning: "Read what will satisfy your wants and appease your desires, and you will comply with the first condition to reading with interest and profit." Hunger and thirst are better than manifold appliances and directions, in respect to other than the bodily wants, towards a good appetite and a healthy digestion. If a man has any self-knowledge or any power of self-direction, he is surely competent to ask himself, what is the subject or subjects, in respect to which he stands most in need of knowledge or excitement from books. If he can answer this question he has gone very far towards answering the question, "What book or books can I read with satisfaction and profit?" 2. It follows by a necessary inference that every man should aim first of all to read and master all the books which relate directly or indirectly to his profession or busi- ness in life. If a man is alive to any subject whatever, it is to his chosen occupation in life, and to whatever promises its easier working or more successful issue. If he dislikes his business, if he frets at and fights it, then God only can help him. On such a man human counsel and human aid 40 Books and Beading, Jhap. iv. must be thrown away ; much more must books and reading, if they cannot bring him to acquiesce in his business or to change it. But if a man has something to do day by day in which he strives after the skill which leads to success, and if he can learn anything about it from books, he can- not but read such books as will instruct him, with an excited and prolonged interest. No novelist is held to the charmed page of fiction, no rhapsodist reads and re-reads his favorite poet, with the keen and excited attention with which a man thoroughly aroused by some difficulty in his occupation or his circumstances, resorts to the treatise or the encyclopaedia, the journal or the magazine^ which promises to answer the question which ha is anxiously pondering. Let a farmer have brooded over the unac- countable loss of his wheat or potato crop, or have anx- iously inquired what will restore the blight which is begin- ning to attack his favorite peach or pear tree, and he de- vours the printed pages that prescribe a remedy or promise relief. If a mechanic is at fault in his work, and finds his machinery fails to do the service for which it is designed, lie feels no lack of interest and suffers under no fiiilure of attention while he is consulting the books which promise to instruct iiim. Let either learn that by extensive read- ing he can gain an insight into the secret of certain and proiri-essiv'e success, and he will read widelv in relation to his business with an ever-increasing and intensified enthu- siasm. The madness of the so-called book-farmers and inventive enthusiasts, illustrates the truth which we assert, that if a man would learn to read with interest and atten- tion, he should first of all read much in respect to his call- ing in life. If ho is a farmer, he should read books of agriculture ; if a mechanic, books on machinery ; if r baid. v.] The Relations of the Reader to his Author. 53 is the Aviser for his books until he is above them." If this were true, the wisdom of another could not become our own except by the suspension or displacement of our in- dividual activity of thought; instruction by books would be an assertion of simple dogmatism; and confidence and docility would only be other names for subservience and credulity. Still whatever is our deference for an author we cannot exalt his intellect into the place of our own ; we cannot receive his facts without evidence, nor his arguments except so far as they produce conviction; nor should we profess to admire his eloquence, to love his poetry, or be. delighted with his novels, because he is reputed to be a great genius or a splendid writer. Here we observe that : 4. Favorite authors often exert an excessive and occa- sionally a blinding and stupifying influence over their ad- mirers. We speak of such in connection with the duty of reserving to ourselves the rights of independent judg- ment and criticism, because it is rare that one human being ever gains a more complete possession of another than does a favorite author over his devoted readers. The most confiding friend and enraptured lover are rarely more completely taken captive in thought and feeling, than are the readers of some fascinating writer, who is for the time being in the ascendant, whether over a small coterie of select worshipers or a whole generation which he sways by his genius. A special chapter might be written on the favorite authors of the present century ; the secret of their influence ; the explanation of their power — its rise, culmination and its sudden or gradual decline. The namea of Scott, Southey, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, INIoore, Byron, Bulwer-Lytton, Carlyle, James, Dickens, Thack- erav, " Georo-e Eliot," Mrs. Browninc;, Tennvson and many others in England, and of Irving, Longfellow, Mrs. Stowe, Beecher, IIa\\i;horne, Emerson, Lowell, etc., in this country will occur to most persons as cxampl(?s of 54 Books and Heading. [Chat. v. writers who have more or less extensively exerted this j)eeuliar influence. When it is salutary and elevating it cannot be estimated too highly as an influence for good. ^^'hen it is equivocal or positively evil its disastrous power cannot be too greatly deplored. Of both we shall have abundant occasion to adduce illustrations as we proceed. We hasten to observe : 5. That it is a good rule to read those authors whom we are competent both to understand and appreciate. This seems so true and obvious as to be a truism and a common- place. If a man is to sympathize with his author, much more if he is to criticise and judge him, he must certainly be able to understand his meaning. His thoughts and feelings if they do not produce answering thoughts and feelings, are nouglit. to the reader. A complete and familiar mastery of both are necessary to instruction and pleasure in the recipient. We do not say an easy mastery nor a mastery which does not cost at times severe and patient lal)or ; for he who has never struggled to comprehend a profound and subtile author has never had experience of the manliest of activities — but we do say that the struggle should be successful or it should be soonef or later abandoned. There Ls not a more silly spectacle often exhib- ited, than that of an untrained or an uninstructed person professing to follow and enjoy a writer to whom he is un- equal, looking wise over his philosophy, interested in his narrative or enraptured by his eloquence and poetry, Avhen thev arc all Greek or Chinase to him. The silliness is especially conspicuous if the author is at once popular, conceited and arrogant ; if he understands and practises the arts of intellectual trickery and delights to set })eople agape with wonderment by sundry small artifices of high-sound- ing phraseology, far-fetch(!d allusions, or any of the mani- fold imprtsitions of word-play and \rnaostts, few liave been able wholly to escape the indirect Chap. VI.] Tlicir Influence on the Principles. 67 influences which pervade it in every part, as the seeds of death will shake themselves from the gorgeous robes of damask and gold that have been worn by one smitten of the plague. We do not wonder that the great and good Dr. Thomas Arnold was moved, by the thought of thia evil, to undertake to write a history of Rome, which should be animated by a different spirit. Hume had a theme only inferior to that of Gibbon ; and that was the history of an empire which is more wonderful in many of its relations to the w^orld than Rome ever was or could be, even in the pride of its power. The one empire was honored as the birth-place of Christianity. The other as the birth-place of that liberty of which a developed and free Christianity could alone be the parent. For it was in the struggles between the crown and the people of England, that " the good old cause " of human rights and of human freedom was in fact made the issue, and it was through many a hard-fought contest of dc bate and battle-field that liberty became triumphant, and secured for herself a better abode and ampler room in her new-found home beyond the ocean. How did Hume write this history, so inspiring in its themes, so glorious in the heroic men and the splendid deeds of strife and suffer- ing, which emblazon its annals? What is the sympathy and what the spirit which he breathed into his record of these men and their deeds? With what judgments and prin- ciples does he impregnate every line of his narrative? What impressions does he leave upon the minds of his readers of that which is most valuable in political institutions and practical principles ? What faith does he awaken in the noble and the heroic in character ? What feelings does he excite in his readers towards the dead whom they ought to revere and the living who would emulate their ex- ample ? To these questions we are compelled to answer, that he wrote with a continued sneer at the religious faitb GS Books and Heading, [Chap, vl ami fervor. which fired the souls who resisted the throne on the one side, and with scarce spirit and soul enough to do Justice to the chivalrous loyalty that lent its grace to the mistakes and wrongs of tyranny on the other ; and the consequence was that he made out of the wondi'ous history of Enghind, a work fit only to be read by men who, hav- ing faith neither in God's truth, nor in man's nobleness, are prepared to be skeptics, self-seekers, and slaves. And yet so easy is his narrative, so plausible are his representa- tions, and so specious are his arguments, that thousands of readers have confided themselves to his direction, without suspecting that the author was chilling their enthusiasm for private and public virtue, or weakening their faith in self-forn-ettinf;; devotion to freedom and to God. The two well-known histories of the United States, by Bancroft and Hildreth, are pervaded by the political and practical philosophy ot their respective authors. Their views of life, their estimates of character, as well as of the conditions of greatness in the individual and the state, are, in some respects, strikingly contrasted, and yet for differ- ent reasons the peculiar principles of each are open to ex- ception. No man can study cither of their histories with- out being either so consciously aware of their principles as to accept or reject them, or without being nnconsciously moved to admiring sympathy, to nnexplained anti])athy, or to decided aversion. The sanguine and wax/" democracy of Bancroft sometimes becomes so emphatic and extreme a.s to remind us of the wretched rant which in the Reign of Terror thundered from the tribune in the daily assem- blies of the Convention, and shrieked by night in the frenzied gatherings of the Hall of the Jacobins. His care- ful and exhaustive research, and his painstaking compre- hensiveness, are an insufficient offset against the superficial philosophy that sometimes reminds us equally of the ped- ant ajid the demagogue. The ])ains-taking accuracy and Chap. VI.] Their Influence on the Principles. 69 the judicial severity of ITildrcth, do not atone for his sar- donic bitterness, his cynic misanthropy, and his inveterate dislikes; least of all for the chilling lesson of the nil ad- mirari with which he weakens our faith in and respect for self-sacrifice and self-denial. The organs of great parties and interests, whether politi- cal or religious, do not merely defend by open and legiti- mate methods, the distinctive principles which they are set to represent, but their judgments of men and of books, of literature and philosophy, of tendencies and events — in a word their blame and their praise — are determined more or less completely by the political and religious opinions of their party and school. This influence is pervasive like the atmosphere, and it constitutes what is called the tone and spirit of the journal, of the presence and character of which the constant or occasional reader is not always so distinctly aware, as he must inevitably be more or less affected by it. We cite as examples, Blachvood's Maga- zine and The Westminster Revieic. In the conduct of the first, when at the height of its power, were employed genius the most splendid and various, as well as classical and historical learning both brilliant and profound. In the same number, and in the same paper, fun and frolic, carried to the extreme of bacchanalian revelry, min>le with sacred eloquence and poetry, and each of these in- congruous elements is represented with unrivalled fresh- ness and force. This magazine has been devoted from the first to the interests of the Tory party in Great Britain, and the influence of its wit and humor, of its poetry and phil- osophy, of its science and theology, has been to strength- en this interest in Church and State. Many an enthusi- astic American youth has read it with admiration for years, and, as the result, has found himself, without know- ing why or how, the bond slave or devotee to all its pecU' liar prejudices — has been made an English Tory on 70 Books and Reading. [Chap, vl American soil, with all the comfortable self-complacence and the real awkwardness of such a position. The IVest- minstcr Review has stood at the other extreme. It has been critical and learned, acute and fearless, sharp and out- spoken. The authority of tradition, the prestige of rank, the prerogative of oi?ice, the associations of the past, the pretension of the schools, have not deterred it from bold attiieks on everything that is venerable and sacred in Church and State. Its principles stand out too distinctly to fail to be observed. No reader of this Review can fail to know what its principles are. We fear, however, that many who dislike and reject its doctrines are influenced by its spirit and philosophy more than they are aware or would be willing to acknowledge. Thomas Carlyle never fails to impregnate whatever he writes with a large infusion of his opinions as the Prophet of Discontent and Antagonism towards whatever the age which he despises sees fit to honor. The sphere in which he rules is that of the ''Everlasting No f' his protest is a perpetual veto. That he never fails to utter this protest with brilliancv and power the multitude of his bewildered ad- mirers testify with unwavering enthusiasm. That not a few of these admirers are affected by his supercilious misan- thropy and his cynical discontent is confessed by all but themselves. Among American writers, the keen-minded Jlolmes, the wide-minded Emerson, the subtle-minded JIaidhorne, the cynical-minded Tlioreau, in whatever they write, proclaim each an Evangel, though it must be con- fessed that this Evangel, varies somewhat from that which ha.s usually been received as the Christian Gospel. It ought to be no matter of wonder that a book should be thas pervaded by the principles and even by the preju- dices of its author. Every book comes from the mind of a man, and if he writes earnestly, as he must if he writes with effect, he will write as he thinks and feels, and even Cv.Kr. VI.] Their Influence on the Principles. 71 when he does not intend it, and his mind is intent on sometliing besides, his thoughts and feelings cannot but make themselves manifest. We do not advise that a man should never read books that imply principles which he thinks to be false or dangerous. We only say that he should be aware of the fact that thev are thus diffused : that ihey give character and tone to large classes of books; and most important of all, that they have no greater au- thority when insinuated by means of a book, whether it be history or tale, poem or book of travel, than when they are openly or insidiously uttered by the lips of a living man. CHAPTER YII. THE MORAL, INFLUENCE OF BOOKS AND READING. THE READING OF FICTION. AVe are brought insensibly to a subject still more seri- ous — the 3Ioral Influence of Books and Reading. What is the question that presents itself? It cannot be whether books should be read of which the moral influence is evil. No man who seriously believes in right and wrong can give but one answer to this question. But the question is, What books are such ? how can they be distinguished, de- scribed and classified? how can I be certain that a book which will be hurtful to another, will be injurious to my- self? As a general answer to these inquiries, we can give no better rule than the following by Robert Southey: " Would you know whether the tendency of a book is good or evil, examine in what state of mind you lay it down. Ila-s it induced you to suspect that that which you have l)ecn accustomed to think uidawful, may after all be inno- cent, and that that may be harmless, which you hitherto have been taught to think dangerous? Has it tended to make you dissatisfied and impatient under the control of others? and disposed you to relax in that self-government, without which both the laws of God and man tell us there can be no virtue and consequently no happiness? Has it attempted to abate your admiration and reverence for what is great and good, and to diminish in you the love of your (•/)untry and your fellow-creatures? Has it addressed it- self to your pride, your vanity, your selfishness, or any other of your evil propensities? Has it defiled the imag- 72 Chap. VII.] Their Moral Influence. 73 ination with what is loathsome, and shocked the heart with what is monstrous ? Has it disturbed the sense of right and wrong which the Creator has implanted in the human soul? If so — if you are conscious of all or of any of these effects — or if, having escaped from all, you have felt that such were the effects it was intended to produce, throw the book into the fire, young man, though it should have been the gift of a friend ! Young lady, away with the whole set, though it should be the prominent furniture of a rosewood book-case !" — {The Doctor.) These rules are uncompromising in their severity and strictness, but tolerant in their respect for individual free- dom and discretion. They yield nothing to appetite and passion, however insidiously these may be addressed, or however tempting may be the allurements with which genius masks the temptations or palliates the consent to evil. They allow neither j^altering nor parley with that which would mislead or offend. They stimulate the moral energies like a fresh and invigorating breeze. But they al- low every one to judge for himself what may expose him to harm, and permit no one besides to judge for him or to rejudge his judgments. No larger liberty for the individ- ual can be conceived of than that which these rules alh w. With such rules, or rules so phrased, a very large diss of critics, are not at all content. They would be more de- finite. They must name not only the books, but the classes of books which are always and only evil. Some denounce all light literature so-called, with a condemnation that is by no means light in the matter or the manner. Others reject everything that is fictitious, with a saving clause^ that saves little or nothing that is worth preserving. Poetry, Novels, and the written Drama, and whatever ad- dresses the imagination are labelled by such mentors aa suspected or infected goods. There is nothing which gives greater pleasure to the 74 Books and Heading. [Ch«p. vii. friends of that literature -which is really demoralizing, than such wholesale aud indiscriminate attacks upon works of the imagination, especially if they are made from the pulpit or in the name of religion. Such persons know, that as they are uttered they are not true, and .cannot be successfully defended. They know, moreover, that the rejection of what is false and excessive in them will destroy the good influence of what is true — that those who make these attacks will be excluded from the field of literature in dishonor, and leave it free for their own exclusive oc- cupation. The false issue made in the attack gives the amplest 0})portunity for a false issue in the defence. This issue they thus present : They do not defend the per- V ersion of the imagination, not they ! but only its inno- cent and healthy use ; and thus under the name of the liberty of nature, they secure the sphere and influence of literature to the service of licentiousness. The motto ]»refixed to one of the most shameless poems of the present century, shows conclusively how an unfair attack suggests and justifies a skillful but unfair retort and defence : " Dost think because thou art virtuous that there shall be no more cakes and ale ? Yes, and ginger shall be hot in the mouth." After this defence of harmless " cakes and ale," spiced a little, but with nothing hotter than "ginger," what does the writer do, but under this label send out to the world a poisonoas and disgasting mixture of arsenic and assafoetida, in a poem, parts of which are fit only to be read or heard m a brothel ! This being but too just an account of the manner in which the question in respect to the moral influence of fic- titious and imaginative literature is argued on both sides, it seems desirable that one or two suggestions should be of- fered towards its right determination. We assert then first of all, that a book is not of necessity demoralizing, because it is fictitious or imaginative. The Chap vii ] Their Moral Jujlaencc. 7o imagination is an endowment from God, and as such is not to be dishonored or depreciated by the sneering or ignorant contempt of man." It is also one of the noblest human powers — the power which in some of its aspects is nearest to the divine, and as such is capable of the most exalted uses, and of an influence for good which cannot be compu- ted. Of its products in literature Lord Bacon says: " The use of this feigned history has been to give some shadow of satisfaction to the mind of man in those points, wherein the nature of things doth deny it, the world being in pro- portion inferior to the soul. . . . Therefore because the acts or events of true history have not that magni- tude which satisfieth the mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical, because true history propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreeable to the merits of virtue and vice, there- fore poesy feigns them more just in retribution, and more according to revealed providence: because true his- tory representeth actions and events more ordinary and less interchanged, therefore poesy endueth them with more rareness and more unexpected and alternate varia- tion: so it appeareth that poesy serveth and conferreth to magnanimity, morality, and delectation. And, there- fore, it was ever thought to bear some participation of divineness, because it doth raise and erect the mind, by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind, whereas reason doth buckle and bow the mind unto the nature of things." — On the Advancement of Learning. If Lord Bacon is right then there is nothing in the nature of a work as fictitious which makes it either immoral or of immoral tendency. It is no argument against a book, to gay that it is a novel or poem, nor does the fact that it is a novel or poem show that it is less favorable to morality or even to religion, than to say that it is a collection of homi- lies or sermons. All appeals and indiscriminate assertions 76 Books and Heading. [Chap. vti. that are directed against the reading of novels or poetry as such, are like the guns of Trumbull's McFingal which, "well aimed at duck and plover, Bearwidc and kick their owners over." More than this is true. Not only is it clear that fiction and poetry may exert a good influence, but it is equally obvious that they do in fact exert an influence tliat is both healthful and elevating. Next to falling in love with one who is worthy of the first and best affections of the lover, should be ranked in its influence for good, the reading of the first really good novel or poem which takes a strong and permanent hold of the heart and character. There is a charm investing this ideal world for the firet time un- veiled to the view, and a superhuman elevation in the l)eings who live and mov^e in it — a purity in their loves, a dignity in their acts, and a weight and sacredneas in their words, which hold the young reader as by a spell, and lead him a delighted captive. With what joy does the de- lighted pupil of Romance tread the common earth now glorified for the first time to his anointed eyes, or look out upon the transfigured sky now that heaven is seen to glow beyond it ! With what delight does he greet the face of man and woman when he learns that they are capable of poetic idealization ; what new views does he take of life? as soon a-s he awakes to the discovery that its common prose can be turned into romance and poetry ! It is not merely true tliat as young people will fall in love, so they will read j)oetr\' and novels, but we add, as it is tcell that they fall in love, if they love aright, so it is well that they read works of imagination, if they read them aright. Of many a young man has it been true, that the sentiments of his favorite poet, or of some ideal character in his favorite novel, have exerted a healthful and elevating influence over his whole being — have been made the standard of his Chap. TIL] Their Moral Influence. 77 own efforts, and have breathed the breath of life into his feeble aspirations. Were a wise man to have the complete control over the mind and heart of a young person of either sex, and to seek to form him or her after the ideal of a o-enerous, affectionate, and heroic character which would be ready to labor, to suffer, and if need be, to die for man or for God, he would freely avail himself, at proper in- tervals and in a due proportion, of the writings of men of imaginative genius. He would teach his pupil not only to love and admire them, but to study them thoroughly, to enter fully into their spirit, that he might cherish purer thouffhts, more disinterested affections, and better ideals than the actual contact with life can possibly furnish. The private history of the training of many of the noblest men and women whom the earth has ever seen, would amply justify the wisdom of this theory of moral culture. If we reflect upon the actual influence for good w'hich proceeds from writers of this class, the argument gathers an uncomputed and a resistless force. We speak of good in the large and liberal sense of the word ; — not merely as it is obvious in writers who have consecrated their genius directly to the service of devotion, as Watts, Cowper, Young, and Milton in large measure ; but of the good which has come from Shakspeare, Scott, Burns, and many others, by the introduction to the world of thought and feeling of ideals that are pure and elevating, when glowino- with those golden hues with which genius transfigures the lowliest thing which she touches with her finger. Wliat another place has this prosaic world become to every reader of the English language, since Milton, Shaks- peare, Burns and Scott, have perpetuated in that lan- guage the visions which once met their imaginations ? With what another atmosphere of thought and feeling is the intellect and heart of every reader elevated, invigora- ted, and refreshed ? The characters and scenes described 78 Books and Reading. [Chap, vil and depicted by each have become to us as real and as per- manent as are the sun and the stars, or the faces of our famihar friends. We never behold them but they quickea our tlioughts and give new life to our feelings. They are a part, and not the least important, of the actual world, ever exerting upon our characters and lives a powerful and constant influence. Each new mind upon which open these wondrous pages, -gratefully owns their power. Their ideal but still intensely real scenes and characters hence- forward control and possess his world of thought and feel- ing, and still they live on and will act on other genera- tions with unexhausted energy. To these creations might be applied with eminent significance the remark of the old monk to Wilkie concerning Titian's Last Supper : " I have sat daily in sight of that picture for now nearly threescore years; during that time my companions have dropped off, one after another, all who were my seniors, all who were my contemporaries, and many or most of those who were younger than myself; more than one gen- eration has passed away, and there the figures on the picture have remained unchanged ! I look at them till I sometimes think that they are the realities, and we but shadows." In iSIilton, the Paradise which was lost al- ways blooms in virgin freshness. Satan, Moloch, and Belial are ever holding their perpetual council and utter- ing words of specious cunning or of inextinguishable hate. The mother of our race is always mourning the loss of her sinless home, or with heart-broken grief charges upon her- self the guilt of the first transgression. In the Paradise Regained, the ancient world is still mapped out before the eye, which here beholds " Whf-rc on the JFj^run shore a city stands, Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil, Athons the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence." And there is described imperial Rome, along whose Chap. VIL] Thdr Moral Infiuence. 79 famous roads and through whose opened gates are ever trooping her legions and tributaries, to and from the limits of her world-wide empire. Comus with his bacchanalian crew still tempts with artful cunning, and is still repelled by the pure-hearted lady who, strong in virtue, waits a certain rescue. The genius of mirth is always tripping by upon " the light fantastic toe," while her graver sister is ever moving forward with downcast eye and measured tread. In Shakspeare, Hamlet is always the same, with senses half paralyzed at the wrong he has suffered, and Avith mind perplexed that the times should be so " out of joint," and he be called to set them right ; the gentle Ophelia is always wailing ; the wronged Desdemona is ever sobbing out the disappointment of her crushed and broken heart ; the injured but uncomplaining Cordelia, wonders at, but does not reproach her cruel sisters, and comforts as best she can, the distracted father whom their cruelty would murder ; Lady Macbeth stands in guilty horror pointing to the " damned spot " which will not " out " at her bidding ; and ever as we gaze upon these forms, or hear the words of these creatures of the imagination, our flesh creeps with horror, our hearts are elated with joy, burn with indigna- tion, or relax into weeping grief. What a world of living beings has Scott created, what personages has he called into life, what conversations do we hear from their lips, what stirring events are still wrought by their agency ! Nay, more; he has carried these all into the real world and given them a perpetual habita- tion there. Old castles, and moors, and mountain-tops, and battle-fields, each have received from him the new inhabitants evoked by his genius, so that when the travel- er visits them it is not alone the ruined wall, nor the bare mountain, nor the unruffled lake that he sees ; but here the royal retinue seems to group itself around the " maiden 80 Books and Reading. [Chap. vix. queen," -within the ruined castle of Kenil worth ; there Koderiok's clan springs up, one by one, each from behind a concealing rock, and there the Lady Ellen pushes out her light canoe. How has Burns by his wondrous touch turned the house of eveiy Scottish peasant into an abode of content, and love and 'piety, and every simple Scottish lass into a fairy being, and as a reward for the glory which he gave to his beloved Scotia, has made for his poems in the actual homes of Scotland, a place next to the Bible, and a warm and thrilling remembrance in every living Scotch- man's heart ! To hold intercourse with such creations, if the scenes be innocent and the transcripts are made from no vicious and degrading realities, cannot be unfavorable to pure and ele- vated moral feeling, even if there be no moral to the tale or poem and no religious enforcement of its lessons. It if\ at least an invigorating use of the powers to occupy them with such creations of tlie lofty or humorous imagination. We are prepared to assert that not only is the so-cal led imaginative literature useful in its influence, but that all literature whatever finds its principal power to elevate, in the culture and stimulus which it furnishes to the imagina- tion — that literature as such as distinguished from that 'ise of letters which adds to scientific knowledge or aims at conviction, i. e. literature in the most of its forms, is chiefly valuable for what it does for the imagination by enlarging its range, elevating its ideals, stimulating its aims, and purifying and ennobling its associations. To decry the imaginative faculty and its products is to decry all lit- erary culture if not to abrogate culture of every kind. Let all this be granted says the objector or inquirer. But what if the scenes are vicious, the sentiments false, and the passions are sensual, malignant, and degrading? The an- swers to these and kindred questions must bo reserved for further fliscu-ssion. CHAPTER yill. "iMAGINATrVE LITERATURE: ITS REPRESENTATIONS OP MORAL EVIL. In our last we had reached the Moral Influence of Books and Reading, and in discussing this were brought to the questions so often mooted of the moral influence of the so-called works of the imagination. We attempted the defence of such works in the general, by citing ex- amples from writers to whom all men pay a willing hom- age. Our discussion was arrested by the half-inquiry, half-objection : " What if the scenes are vicious, the senti- ments are false, and the passions are sensual, malignant, or degrading ? Can it be morally healthful that one should be conversant with such pictures, thoughts, and feelings, especially if armed with double energy, and clothed with dangerous fascinations by the power of genius ? Would you have your son or your daughter excited by the seen bs, infatuated by the characters, or tempted by the words of Byron, Moore, Bulwer, Goethe, or even of many that they find in Shakspeare, Milton, Burns, and Scott ? In the works of every one of these writers, I can point you to many passages that should never be presented to a pure and virtuous mind. The very contact with them must in- volve some soil or taint, if it does not impart corruption. To entertain them in any form, to suffer them to confront the imagination, or to glide before the eye of the mind even for an instant, is to be debased and polluted, and to- wards them one should have no other feelinsi-s than aver- sion and disgust, however splendid or powerful is the ge- nius that gilds or glorifies them." ^ 81 82 Boohs and Heading. [Chap. Vlll. This is partly true and partly flilsc. What is true is ven' true, and what is false is very false. The moral evil or danger in such cases, does not, however, arise from the fact that debasing scenes or wicked characters are made to stand or move before the imagination ; nor again, that hateful passions are spoken out in venomous or malignant words ; nor that wickedness acts itself forth with complete and consistent energy. It still remains true that : " There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would men observingly distil it out." The ground of moral exposure is not the fact that evil is painted, nor that it is painted boldly ; but it is in the manner in which it is represented, — whether with fidelity to the ordinances of nature, or falsely to her eternal laws a.s written on the heart of man. This will be determined in a great measure by the man whose imagination reflects and recreates the evil, according as he writes like a Chris- tian, or writes like a Turk — like a man with a conscience and a moral nature, or like a man who makes his passions bis conscience, and his will his God. Prof. F. W. Xew- man solidly observes, "In poetry, as in all other writings, the moral influence depends on its tlirowing our sympathies aright and leaving on the mind fit images and contempla- tions. ]\Iany darker passions may be portrayed : for the patlios which we seek has a two-fold character like the sublime and beautiful, viz : the terrible and the lovely. "While we shudder at evil pa.ssion, it cannot make us worse. Demoralization begins, when we learn to sympathize with it, or to dwell upon things over which it is healthful to step lightly." — {Lectures on Poetry, i.) This difference be- tween the two methods of depicting evil will be obvious by one or two examples. Satan, as described by Milton, is well known to most readers. He is justly conceived and nobly painted. He is Chap. VIII.] Imaginative Literature. 83 not a being who is low and offensive because degraded and brutish, but an archangel ruined, once possessed of the in- tellect and heart of a seraph, now blasted by bad ambition and consumed by unrelenting pride. Every feature is con- sistent with this conception. His will is as inexorable as that of Prometheus nailed to the Caucasian rock. The hatred is intense, steadying the powers by unrelenting determination, not distracting or weakening them by impo- tent rage. The cunning is masterly, yet dignified. The passion burns like a red-hot furnace, and the words speak out the inner soul with the energy of a fierce north-wester. " Better reio;n in Hell than serve in Heaven," utters and describes his character and ruling principle. Had Milton painted Satan thus and only thus, he had given but half his being, as well as glorified him with splendors too attractive for the responsive tastes of many readers. But he did not leave him thus, for his truthful insight taught him, that thus described and only thus, he were no real fiend — no conceivable being of any species, but simply the half of an incomplete conception — a monster by defect. He therefore makes him confess his agony in such words as — " Me miserable ! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which w^y I fly is hell — myself am Hell ! And in the lowest deep, a lower deep, Still threatening to devour me, opens wide, To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven. then at last relent : is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission, and that word Disdain forbids me and my dread of shame." In the presence of his old compeer, Zephon, severe in steadfast allegiance and white with unstained purity : — "Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovelj' : saw and pined His loss ; but chiefly to find here observed His lustre impaired — yet seemed Undaunted." 84 Books and Reading. [Chap. viir. He descends to the low and mean disguise of a filthy reptile, placing himself at the ear of the sleeping Eve, " squat like a toad," from Avhich disguise, when touched ()}• the spear of Ithuricl, he cannot help himself but he must stand forth a treacherous tempter, " discovered and surprised." As he reports to his associates his success in the ruin of Juan, and waits with confidence for — " Their universal shout and high applause To nil his car," there rushes in upon his enraged and disappointed soul " On all sides, from innumerable tongues, A dismal universal hiss, the sound Of public scorn." The completeness and truth of Milton's picture of Satan is in striking contrast with the Lucifer of Byron's Cain, who discourses atheism and blasphemy with such specious and passionate force that the trusting reader's faith in God and conscience is shaken and confounded, and it is welJ if, with heated brain and unbelieving heart, or passionate and despairing scorn, he docs not plunge himself into some I'ash act of passion or crime; or, liaving done so, does not .'sul- lenly turn his back upon hope, and cast in his lot with those who curse God and die. In such a character there is but half the truth, and therefore truth itself is dishonored and belied. Passion is painted in sul)liine energy, in auda- cioiLS daring, with impetuous and overbearing ferocity. So far there is truth. But the inward shame and agony are wanting; and most important of all, the conscious weak- ness of selfishness and sin that are self-confessed; the meanness of violating gratitude, fealty, and self-control; all of which should be present and made prominent to ex- press and impress the truth, that this Lucifer, with all his sophistry and })ride, with liis ])oasting and his blasphemy, inwardly knows that he has sold himself to a falsehoof*'. Chap. VIII.] Imaginative Literature. 85 Moreover, in the absence of this completing half-truth — so far as the poet's representations are concerned — God him- self is, by these specious and passionate reasonings, made an almighty and malignant monster, injustice sits upon the eternal throne, and the universe itself is pervaded by a gigantic lie. A similar defect with similar evil conse- quences, is to be observed in the Devil of Goethe's Faust, except that the metaphysics are more profound and scholar- like, and the sneer is more consummately devilish at Avhat- ever is worthy in human pursuit, whatever is noble in human self-denial, and whatever is confiding in human affection. We observe that by these three writers the same bad character is depicted, and so far as his badness is con- cerned, with feelings, words, and acts that are consistent ; and so for, with more or less of a?sthetic perfection. In Milton the evil is harmless ; it is even morally healthful, because, with the attractions and force of evil, the weak- ness and self-reproach, the shame and agony are also repre- sented. With Byron and Goethe, the diabolism that is dormant in man, is uppermost, and blasphemy, selfishness and lust rule in the universe, and sit upon the throne of the Eternal. * We might also contrast the Hamlet of Shakspeare with the Manfred of Byron. Hamlet had been disappointed of his rightful crown, and wronged in his holiest confidence, by the frailty of his mother. Disturbed in his confidence in man and in God, he plots a murderous revenge, slays the father of Ophelia, and spurns and treads upon her * We trust that none of our over-fastidious readers will sneer at our recogni- tion of the "diabolism that is dormant in man" It was suggested by the words of Sir Thomas Browne: "The heart of man is the place the devils dwell in. I feel sometimes a hell within myself; Lucifer keeps his court in my breast; Legion is revived in me." "In brief, we are all monsters — that is, a composition of man and beast ; wherein we must endeavor to be as the poet's fancy that wise man Chiron, that is, to have the region of man above that of beast, and sense to sit but at the feet of reason." — Religio Medici. 80 Books and Heading. [CiiAP.vrii. gentle and loving heart. Self-destruction is the readiest relief from his sutrerings, and the speediest deliverance from a stage of existence in which everything is " out of joint." '' To be or not to be," is the question which he debates with himself in thoughts and words which are forever true to the heart of man. " To (lie : — to sleep, — No more ; and by a sleep, to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die ; — to sleep ; — To sleep ! perchance to dream ; — ay, there's the rub j For in that sleep of death what dreams may coma When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes calamity of so long a life ; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time But that the dread of something after death, — The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns, — puzzles the will ; And makes us rather bear those ills we have. Than fly to others that we know not of. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all." Manfred by his own confession is far more guilty than Hamlet. His guilt he does not hide, he spreads it abroach for public gaze, but rather to incite the sympathy of look- ers-on than in the spirit of confession and shame. Re- morse he does not conceal, but he gives expression to it too often to leave the impression that it is either natural or sincere. Tii Jlie struggle with conscience and avenging spirits, it is pride not conscience Avhich prevails. In his exit it is the spirit of defiant bravado which dismisses him from life. The weakness and fear with which the guilty, and especially the confessed victim of remorse, looks over into the life beyond, are wholly wanting. Instead thereof, this mortal who by crime and remorse has made himself BO wretched that he cares to b've no longer stalks defiantly Chap. VIII.] Imaginative Literaiure. 87 into the Unseen, a stupid atheist, successfully defiant of the earth-spirit that comes to fetch him away, yet without a thought or prayer for that Greater Spirit whom he can- not avoid. There is little homage to conscience here — it is pride and self-will, not conscience and self-reproach, that win the day. The timorous weakness that comes from sin, the coward fear that looks forward to the undiscovered country, are not expressed. The self-centred though suffer- ing criminal triumphs in his fiendish pride. Conscience is not the victor, but conscience is vanquished by unbroken and self-willed pride. * We might also contrast at length Bulwer Lytton and Scott We mean Bulwer Lytton in his earlier novels, the heroes of which are not only factitious men of high life, but they are very generally intellectual and sentimental adulterers and libertines, accomplished withal in the arts of life and the graces of society, who are deeply absorbed at times in the profoundest speculations concerning God and immortality, intermixed with the slang of high life at the club and the gambling-house. These all quietly ter- minate their career in the novelist's heaven of reform, wis- dom, and wealth, without repentance and without shame. Th(!y are without a human conscience, and of course monsters — doubly monsters by the splendid accessories with which the writer's eloquence and power has contrived to set them forth. The healthy and truthful mind of Scott could not de- pict, because it could not conceive, the possibility of such unnatural human creations. Though Scott does not write * We find since writing the above that tbe Rev. F. D. Maurice, in liis re- cently publiiihed " Lectures on Casuistry," refers to Manfred, as " that wonder- ful play of the conscience," and couples it with Macbeth in this regard. But in our judgment, three words of Lady Macbeth express more, of both scsthctio effect and moral truth, than scores of lines of Manfred's ambitious self-flagella- tions. No reader would care to change places with the one ; but there are many who sympathize with Manfred to the end, and sufTer no recoil of horror. 88 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. viii in a professedly ethical spirit, or for ethical aims, he al- Avays writes with ethical truth. Traditional and conven- tional prejudices may sometimes bias his judgments and representation of the historical characters and historic times which he depicts in his romances. The Cavalier and Tory writer may now and then be unjust to the Cov- enanter and the Whig of whom he writes, but the eternal distinctions of right and wrong are always honored, and the responsive emotions, which cannot be extinguished in the human soul, are recognized and honored with a woman's delicacy of sentiment. Scott mav not always make the conscience sufficiently prominent as an element of hu- man nature ; he may not always give room and space enough to man's relations to the unseen, but he no more thinks of describing man without a conscience, than with- out a head, and he would as soon make him breathe with- out the air as liye without a God. Thackeray and Dickens both write with ethical truth so far as they go. The satirical tone of the one, and the comic humor of the other, may in a certain sense interfere with the most effective lessons of either human sympathy or ethical earnestness. Mufh of the power of both writers, however, lies in the recognition by the one, of the flimsi- .ucss of shams, the vulgarity of snobs, and the emptiness of ))retentious and uncultured fashion ; and by the other, of tlie meanness of avarice, the sweetness of a kindly spirit, the blessing of a sunny temper and the dignity of patient beneficence. We cannot leave unnoticed tlie relations of literature, and es[>ecially of works of the imagination, to the virtue of purity, and to that sensitiveness and reserve which are at onc€ the defence and ornament of the weaker sex. Many are ofFendcfl at the freedom which writers like Shakspeare and. Milton use in their portraitures of women, and at the boldness of spee<;h with which they unveil the mysteries Chap, viii.] Tnvffjniative Literature. 89 which the modesty of common conversation, or even of un- imaginative writing, rarely approaches. The young reader is appalled and shocked at his first acquaintance with not a few passages in both these writers. Perhaps he concludes that it is an offence against morality to have written or to read them. He cannot persuade himself that they do not offend against modesty, and if they offend against modesty, surely they must be condemned in the court of conscience. Scruples like these disquiet many older persons who feel a stain of impurity as a wound, and who would prefer to throw their Milton and Shakspeare into the fire than to offend their sense of right. To meet the scruples of such, the Family Shakspeare has been provided, and an expur- gated Milton has very probably been thought of. The question is a fair oue, \Vhy are these scruples unfounded? why are these great writers not rejected as impure, when others perhaps less gross in speech are properly condemned? So far as these writers are concerned, we may «ay in answer, that the language of a AVTiter may be free and seemingly gross, and yet the purity of nature may be observed ; for nature is not a whit of a prude, and those who write with genius must follow nature wherever she leads. "But nature, though not a prude, is modest and chaste. ' True, yet still it is possible that in conformity with the freedom of the times of a writer, there should be much in lan^uafre that is gross, and yet nothing be expressed that tends to in- flame and excite lascivious passion. With all the freedoms of Shakspeare and Milton, there are few or no artful addresses to those desires that were made to be sternly controlled. There is little luscious and honeyed speech, like that of Moore or Byron, in which genius ministers directly at the altar of lust, and all the more effectively and shamelessly when her robe is studiously modest to excess, and her language to the ear, is as pure as Diana's. In the Scriptures both the Old Testament and the New, 90 Books and Heading. [Chat. viii- there are not a few passages which to the mind and ear seem and sound immodest, but there is nothing tliat is fitted to excite hiscivious passion or to gratify prurient desire; nothing which is in the least akin to tliat which constitutes the chief interest of both plot and character in scores of modern novels in which adultery, jealousy, and lust are the prominent themes ; in which the skill of the writers, often, unhappily, women, is expended in artfully suggest- ing pictures which they dare not paint, and stimulating curiosity by the suggestion of passions whicJi it is indecent to name. A lawyer in a recent trial in which the question turned on the moral tendency of a novel represented to be impure, recited a long passage from Milton to show that nothing could be more indecent, — and that therefore no freedom of speech in a man of genius could be oj)cn to this charge. We are not forced, in order to justify or define what we consider the true criterion, to defend every passage of ]Milton, but we assert that he very rarely introduces any theme or dwells on it more broadly than the necessities of his subject require, and that he never gratuitously or direct- ly, seeks to stimulate or excuse licentious passion. We ciuinot perhaps assert so much for Shakspcare. Some of his minor poems cannot be defended by the warmth jf youth or the general freedom, even the grossness, of the times. But, in general, when we have bated from his plays, those passages which may have been interpolated by actors to please the groundlings of the pit, there is remarkable purity of tone — we may say (ihasteness of feeling, even in what to the ear is broad and free. In respect to the higher attributes of woman, nothing can surpass the delicacy of his conceptions, or the elevating purity, w(^ might almost say tlic vestal chastity of his thought and feeling. If we compare liim with the poets, and especially with the drama- tists of his time, with Ben Jonson at their head — the most learned, who ought to iiave been the most civilized — he Chap, viii.] Imaginative Literature. 91 shines by the contrast with a radiance that surprises and delights the fair-minded critic, Dryden, the great leader of the next generation, Avith Sliakspeare as an example to guide and elevate him, whom he both studied and criticized, deliberately Avallows in a slough not only of grossness of speech, but of indecency and licentiousness in sentiment and intent. From these examples we think can be derived a canon wiiich will enable even the most unpractised person to de- termine what is pure or impure in imaginative literature. "A writer, from what we call the grossness or freedom of the times in which he lived, may be gross in language, and even in description and allusion, and yet not be impure. He may also introduce in writing, if his plot or character or theme requires it, both scenes and descriptions which it may not be pleasant to recite or read in a drawing-room. Sometimes ho must do this, or his picture would not bo complete, or his character consistent. But he may never enact the part of the tempter to evil, either by soliciting or excusing passion. Whoever does this, is a licentious writer, Avhatever be the refinement of his allusions, or the euphemisms of his speech. Whoever goes beyond this, and makes the chief interest and excitement of his tale or character to depend on the attractiveness of sin, without its shame and sorrow, is often a more serious offender, just in j)roportion to the refinement of his double entendres and the studied propriety of his descriptions. That modern literature, in both fiction and poetry, is often indecent, ev^en when it seeks to be exquisitely refined, is too notorious to be denied or overlooked." " It is very remarkable," says F. W. Newman, " that while the ancient theory concerning the relation of the sexes was at best deficient and at worst very base ; while the abundance of slave women and freed women, and the unchallenged rightfulness of slavery, depressed the best men's notions of 92 Books and Reading. [Chap. viii. the rights of women ; yet in their highest poets there is less than in our own that can minister to volui)tuousness, even in Homer and Virgil tiian in Milton and Spenser. But here also Walter Scott is admirable. He has an un- failing sweetness of heart, full-charged with the morality of the future." — (Lecture i) A sharj) humorist in Blackwood's Magazine is not at all too severe in the following, which purports to be an item in his last Av^ill and Testament. " My sense of Decency and Decorum, my dislike to • details of the Divorce Court and the general annals o£ prurient living — I leave to the lady-novelists, whose utter destitution in this respect moves l)ity and compassion ; and I appeal to all those who have any qualities, even worn ones, of regard for cleanliness of life and decency of demeanor, not to forget creatures so utterly bereft of these gifts, and to whom even the rags of virtue would jirove an unspeakable luxury." A generation cannot be entirely pure which tolerates writers who, like Walt Whitman, commit, in writing, an offence like that indictable at common law of walking naked through the streets, and excuse it under the pretence that '■ Nature is always modest." Nor can such a writer as this be successfully defended, even by Emerson, if he retrards one of his own maxims, that " Nature is severely chaste." That literary catholicity must be too broad for those who " can afford to keep a conscience," which excuses or ajiplauds such lecherous priests of Venus as Algernon Swinburne, or would palliate not merely his enormous offences in the service of passion, but his more shameless defiance of the remonstrances of those whom he r)flcnds. Let the imagination of such writers be ever so brilliant and their diction ever so enchanting, the altar at which they serve is that of harlotry and pollution. Lest it should be tliought that these remarlvs are too sweeping, we would refer to one or two reasons \\hy Chap. VIII.] Imaginative Literature. 93 authors may sometimes be more refined in their tastes than their works would indicate, and why critics in literature and students of books are less sensitive than unpracticed readers in respect to certain freedoms of allusion and of treatment. To critics and authors, the matter may be one of sim})lc psychological development and study, while to the person whose sensitive imagination responds with vivid in- terest to every successful representation, the delineation of passion may be fraught with sophistical or seductive power. One who is fortified by the varied experiences of life, or whose passions are cooled by age, or controlled by habits of duty, may safely v'isit scenes and have to do with persons which woukl be dangerous to those younger and more inexperienced. The residents of a large city must of necessity come in sight of evil, to the attractions of which the stranger from the country has not become insensible. The physician, who is strong in health and hardened by custom, inhales with impunity the offensive and deadly air of contagion, without being even sensible of its nauseous and dangerous quality. The habitue of a dissecting-room, who in more than one respect may be likened to a literary critic, is so used in all his senses to every form of morbid anatomy, that he sometimes forgets that what is rightfully most offensive to others has ceased to be so to himself. Perhaps in this way we may explain why it is that certain imaginative writers, whose aims are usually pure and ele- vated, and whose tastes are sensitive and refined, sometimes introduce scenes and personages that offend right-minded and right-hearted readers, and why critics of the severest ethical tastes not infrequently tolerate what deserves repro- bation. We can understand why a writer who could han- dle such "extra-hazardous characters" as are introduced in " Peg Wolfington " with such delicacy and even ethical truth, should excite offence by those in "Griffith Gaunt,", and why in respect to the ethical influence of the latter 04 £ooJ:s and Reading. [Chap.viii work there should fail to be entire unanimity of dissatis- faction. The professional insensibility of a practiced litter- ateiir is however scarcely an adequate exj^lanation or excuse for the proclivities of such a Mriter as the autiior of "New America" and "Sj)iritual Wives." The pruriency of not a little modern literature is a sad sip-n of deffeneracv of taste and of tone in certain circles m hich i)ride themselves upon their excessive refinement of taste and their secure elevation above, the ordinary weaknesses and responsibilities of humanity as well as above the received maxims of pro- priety, not to say of decency in the relation of the sexes. . This variety of opinion and practice makes even more imperative the rule wliich we have laid down, that what offends one's moral tastes, or is condemned by one's moral judgment, should be uncompromisingly rejected. No freedom of practice or opinion on the part of others should be allowed, as against this law for the individual conduct. While there is force in the maxim, "To the pure all things are pure," there is truth in the proverb, " What is one man's meat is another man's poison ;" and there is no poison so deadly, as there is none which is so insidious and tenacious, as the poison which defiles the iraaginatioji by means of licentious literature. That young man does a better thing tlian he knows of for his conscience, his char- acter, and his manhood, who resolutely throws into the fire a book which he finds to be bad, even though it is bad only for him ; and that young lady serves her conscience, and womanliness too, who does the same with any book which should caase her to blush to herself that she has not done it before. Leaving this topic, we are prepared also to draw a still broader induction in respect to the general moral influence of imaginative writers. It certainly is not required that a writer be morally pure, and even morally elevating, that he should point — or rather blunt — every sentiment, tale, or CuAp.viii.] Imaginative Literature. 95 poem with a moral. Nor is it necessary that the writer v help is so unlimited, and that literature itself bec^jmes to religion either the deadliest foe or the most potent ally. There are not a few who say, " Leave to reli- gion and literature independent spheres. As of science 1 Chav. IX ] Their Religious Character. 107 so of literary activity, their maxim is, * Render to Cresar the things which are Csesar's, and to God the things which are God's.' Allow to each untrammeled activity. As religionists we must maintain our creed, as worshipers v/e must perform our devotions. These should satisfy the de- mands of religion, but in the sphere of literature we may claim and use the utmost freedom. As readers and critics we need not care whether what we read is in opinion The- istic and Christian, on the one hand, or atheistic and Christless on the other; whether in sentiment it is devout and tliankful, or Godless and despairing; whether it is reverent and trustful, or scoffing and profane." This device is accepted by some and practiced by more. The sermon on Sunday and the Scripture on the week-day are dutifully attended to ; the prayers are said and the songs are sung morning and evening with earnest devoutness; and so reli- gion has her riglits. Religion having received its dues literature asserts its claims. Forthwith our favorite authors plunge us into an atmosphere of thought and feel- ing in which there is neither God, nor Christ, nor thank- fulness, nor hope ; or perhaps into an atmosphere which is " earthly, sensual, devilish." Such a compromise, as it would seem, is a hollow truce, an armed neutrality, giving the amplest opportunity for disguised treachery on the one hand and a com[)iiant surrender on the other. It can satisfy no religionist whose belief is any thing more than a tradition to accept or a symbol to swear by, or whose wor- ship is aught. beyond a superstition or a spectacular display. The man whose religion does not show itself in forming and regulating his taste for books and reading, or which allows a practical libertinism in this regard, might as well dispense "with it altogether. He can hardly be said to have any religion " worth the speaking of." It is in these forms that the question of the religious relations of books and reading presents itself at the present 108 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. ix. day. Religion on the one hand urges its authority, and this authority knows no compromise. On the other hand, literature rightfully asserts its freedom, shows that this freedom has the sanction of Christianity itself, and has most efficiently served Christianity by making it tolerant and humane. " J would not read Shelley's Queen Mab, because it is atheistic," said one college friend to another. " Why not read Shelley," replied the other, " as soon as Lucretius, who is far more deliberately and consistently atheistic; or as soon as Homer or Yirgil, those hoary old as-sertors of ' lords many and gods many ?' And yet you not only allow yourself to read these inveterate sinners, but you would steep the minds of the young in the literature of antiquity, pervaded as it is with the exploded orthodoxies of the jjast." Again, it is asked, " Why not read the modern Emerson, because some say that he teaches a sub- tle Pantheism, as freely as you read the ancient Plotinus, to whom he refers so often, and with a deference so pro- found ; or as you read those Indian sages, from whom he quotes a striking line now and then, with the intimation that should he tell us all they have written, Jesus and His teachings might be greatly cast into the shade, and perhaps lose much of that j)ublic confidence with which they have hitherto been favored ?" " Or Avhy is it worse for a Chris- tian family to be amused by the clever caricatures of Holmes than it is to read and laugh at the lampoons of I^ucian, inasnuich as both are directed against the same object, the current Christian orthodoxies of the nineteenth and second centuries?" (Questions like these are not unfrequently asked, and it is not always easy to answer them. It is safe to say, that who- ever the authr)r may be, whether he be Shelley or Lu- <;retius, Emerson or Plotinus, Holmes or Lucian, if he fihakes vour well-established confidence in God, or leads you to disown the name that is above every name; or if he Chap. IX.] TJieir lidigiouti Ciiaradcr. 100 disturbs the serenity or fervor of your Christian devotion, then he is not an author whom you should read. If ho does not exercise this influence over you, if he casts upon you no spell or blight of evil, you may admire his genius and rejoice in its products, while you are amazed at his presumption and pity his blindness to the light which to you is so cheerful and satisfying. As between the ancicni and modern Pantheists and anti-Christians, one difference, however, deserves to be noticed. The older writers repre- sent principles and modes of thinking that are more or less effete. Their arguments and images have little force with the present generation, occupied as it is with modern thought and animated by the modern spirit. Their modern followers invest their opinions with the dignity of present science, and make them glow with the interest of current thought, as well as breathe the warmth of men who have the ear and the sympathy of the present genera- tion. The pliiloso])her of ancient times protests against degrading and childish superstitions, and, by contrast, finds an advantage for his deification of nature and his serene and self-relying resignation to fate. The modern rejects the personal care and scorns the personal sympathy of an Infinite Father. The ancient stands with his eye to the east peering — sometimes M'istfully — after the faint in- dications of the dawning twilight ; himself a dark and cold shadow against the breaking light of the, as yet, unrisen sun. The modern looks westward with his back proudly turned on its risen splendor, amid a world that from every object reflects its pervading light ; himself suff'used with that light and glowing with the attractions which it gives, but denying that it proceeds from the sun or that the sun is risen and shines. The Atheist or Pantheist of antiquity is a cold spectre, shivering in the chill morning. His imita- tor of the nineteenth century, rejoices in the strength and 110 Books and Reading. [Cnw. ix. glows with the beauty of the high noon of the Christian dav. AVhile his power to attract and move the men of his time gives plausibility and currency to the little argument wliich he employs, these very attractions are its most effi- cient refutation, because they are all derived from the 1 .'hristian Faith or the civilization which has flowered from julous and legendary elements been eliminated from the histories of the older nations, but the overstrained and exaggerated conceptions of the men and events which had come to us from the ancient Plutarch and the modern Roilin, have been toned down to the modesty of a proba- ble and rational judgment. The tendency to see heroes in Chap. XL] Hlstory and Historical Reading. \V,'?} both virtue and vice beyond the possible attainments of human nature, which had free indulgence, has given way to a juster estimate of what was possible and is therefore credible. The old times, which were ignorantly admired and ex- travagantly lauded, have been carefully measured by what we know of the workings of the human nature of to-day. The institutions, the principles, the passions, the aims and the achievements, of such men as Pericles and Alcibiades, of Cicero and Seneca, of Catiline and the Cesars, have been examined, not under the colored lights of blind admiration, nor by the weird lights of myth-making credulity, nor the false lights of blind or lying partisanship, but by the dry and white light, which is reflected from the aims, principles and passions of men in similar circumstances in modern times — the good men not being over good for human nature, and the bad not so much, and so desperately, worse than the very bad of later times. In short, the historian has learned to measure the ancient world by the modern world, instead of by an extravagant and distorted creation of his own bewildered admiration and his excited fancy ; because the modern is known to be the actual world, and as such illustrates those permanent laws and forces of humanity, by which alone all history, whether old or recent, can be rationally estimated and judged. But while this critical tendency has dissipated what is false and extravagant in the pictures and conceptions of ancient life, it has established more firmly and set in bolder relief whatever is true, though it be peculiar and even supernatural. While it has ex- plained the myths and legends of superstition and credulity in the false religions that cloud the morning of the historic period, it has justified and confirmed the miracles that are so appropriate to simpler times, which have so fitly signal- ized the presence of One who is higher than nature, and introduced those manifestiitions of his moral character and 134 Boolcs and Reading. [Chap. xi. his lonng care which have been required in the Avorld's moral history. The same criticism which has proved so destructive to the mvths of Grecian and the legends of Roman storv, has proved itself most positive and construc- tive when applied to the miraculous and supernatural which are alone adequate to explain the rise and develop- ment of the Mosaic and Christian economies. This has been the actual result of the most careful and critical inves- tigation of the two by some of the most eminent students of the new historical school. Niebuhr himself, after some sharp experiences of misgiving lest the miraculous in the Old and Xew Testaments should, under the critical method, go the same way with the mythological in the Roman and Greek History, writes thus concerning the education of his son : "While I shall repeat and read the old poets to hira in such a way that he will undoubtedly take the gods and heroes for historical beings, I shall tell him at the same time that the ancients had only an imperfect knowledge of the true God, and that these gods were overthrown when Christ came into the world. He shall believe in the letter of the Old and New Testaments, and I shall nurture in liim, from his infancv, a firm faith in all that I have lost or feel uncertain about." His biographer records further, that "The Word made Flesh — the Divine brought into visible contact with the Human, and finding an historical embodiment in an individual — was a doctrine that found a warm rcsi)onse in a mind so full of earnest aspiration to- wards heaven, and at the same time so thoroughly histori- cal in its views of the world. His personal reverence for Christ was a sentiment that deepened with the progress of his life. . . . He once exclaimed, in the course of an argument with the present [former] King of Prussia, 'I would lay my liead on the block for the divinity of Jesus!'" {Life and Letters, etc.) Arnold observes: "The miracles of the Gospel and those of later history, do not stand upon Chap. XI.] History and Historical Reading. 135 the same ground. I do not think that they stand on the same ground of external evidence ; I cannot think that the unbelieving spirit of tiie Roman world, in the first century, was equally favorable to the origination and admission of stories of miracles, with the credulous tendencies of the middle ages. But the difference goes deeper than this to all those who can appreciate the other evidences of Christi- anity, and who, therefore, feel that what we call miracles were but the natural accompaniments of the Christian revelation — accompaniments, the absence of which would Lave been more wonderful than their presence. This, as I may almost call it, a j)riori probability in favor of the miracles of the Gospel cannot be said to exist in favor of those of later history." — [Lectures on the Study of Modern History, ii.) Again, "Strauss W' rites about history and myths, without appearing to have studied the question, but having heard that some pretended stories are mythical, he borrows this notion as an engine to help him out of Christi- anity. But the idea of men writing mythic histories be- tween the time of Livy and Tacitus, and of St. Paul mis- taking such for realities!" — [Memoirs, ete.) If we pass to the modern histories of modern times, which have been written with the true historic spirit, w(; find that they have been as truly improved by the new method as the histories of the ancient world. The tone of blind admiration and of exaggerated laudation has been sensibly lowered, the intense and bigoted partisanship has been exposed and answered by counter-criticism, or has quietly given way before the more jixlicial spirit of a cooler judgment. One improvement is especially noticeable in modern his- tory, if it be not almost a revolution. This is the fact, that much less is made of the so-called great events of his- tory now than formerly. As history has learned new no- tions of its own dignity, it attaches less importance to the 136 Books and Beading. [Chaf. XI fortunes of princes, the movements of generals, and the is- sues of campaigns, and occupies itself far more earnestly and busilv with the condition of the middlinp; and lower classes, with their progress in civilization, in political free- dom, in wise laws, general education, and the security of property, as well as in general thrift, prevailing frugality, courteous manners, moral principle, and religious faith. History has become more humane and democratic as it has become more critical and just. It looks beneath the sur- face of events for the springs of action. It searches nnder facts for principles. It strives to discover the great laws of progress and stability in the world's evolution. It re- gards moral interests as higher than physical, the faitli aud heroism of a people and a period as of greater consequence than the external and physical events which distinguished either. Hence it tends to be more ethical, more reverent, and more religious, while it is also more candid and toler- ant. Two characteristics are especially worthy of notice in the tendencies of modern history. It is at once more ima- ginative and more pfiilosophical. The new history employs the imagination more liberally and yet more wisely than did the old. While it does not yield indiscriminately to its direction so as to be misled by its vagaries, it avails itself freely of its guidance and aid that it may more perfectly and vividly reproduce the past. The historian no longer conceives the past to have been so utterly unlike the present as to allow him to credit all the fantastic creations of the mythological and the credulous school, but rather conceives it to have been so nearly like the present as to justify him in freely using the present that he may more vividly })icture and reproduce the past as it was. Hence it is the persistent effort of the modern his- torian to revive the past by means of every possible ap~ pliance of which he can avail himself. He continuallv Chap. XL] History and Historical Reading. 137 asks himself, How did men live in the earlier times, what sort of houses did thoy build, how did they light and warm them, at what sort of tables did they eat, and of what food, and how was this cooked and served, on wiiat seats did they sit, in what beds did they sleep, how were they dressed, of what material was their clothing made, and into what sort of garments was it shaped, how did they travel and visit, in what fashion did they greet one another ? So minute have been these inquiries, and so suc- cessfully have they been answered by the aid of the paint- ings, and mummies of Egyptian tombs, by bas-reliefs on Assyrian monuments, by Greek and Roman statues and inscriptions, as also by the exhumations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, that it seems now almost possible to build again a Grecian and Roman house, to provide it with im- plements and furniture, and to reproduce in detail all the particulars of ancient life. In the same way the historian of Old or New England of two hundred years ago, con- cerns himself with thousands of details, which enable his reader vividly to imagine how the people actually lived, what was the daily aspect and history of a street in Lon- don or in Boston, what was the method of spending a day or a week by a merchant or a farmer, a laborer or a pro- fessional man. What is of far greater consequence, the historian asks and can answer. How did the men of other times think and feel in regard to the great and small things which in- terest the human race in all times ? What was the measure of their knowledge and of their intellectual power? What were their loves and hatreds toward God and man? He seeks to place himself within their very souls, so as to gaze on the visible creation with their eyes, to meet his fellows with their loves and hatreds, to scan the firmament with their infinite longings or their shivering terror, to seek after God with their awe or their longings. In all such 138 Books and Heading, [Chap. xi. efforts of history the imagination must be largely em- ployed ; but it is employed in the service and for the ends of truth. It does not dress up its ideals of past genera- tions with impossible and therefore fantastic perfections, nor does it make them stalk forth in robes of gorgeous stateliness, nor does it bring tliem in fantastic conflicts like the spectred hosts of departed warriors such as are seen by a belated shepherd far off in cloud-land above some real battle-field, but it seeks to conceive these generations as they actually lived and acted, thought and felt. The power, when trained and used in the search after historic truth, becomes what is called The Hidorlc Imagination^ which by long practice becomes so discriminating and so trustworthy as to be termed The Historic Sense. It is not till the imagination is thus matured that a man is able to appreciate adequately the literature of other nations and other times than his own. He must first understand the times in which its speeches and essays, its poems and its plays, its novels and its sermons were composed, in order to judge of them by their relations to the men by whom and for whom they were written. When thus heard and read thev are received as far more real and living;, and are judged with a far more sensitive and just appreciation than tliey possibly could be if read or judged apart from the forces which produced them or the conditions under which they came into being. What is more important Btill, the actions of the men of another age are studied in the light of the knowledge which they actually attained, the aims which they proposed, and the motives by which they were impelled. Wiiat would be inexplicable if .done in our times can be accounted for if allowed in 'other »days. What in our day would be a work of cruelty and revenge is excused, palliated, or even justified, when traced to the motives and feelings, which occasioned it. What seems laughable and grotesque, formal and superstitious, when Chap. XI.] History and Historical Reading. 139 looked at with our eyes, is grave and proper, natural and rational, when looked at through the eyes of the men of other times, as we are enabled to do, by the cultured his- torie sense when this is quickened and guided by the his- toric imagination. As the result of this liberal and wise use of the ima- gination, history has become more true and more just in its judgments as well as more elevating in its lessons and influence than formerly. The more vividly and fully we represent the men and the scenes of other times, the more entirely shall we do justice to them. The more thorough- ly we understand events in their motives and principles, the more truthfully shall we estimate and Aveigh them. The new method educates and elevates the imagination, as well as employs it as an auxiliary to truth. We read and study history somewhat as we read and study the drama, viewing it as a grand spectacle of the past that is vividly reproduced in scenery, personages, and events; that fixes our attention, excites our curiosity, and kindles our sympa- thies. As the actual drama is fitted to ennoble the ima- gination and purify the passions, so does dramatized his- tory act with even greater energy in these directions, when it is fitly rendered by the writer and justly conceived by the reader. These ihoughts lead us to, The second characteristic .stated, viz., that the New His- tory is more philosophical than the old. It recognizes more distinctly the truth that all historic events are to be explained by certain causal influences or agencies, which are furnished in man's own nature, in the circumstances of his condition, and in the purposes of the living God. Different historians differ in the variety of the agencies which they recognize, in the importance which is to be at- tached to each, and in the power of harmonizing one with another ; but all agree that to some agencies or principles, acting after fixed methods or rules, all great historical 140 Books and Beading. [Chap, XX events are to be ascribed, and that the problem of history and the duty of the historian is to discover wiiat these principles are. The historian nowadays is not content to entertain his readers with striking descriptions of the startling events which give to history its dramatic interest, nor to paint to the life the story of those great personages who ilhistrate the pathos and power, the tenderness and energy of human passion, but he seeks also to explain his- toric phenomena both the greater and the less — by their princi])les and laws. To determine what are the principles and what the laws Avhicli underlie all these events is the aim of what is technically called The Philosophy of History. Much is made of this phrase in our times. To many persons it suggests something very profound, attractive, and incom- prehensible. To others it is big with high-sounding ver- biage, transcendental pretension, attenuated Pantheism, or depressing Fatalism. But there ought to be no special mystery in the phrase. If a philosophy of the universe of spirit and matter, is possible in its present manifesta- tions, then a philosophy is possible of the past history of man, from which lessons of instruction may be derived, and if need be, of monition for the future. As there is a variety of theories of the present, each one of which may be incompatible with the other, so there may be an equal variety of philosoj)hies of the past. A Mohammedan, a Mormon, a Brahmin, and a Christian, would necessarily have each a peculiar philosophy of history. It need not be a mystery or a wonder that a materialist and a spiritua- list, a necessitarian and a believer in freedom, should each interpret the history of man after a fashion of his own. One who studies man as an animal only, and recognizes no other forces and laws than those whi(!h are vital, will of necessity, like Draper, make physiology the basis of his Philosophy of History, or rather, he will resolve all his- Chap- XI.] History and Histoneal Reading. 141 torical into physiological phenomena, whether they are material, vital, or spiritual. Temperature and moisture, of a certain degree and quantity, acting on certain chemi- cal combinations of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, etc., are the formulae by which liistorical phenomena can all be ex- plained. Napoleon and Waterloo, Abraham Lincoln and Bull Run, General Lee and Apjwmatox Court-House, are satisfactorily accounted for by various formulae, of which the terms are H, O, C, N, etc., in various combinations. A writer who recognizes a somewhat wider range of forces, some of which are spiritual, but all, whether material or spiritual, obey mechanical laws and act by a necessitating force, will, like Buckle, evolve and explain all possible oc- currences and phenomena according to an (i jpriori neces- sity, from whose iron embrace there is no release. Those who, like Froude, believe in the caprices and energy of human passions and individual freedom, or who, like Niebuhr, Arnold, Goldwin Smith and hosts of other Chris- tian historians, distinctly recognize a Divine Providence fulfilling merciful plans of human progress and redemp- tion, will have another and a nobler philosophy of history, because they accept a nobler philosoj)hy of the universe and of human life. It ought to be added that to serve more effectually ' he philosophical explanation of the Past, the great move- ments of historic progress in separate lines and the several agencies on which they depend have been treated of in distinct works. Thus we have not a few generalized his- tories, as of Commerce, Geographical Discovery, Emigra- tion, Philosophy, Morals, Literature, Poetry, Fiction, Criti- cism, and even of Civilization itself. The treatment of these topics of historic research separately has this great advantage, that it limits the attention more effectually to single classes of phenomena, and to the workings of single forces. It withdraws the mind from the more palpable 142 Hooks and Reading. [Chap. xl and material effects and causes, to the more refined and ppiritiial. It enables each student to look at the history of man from that point of view which most interests his own feelings, or bears upon his own studies, and it saves the general reader an immense amount of sjjecial research and laborious investigation. But the impatient reader, wlio may have followed us thus far, will be likely here to interrupt us Avith the in- quiry ; " But what has all this to do with a course of his- torical reading ? These general disquisitions on the writing of history may have some interest for those who have his- tory to write, but they can have no possible application to those who have history to read. The progress and de- velopment of history, from poetic narration to philosophi- cal interpretation, may be instructivs to learned students but not to general readers." To which we reply : " Have patience. History is a vast jungle, au impenetrable mo- rass to the reader who undertakes to find his way through it without a guide, and cv^en to him who reads the first book which is recommended to him, and having finished that seizes upon another. To read history with any profit or even with much satisfaction, whether alone or under the advice of a sagacious friend, one should know something of what history is, and how it is written, in what various forms, with what diversity of honesty, truth, and trustworthiness." To furnish this information, pre- liminary to special advice respecting the selection of >='ooks and the manncTr of reading them, has been the aim c^ this chapter. CHAPTER XII. HOW TO READ HISTORY. It is not easy to prescribe a course of Historical Read- ing for a single individual, even though he is an intimate friend, whose character and culture, whose aims and ha- bits, whose leisure and opportunities are all supposed to be familiarly known to his adviser. It is more difficult to do it for many persons, every one of whom may differ from the other in every one of these particulars. An extended or general course which might be equally suitable for all readers, is idle to think of. To attempt even a selection of the best authors, without knowing somewhat intimately the person for whom they are chosen, would be foolish and futile. All that we propose to do is to lay down a few principles which will enable a reader to begin wisely and to proceed with satisfaction in selecting books for himself; and also to illustrate these principles by referring to a few authors of marked peculiarities and of unquestioned ex- cellence. We observe, first of all, that a thorough mastery of the field of history must be the work of many years ; in some sort, of a lifetime. To fix in the mind the dates of the most important events, to impress the events themselves upon the memory so that they shall be permanent and familiar, to settle the great questions which are in dispute in respect to facts and principles, to be able to summon at call the great pictures which make up the diorama of the world's past, can be achieved only by the few students to whom historical research is the exclusive occupation of 143 144 Books and Reading. [Chap. xiL their life. For such we do not write. They would not need our assistance, could we give it ; for it is the preroga- tive of cverv such student to find his path opening na- turally and easily before hira as he proceeds. To such the author iniinediatcly in hand introduces many others whom he will wish to read. The subject which at present occupies the attention inevitably suggests numerous kindred topics. In part this is true for the class of persons for whom we write — who are supposed to be comparatively ignorant of booics and unpractised in reading. Even such readers ought not to expect to finish in a year or two the brief and imperfect course of history Avhich they may immediately require. AVe grant, one may learn a compend of events or a table of dates within a few months. Pie may commit to memory an outline history of Greece and Rome, of Europe in the middle ages, of Great Britain and the United States. But to do this is simply to lay the foun- dation and to erect the scafiblding. To master the history of these countries, so as intelligently to enjoy it and be in- structed by it, requires a far longer period, and must be, at the shortest, the work of several vears of earnest and awak- ened attention. Moreover, it would not be desirable, w<^re it practicable, to finish such a course of reading more speedily. To read history should be proposed by every thoughtful person as the learning and pastime of his entire life ; as capable of perpetually opening new views of re- gions unseen before, and of bringing before the same eye fresh aspects of scenes that are none the less interesting be- cause they have been often revisited. Indeed, there is an im|)ortant sense in which it is true that a man must wait till he is s()m(;what advanced in life before he can read his- tory with full advantage and enjoyment, because such a person only can bring to it the observation and interest fur- nished by actual experience. If "old experience" alone, as Milton suggests, can attain " to something like prophetic Chap. XII.] How to read History. 145 strain " in its forecast of the future, it is almost equally necessary that one may intelligently appreciate the history of the past. History to the eye of the young has the in- terest of an exciting spectacle ; to the old it is as inspiring as the counsel of a life-long friend. The youth gazes with excited and breathless curiosity upon the shifting panora- ma of great empires rising mysteriously like overhanging clouds, of vast cities thronged with representatives from a hundred nations, of endless caravans of barbaric emigrants; of the confusion of battle, the pomp of victory, and the splendor of pageants. All these are to his eye brilliant, imposing, and exciting. But when the same eye has seen more of living men and of actual life, when the man has interpreted tiie causes and meditated upon the lessons of the events which have occurred within his personal experi- ence, then and then only is he prepared to gather instruc- tion from the story of the past, because- in the men and the events which this story records he sees the counterpart of what has passed beneath his personal observation. To the young, history must be an exciting drama or a painful task ; to the old, it is as fresh as a fairy tale, and as in- structive as the lessons of a patriarch. Those persons who are impatient to acquire in a twelve- montli a satisfactory knowledge of history, or who expect or wish to finish up their reading in order that it may be done with and laid aside, might almost as well not begin at all, for by such history can be read only for convenience or show, and to them it can bring little instruction and less enjoyment. There are not a few who, having just left school or college, say to themselves, " A man must know something of history, in order to pass respectably with in- telligent people. Without having read liistory, one can- not understand the newspapers, or take part in conversa- tion, or shine in a debating-club, or make speeches ; there- fore I will take a course in history — what is the best, be- 10 146 Books and Reading. {Chap. xii. cause the shortest and the soonest over ?" To such persons we would say : " Study a table of chronology as you would take a dose of medicine, or buy the best and briefest com- pend of universal history which you can hear of, and master it because you must ; but do not call such occupa- tion the reading of history." This sort of reading should, of all others, be regarded as the constant occupation and pastime of the life of any one who reads at all ; and it is well to begin history as it is to begin our reading life, M'ith this view of it — to form our plans, and to select our authors with these expectations distinctly in mind. There is the greater need of cautions of this sort, for the veason that so many persons, under mistaken impressions, i>r by the direction of stupid or thoughtless advisers, com- mence reading a course of history with such authors or after such a i)lan as to be very soon disgusted and disap- pointed. AVe recall very distinctly a friend who, on finish- ing his college-life, gave himself up for a year to what he fondly anticipated would be '' the still air of delightful studies," with glowing expectations of what he should ac- compli.-«h and enjoy in a year of general reading. To master an ample course of history was his first ambition and his most attractive ideal. He seated himself at his desk with the expectation of finishing this course in a twelvemonth, and in order to begin at the beginning, he opened one of the dreariest and most matter-of-fact books that ever was written, viz. : The Old and Neiv Testament Connected, by Humphrey Prideaux. It was a part of his plan to follow this work with another, which, if possible, is more dreary and forbidding, viz. : Shuckford's Sacred and Profane History Connected. But he never got so far as Shuckford, for the reason that, after a few weeks' trial with Prideaux — so many hours a day, and so many pages of the wooden volumes read in a m(H;hanical way — he be- came dispirited and discouraged, and the course of histori-* Chap. XII.] Hov) to read History. 147 cal reading " never did run smooth " with him, after such an inauspicious beginning. Second. Tliis instance may give meaning and interest to our next suggestion, which is, that history, to be Avisely begun, should be commenced by every person at what is the right starting-point for him. We have ahx'ady in- sisted that the book on wliich every man should first lay his hands is the book whicli will instruct, amuse, or ele- vate him most in any direction in which his needs are the most imperative, whatever the subject-matter may be. This rule is pre-eminently good in historical reading. If we assume that the entire field is to any one unoccupied and unknown, there are yet certain countries, personages or events — one or all — of which every man has some im- mediate interest to know sometliing. Whether his inter- est arises from the curiosity of the inquirer or the useful- ness of that which is to be known, is unimportant. At this very point should he begin. The author who best meets this impending want, whether he can do this by his ease of style, clearness of arrangement, copiousness of infor- mation or elevation and truthfulness of aim, is the author Avith whom he should begin. But suppose a person has few historic needs, at least few of which he is conscious, and little or no curiosity, what shall be said to him? Should there be such a person, we have only to say, that it may be the time has not come for him — and it may be it ought never to come — to read history at all. It would be safer, however, to deny that a person ever existed who is without anv historic curiositv or historic needs, if it could only be discovered in what direction they lie. With some these wishes and wants may turn upon that which is nearest their senses, — the local history of the town or county in which they live, of the family to which they belong, or the state or country in which they are born ; or perhaps their imagination may be excited to ask questions 148 Booh and Beading. [Chap. xii. concerning some prominent personage whom they have seen or of whom they have heard, as some great lasvyer, physician, clergyman, banker, merchant, sea-captain, or general. If they are interested in any trade or employ- ment, the history of their own occnpation, or of the objects with which it is concerned, may be the history which will take the strongest hold of their feelings. When, then, a man comes to us Avith the question, " What history shall I read first ?" we reply, ae we have already suggested, with the questions : " What history do you care to know the most about ? Of what country, or of what people — of what events or what personages do you wish or need to be informed accurately and fully? Con- cerning what great interest, as of trade or commerce, tariif or business, of shipbuilding, or invention in art or litera- ture, do you at present feel disposed to ask the most nu- merous questions of a friend or acquaintance ?" If you can answer to yourself these questions, then you will be able to decide what history you should begin to read. Third. History should be read after the laws and habits of the kind of memory with which the reader is naturally endowed, without any violent efforts to resist or reform these laws or habits. For example, there are a few per- sons who have a natural memory for dates. They can scan with the eye or hear with the ear the dates of the principal events of a war, a reign, or a century, and can fix them with exactness so a.s to recall them when they are wanted. But the majority, even of young persons — in wln)m the ^spontaneous memory is most active — find it somewhat diflicult to imprint a table of simple dates upon the memory. Those who labor under this defect are soon discouraged in the reading of history. They complain that before they have finished a single volume most of the dates of the events wliirh it records have escaped from their posijessiou. dOf what possible use, say they, can it be Chap. XII.] jHow to read History. 149 to read the next, if even the times and the order of the great events which it recounts are in like manner to slide from our recollection ? Of what use, if this is continually to happen, will it bo for us to read history at all ? To re- lieve the minds of those who feel these difficulties, two considerations are pertinent. The^rs^ is, that histoiy may inscribe many most valuable lessons upon the memory of those who can remember the dates of but few of the great events which it records. It is with reading history very much as it is with seeing people and observing the course of nature. A thousand lessons may have been impressed upon the understanding, a thousand most important rela- tions may have been discerned, a thousand inferences or principles may have been suggested or confirmed, a thou- sand movements of feeling or will may have been evolved in connection with a thousand persons and events observed, of which very few, and perhaps none at all, can be recalled singly and in their individual relations. To be profited by history in almost every way conceivable, it is by no means essential that we retain a distinct remembrance of the individual facts which history records and recites. We would not intimate that a knowledge of dates r^nd events is unimportant, nor again that strenuous and perse- vering efforts should not be made to fix and hold them. We would only preclude the inference that great exactness or facility in this respect is essential to the most import- ant uses of this study. We would also insist that any range, exactness, or readiness in the memory of historical facts is only important so far as it is attended with the ca- pacity to discern and connect these facts by means of their higher relations. Simple memory is so very convenient that it is often greatly over- valued. School-teachers and school-children, pedants and paragons of memory, who can promptly tell you the precise date of every event in history, plume themselves very often upon what is merely 1 50 Boohs and Reading. [Chap, xil a great intellectual convenience. Those unfortunates, on the otlier hand, who are always at a loss when calleti on to furnish such details for themselves or others, are often mortified and discouratred at their constantlv recurrino- failures. For this reason it needs often to be repeated that a knowledge of dates is chiefly to be valued because of the higher relations to which it constantly ministers. This suggests the second consideration to which we referred, viz: That when the dates of liistorv are habituallv con- templated in these higher relations, the study of chronology becomes fascinating and easy to many who are deficient in I he mechanical memory'. It may seem of little import- ance to know, and therefore, it may appear difficult to re- i-all, the precise number of months or years by which the American preceded the French Revolution, or to recount the exact order of the several events which ushered in the bloody catastrophe, and the inevitable reaction of the Di- rectori', the Consulate, and the Empire. But viewed in another light the exactdst knowledge of these time-periods and time-epochs may be of the greatest serNnce. It may even be absolutelv essential to enable the reader to estimate the force and to compute the laws of the agencies which produced these stirring and frightful phenomena. At first view, that would seem to be the most trivial coincidence which connects two events together by the relation of time — as a discovery, an invention, a bold and beneficent en- terprise achieved by two or three minds in the same month thousands of milc« distant. But coincidences of this sort observeled her government in repeated instances to introduce skilled labor from Flanders and from France, on critical occasions, when it was not only convenient for manufacturers and artisans to leave their homes, but when this became necessary if they would save their consciences and their lives. Thus did England, by its physical fea- tures, become not only an asylum for many of the noblest exiles, but she also made of this asylum a treasure-house for her future wealth and a work-shop for the supply of the world, which in this way became her tributary. The example of England is one of many which might be adduced to illustrate the relation of physical geography to history. The honor of discerning and setting forth this relation in its adequate and manifold importance belongs ^HAP. XII.] How to read History. 157 to Professor Carl Hitter, one of the most eminent men of the present century, who was alike distinguished for his vast learning, his historical sagacity, and his modest and Christian humility. His views were given to English readers some years ago by one of his most eminent disci- ples. Professor Arnold Gwjot, in " The Earth and Man" and more recently in translations from a few of his works. The intelligent reader, however, needs only to seize upon the clue which Ritter's speculative wisdom has furnished, to be able to read history by a new light and with a new in- terest, as he finds the physical features as well as the geo- graphical situation of every country to be essential to the understanding of its political and moral growth, and of the part which it has enacted in the v^orld's drama. The thought is kindred, but xiot unimportant, that to understand and appreciate either history or geography with the highest profit, and especially to understand the two as mutually related, traveling with an intelligent eye is an important auxiliary. We would not be understood to as- sert or intimate that a person who cannot travel cannot do justice to the reading of history. The fact is notorious, that some of the most intelligent and appreciative students of history have traveled but little ; while hundreds, if not thousands, yearly look upon Rome and Jerusalem and the Nile with unanointed eyes, who neither bring to these ex- citing places nor carry away from them a single historic association. Nor, again, is it needful to travel long distances, or to visit many of the seats of ancient or modern commerce and empire, in order to learn the most important and the most substantial lessons which travel is fitted to impart. A journey of a hundred miles can be turned by one person to uses that are far more abundant and instructive than a journey of a thousand miles by anotlier. The sagacious «ye needs but few hints or motives to be able to judge of 158 Books and Reading. [Chap, xil the remote by the near, of the long by the short, and of the creat bv the small. Gibbon found in the study of tactics which he made as captain of the Hants militia a sufficient preparation to enable him to understand the movements of the great military leaders of the Roman em- pire. " The discipline and evolutions of a modern batta- lion," he says, "gave me a clearer notion of the phalanx and the legion ; and the captain of the Hamjishire gre- nadiers (the reader may smile) has not been useless to the historian of the Roman empire." On the other hand, no intellect can be so acute, and no imagination can be so ac- tive, as not to be stimulated and instructed by the excite- ments of the eye and the ear. The traveler who has crossed the Alps in pereon and on foot will be far more likely to do justice to the difficulties which impeded Han- nibal ; and he who has traversed Palestine with the Scrip- tures in his hand cannot but make more- .real to himself and more intelligible the Old and the New Testament history. It is worth noticing that the best historical writ- ers have almost uniformly been fond of traveling. At least, they have had " the topographical eye," and that in- terest in natural scenery which seems to be essential to the vivid representation to the mind of historic scenes, events, and personages. This suggests our ffth point, viz., the use of the ima- gination in the reading of history. Whately pertinently observes, in his annotations upon Lord Bacon's Essay on Studies: "In reference to the study of hi.story, I have elsewhere remarked upon the importance, among the in- tellectual qualifications for such a study, of a vivid ima- gination — a faculty which, consequently, a skilful narrator must himself possess, and to which he must be able to furnish excitement in others. Some may, perhaps, be startled at this remark wiio have been accustomed to con- sider imagination as having no other office than to feign II 11 Chap. XII.] How to read History. 159 and to falsify. Every faculty is liable to abuse and mis- direction, and imagination among the rest ; but it is a mistake to suppose that it necessarily tends to pervert the truth of history, and to mislead the judgment. On the contrary, our view of any transaction, especially one that is remote in time and place, will necessarily be imperfect, generally incorrect, unless it embrace something more than the bare outline of the occurrences; unless we have before the mind a lively idea of the scenes in which the events took place, the habits of thought and of feeling of the ac- tors, and all the circumstances connected with the transac- tion ; unless, in short, we can in a considerable degree transport ourselves out of our own age, and country, and persons, and imagine ourselves the agents or spectators. It is from consideration of all these circumstances that we are enabled to form a right judgment as to the facts which history records, and to derive instruction from it. To say that the imagination, if not regulated by sound judgment and sufficient knowledge, may chance to convey to us false impressions of past events, is only to say that man is falli- ble. But such false imjiressions are even much the more likely to take possession of those whoso imagination is fee- ble or uncultivated. They are apt to imagine the things, persons, times, countries, etc., which they read of, as much less diiferent from what they see around them than is real- ly the case. The practical importance of such an exercise of imagination to a full and clear, and consequently pro- fitable, view of the transactions related in history can hard- ly be over-estimated." To stimulate and aid the imagination in its efforts to re- produce the past, historical plays and poems, and more recently historical novels, have been abundantly employed. Their usefulness has been the subject of frequent discussion and of various opinions. It has been forcibly, and perhaps not untruly said, that the majority of the present generation IGO Books and Beading. [Chap. xii of English readers liave learned more of English history from Sliakspcare and Walter Scott than from the entire library of professed historians. Of course no man would contend that either Shakspeare or Scott can be substituted for the usual historical authorities, but only that they may supplement them in certain important particulars. Many other historical plays and novels are invaluable, as enabling the reader to enter more fully into the spirit of past times. They are of especial service in helping him to appreciate the feelings and motives of prominent personages, and vividly to reproduce the manners and institutions of another age. It is not often that an historical writer is endowed with the painstaking zeal of the antiquarian and the creative power of the poet. If we cannot have the two gifts in » single writer, we must seek for them apart, in the historian and the novelist. Thackeray's Henry Esmond is an admirable example of a good historical novel, when carefully and conscientiously written by a man of rare gifts, and of a rarer honesty. No reader of this tale of the times of Queen Anne could fail to derive from it such impressions of the state of manners and of morals in the higher circles, as well as of the political jealousies and the religious feuds whicli divided men of all classes, as no formal history could possibly convey — such as even the most abundant and painstaking research into the less access' ble sources of historical knowledge would fail to impart to a man of feeble capacity to picture and re- combine. The service is not a slight one which is rendered to the world, when a painstaking explorer of historic truth iike Thackeray gathers his materials with faithful and laborious research, and weaves them together into so fasci' nating and instructive a story. But this talc, marvellous as it is for its f-laborated truthfulness and picturesque effects, strikingly illustrates the possible dangers and disadvantages to which the historical novel may be abused. Thackeray Chap. XII.] How to read History. IGl was not without his prejudices in certain directions. These, with his desire for producins; striking eifects, are manifest in tlie occasional overdrawing of this generally well bal- anced representation of one of the most interesting periods of Eno-lish history. It is notorious that Walter Scott gave very serious offence to multitudes of his admiring readers by some of his portraitures of the representative characters of the great historical parties of Scotland and England. "With all the good sense and candor which he had at com- mand, his sympathies were too intense and his prejudices too tenacious to allow him to write otherwise than he did, though he knew he should excite the indignation of thousands of his fervid countrymen. 3Irs. H. B. Stowe, says in the preface to her recent historical romance, . Old- totcn Folks: — "I have tried to make my mind as still and passive as a looking-glass or a mountain lake, and thus to give you merely the images reflected therein." But a fer- vid and sympathetic nature like hers can no more free itself from a theological or personal bias, in representing the New England of the past, over which she has laughed, and wept, and speculated, and struggled all her life, than "the mountain lake" can hold itself in glassy smoothness against the gusts and breezes that sweep upon it from the heights above. Writers less conscientious and trustworthy than the three we have named would very easily make the his- torical novel to be the vehicle of partisan prejudice, dishon- est misrepresentation, and virulent vituperation. It is also so easy to exaggerate for the simple purpose of effective repre- sentation, that many such novels have been written with no conscious bias, and yet have been no better than coarse exaggerations and extravagant caricatures of the simple truth. Some of the novels of " 3Irs. Iliihlbach" (Clara Mundt) are sad and humiliating examples of this sort, doing equal violence to historic truth, to correct taste, and to dramatic propriety. Others are written with greater II 1G2 Books and Reading. [Chap, xil fidelity to botli dramatic and historic truth. The very wide-spread popularity of these tales illustrates the fitness of this kind of writing to meet an important craving of human nature. The volumes of the Sclionberg-Cotta and the Erchnann-Chatrian series will readily occur to many of our readei-s as exemplifying the same truth. George Eliofs Homola is if possible a still more surprising achievement than any which we have named ; as the period was more remote and the materials more scanty, and the actors and scenery more strange to a native of England. The fact deserves notice in this connection that, of late, professed historians have indulged somewhat freely in ro- mancing, and so in a sense turned their histories into quasi- historical novels ; especially when they attempt to give elaborate and eloquent portraitures of their leading person- ages, in which the most lavish use is made of effective epithets and of pointed antitheses. Ilacaulaij, among the recent historians, has set the fashion very decidedly in this direction. In his efforts to make history minute, vivid, and effective, he has often described like an impassioned advocate, and painted like a retained attorney, with the most unsparing expenditure of contrasts and epithets. Carlyle gives sketches alternately in chalk and charcoal, that exhibit his saints and demons, now in ghastliest white, and then in the most appalling blackness. But though he draws caricatures he draws them with the hand of an artist, and if his outlines are often bold and grotesque there are many of which Michael Angelo would not have been ashamed. Froude, by research, eloquence, and audacity combined, attempts to reverse the settled historic judg- ments of all mankind in respect to the characters that had been "damned to everlasting fame." Bancroft and Motley abound in examples of tliis tendency ,to paint historical characters so much to the life, that the impression is made that the result is only a painting to which there never was Chap. XII.] Eow to read History. 163 reality. The ghost of the miserable Philip II. would suf- fer more than the purgatorial tortures which he dreaded and deserved so long, were he made to writhe under the unsparing pertinacity of Motley's invective, from which there is no release, and to which there is no termination : while the spirit of William the Silent would be more re- served and reticent than ever were he forced to listen to the periiaps not undeserved, but the certainly unqualified laudations of his admiring narrator. The elaborate por- traits of Bancroft, if they do nothing more, do most effec- tively illustrate the historian's own conceptions of what sets off a man well in description, so intense is the color- ing and so abundant are the adornments which he em- ploys. The disposition to use two colors certainly allows striking contrasts, if it does nothing more. The hero in black is drawn with deep shadows, if they are few. The hero in Avhite is as white as is practicable, and permit him to be distinctly visible. Gradations in color as well as flowino; outlines, if less effective in the excitement with which they shock and excite the nerves, are more pleasing to the taste that is truly refined, as well as ordinarily more true to nature, and just to the reality of things. To satisfy the imagination history must be individual and minute. Hence it is that biography supplements his- tory so happily by imparting an individual interest to the events which concern a larger number of men, by giving minuteness of detail in place of general and vague descrip- tions, and by awakening our personal and human sympa- thies in what Avould otherwise be conceived as indefinite and impersonal. The life of a great ruler or a distinguished commander becomes for these reasons the most satis- factory medium for recounting the history of a great nation or a critical war. We need only cite as examples the lives of Frederick, Napoleon, and Abraham Lincoln. A single human being takes the central place in the picture, and his 164 Books and Heading. [Chap, xil personal feelinp;s and interests awaken active interest and sympathy. The recital of the events of which he had per- sonal knowledge stands out in bold relief from the liazy back-ground of general descriptions and the dry details of dates, numbers, and results. Hence a snatch from the diary of a soldier on a march, a brief letter after a battle, a per- sonal narrative of what he saw and felt in a charge or repulse, is often more attractive and even more instructive tlian scores of official summaries and despatches. The few diaries which were faithfully kept in the stirring times of England, as those of Evelyn and Pepys, the personal recol- lections of Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson, and the stately record- ings of Burton in his Cromwellian diary, are not only val- ucvl above all price for the distinctness with which they bring again to life those exciting times, but they have given suggestions for scores of imitations in manifold fictitious au- tobiographies and diaries. A few series of letters from an active correspondent to his intimate friend like those of Horace Walpole, are sometimes of great interest and ser- vice. Indeed a l)undle of old letters, freshly gathered from some forgotten chest or dusty closet may aid the imagina- tion and move the heart more than a score of elaborate volumes. The zealous student of history is moved by the true historic spirit, to fill his library with books and col- lections of this sort, and is never weary with ruminating over the past which he ever anew recreates to the eye of his mind out of these fragmentary hints, and these tat- tered, seared, and dusty memorials. An old letter reveals a new world; an old account-book recalls a past generation, with its ways of getting and spending, of buying and sell- ing, of marrying and burying, of clothing and furnishing. We have read a manuscript correspondence of sixty years from a friend in England to a friend in the United States that seemed to introduce us to much that was most impor- tant of the inner life of England during the interesting Cbap. Xil.J J?b«j to read History. 165 and exciting period which it covered. An old musket or a soldier's outfit represents a battle-field of another time ; and an old diary unrolls a pictured procession of deaths and burials, of weddings and funerals, of famines and pestilences, in which the long dead reappear upon the earth, inhabit their old houses, and walk the once-fre- quented streets. The imagination of many a Dr. Dry- asdust is pictured all over with unwritten romances ; and his heart, which seems as desolate and forbidding as his dusty and disorderly den, is brimming over with the ten- derest recollections. Peace to his ashes, for in them slum- ber the glowing embers of the loved and therefore the un- forgotten past I CHAPTER XIII. A COURSE OF HISTORICAL READING. We }>roceed next to give an outline of a course of Histor- ical Reading. It will be remembered that we do not pro- pose to furnish a list of books for the student, but only for the general reader. We begin with the earliest period, and follow the order of time. The best and most readily accessible general history of the earliest nations is Philip Smith's Hidory of the World, from the Earliest Records to the Present Time, of which the history of the nations of antiquity is complete, and com- prises three volumes. This History has the very great advantage of using the results of the latest researches and explorations in literary and monumental remains, and is written and compiled with a distinct recognition of the critical method which we have already noticed. It suffers, as was unavoidable, under the disadvantage of being a compilation. It is of necessity not written with the enthu- siasm and earnestness which only those writers attain who have limited their investigations to a single country or a single period, and are not constrained by the necessity of condensation. It is especially serviceable as an introduction to more special and particular histories. This work cannot be rccommondod too earnestly as compared with Rollin, Pridfjaux, Shuckford, and numerous writers like them, whose usefulness and authority have been superseded, and whose occupation ought by this time to be gone. It is to be feared that notwithstanding the progress of civilization, shoals of their works will continue to be multiplied by the zeal of interested publishers, and that book-agents will 166 Chap, XIII.] A Course of Historical Reading. 167 still sell them as standard histories. Niebuhr's Lectures on Ancient Hidory, etc., in three volumes, treat of special topics with learning and freshness. They are of a general character, and are in striking contrast with those excessively- minute and learned investigations which were given to the world in the first volumes of his History of Rome, and which have occasioned the impression that Niebuhr in all his writings is unintelligible to those readers who are not scholars. C. L. Brace's Races of the Old World is an ex- cellent companion in all historical studies. A. H. L. Heeren, in his Politics, Intercourse and Trade of Ancient Asiatic Nations and his Politics, Intercourse and Trade of the Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians, treats of these special topics with great freshness, and has the great merit of continually confronting and comparing the past with the present, making the ancient world to seem a real world to the modern reader, and its life to be reproduced as an actual and present reality. He writes for the historic imagination as well as for the historic judgment. Rawlin- son's History of the Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World is a recent work, which is at once original, drawn from direct research, critical, and reverent of things and truths which are sacred. Rawlinson's Herodotus ought to be named in this connection. Le Normant and Cheval- lier's History of the Oriental Nations of Antiquity, 2 vols, partially satisfies a long-felt want. A. H. Layard's Dis- coveries in Nineveh and Nineveh and its Remains would naturally be consulted here. In the history and antiquities of Egypt, Sir J. G. Wil- kinson is the higlicst authority, and he may be read either in his larger work. Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 3 vols. 8vo., or in the more popular and abridged Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians, 2 vols. 12mo. Uhlemann's Three Days in Memphis is as succ^^ssful an attempt at reviving the Egyptian world to the imagination 1G8 Books and Reading. [Chap. xiii of the moderns as could be expected. Osburn's 3fonumen- tal History of Egypt is a work of interest and authority. Egypt Ancient and Modern, by M. Russell, is a brief com- pend of Egyptian history. Egypt and the Books of Moses is an elaborate work, by E. "VV. Hengstenberg. Egypt Past and Present, by Dr. J. P. Thompson, is carefully prepared. Egypt, its Place in the World's History, by Baron Bunsen, has the characteristic excellencies and defects of its well- known author. If we })ass from Egypt to Palestine, we have for the general reader the well-known and the well-written HiMory of the Jens, by the eloquent and scholarly II. H. Milman. This work la not as frequently and faithfully read as it de- serves to be. It is written with the critical spirit of a thorough scholar, with the candor of an enlightened Biblical student, \w\th the imagination of a poet, and the faith of a believing Christian. Jahn's History of the Hebrew Com- monicealth, from the German, is solid and trustworthy, but heavy in style. Ewald's History of the People of Israel, from the German, translated in part, is masterly for its learning and originality, but abundant in capricious and not always well-sustained suggestions. M. T. Raphall's Post Bibliccd History of the Jews is a faithful and painstak- ing History by a well-known learned Rabbi. For the understanding of the Hebrew institutions in their relation to the Hebrew literature. Herder's Spirit of Hcbreio Poetry, from the German, is invaluable. No intelligent and thouglitful reader can fail to be delighted and instructed by its eloquent pages. Isaac Taylor On Hebrev) Poetry, and Robert Lowth on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews are both excellent adjuncts. Helon's Pilgrimage, an historical novel, from the German of F. Strauss, published more re- cently also under the title of The Glory of the House of Israel, is a very successful attem|)t to reproduce in a tale the life of the Jewish people in the century preceding tho I Chap.xiit.] -4 Course of Historical Reading. 169 advent of Christ. It was prepared with great care, with competent learning, and as an aid to the study of the Jew- ish history and institutions, as well as a successful inter- preter of the Jewish faith and worship, is worth a score of professed and formal commentaries. Its merits are far superior to many extemporized and superficial imitations purporting to be reproductions of the times of the Old Testament and the Jews, that seek to supply what they lack in historic accuracy, by exaggerated diction, ill-conceived illustrations, and extravagant portraiture. No thorough student of Jewish history would be willing to overlook the works of Josephus, the only, but not al- ways to be trusted authority upon many points. The or- dinary reader cannot but find great advantage in reading portions of these works, if for no other reason than that they so effectually transport him back into the past, find enable him to understand" and to sympathize with the spirit of the enlightened political Jews of the times. The Geography of Palestine has been treated in an exhaustive and critical way by the eminent Professor Robinson in his Biblical Researches, and his Geography of Palestine. The Sinai and Palestine, in connection with their History, by Arthur P. Stanley, is more popular in its form, and is ])et- ter adapted to the use of the general reader. The 3Iaps of Palestine that: were edited by Dr. Robinson are very carefully corrected, and the Map of the Holy Land, by C. W. M. Van de Velde, is in every respect deserving the highest confidence. Raaz, 3Iap of Palestine, an imitation of maps in relief, is at once ornamental and instructive, and should be in the liands of every student of Biblical History. The Dictionaries of the Bible and the Encyclo- pedias of Religious Literature which we shall notice in the Chapter on Religious Reading are indispensable auxiliaries. From Palestine to Greece is but a short distance, and the transition is not unnatural from the Hebraic to the 1 70 Books and Beading. [Chap. XTIL Greek history. C. AA'ordsworth's Greece, Pictorial, De- scriptive and Historical, and a History of Greek Ai't, is an admirable introduction to the study of the geography, his- tory and literature of that wonderful country. The extend- etl and carefully written History of Greece by George Grote lias superseded almost every other, and no objection can be urged against it, except its excessive minuteness and its length. A good abridgement of it for schools and begin- ners has been prepared by William Smith. AV. Mitford's History of Greece is written with great spirit and with masterly vigor ; but it is excessively partisan in its charac- ver, the writer being a desperate enemy to popular institu- \ions of every kind, and finding in the convulsions and x'hanges of the states of Greece abundant confirmations for )iis political sympathies. C. Tiiirlwall's History of Greece is (Xirc fully written, but it wants the spirit of Mitford, and the ''.ritical research and masterly insight of Grote. E. Curtius' Manual History, from the German, from the reputation of the author, must be accepted as of high authority. An/x- charsis' Travels, by J. J. Bartlielemy, from the French, is an attempt to recall the Greece that was, in a series of ima- gined travels taken in the palmy days of the Grecian States. Pausanias's Greece, an itinerary from a careful traveler and antiquary of the second century, is invaluable as a record of places, buildings, and works of art as seen by Greek eyes and judged by a Greek mind. W. A. Becker's Charicirs is a i;rief and formal, but for its purposes, an ad- mirable historical novel, the design of which is to repro- duce Greek life as it has been re-created and interpreted by the thorough critical researches of modern scholarship. It is fortified and illustrated by abundant notes, which refer to the classiral writers. C. J. l^'clton's Greece Ancient and Modern, is learned and spirited. Athens, its Rise and Fall, bv Sir P^dward Lytt^)n Bulwer, is elocjuently written, and serves to quicken and aid the historic imagination, Chap. XIIL] -^ Course of Historical Reading, 171 while Attiaa and Athens by C. O. Muller and others is at once learned and interesting, and A. Boeckh's Public Econ- omy of Athens is full of solid and satisfactory information in respect to the political organization of the State. The later history of Greece has been carefully and labo- riously Avritten by George Finlay in the following works, which are above the taste and the wants, as they are be- 3'-ond the reach of the ordinary reader : Greece under the Ro7nans, 3Iediceval History of Greece, History of the By-' zantine and Grreek Empire. The history of Rome may be said to be well represented in English literature by Thomas Arnold's History of Home and his Later Roman Commonwealth, and by Charles Merivale's Rome under the EmiJerors. These works may be recommended as of the very highest authority in respect to research and thoroughness. They are all written in a clear and fluent style. H. G. Liddell's History is a scholar- ly manual compiled from the best sources. J. C. Eustace's Classical Tour through Italy is a useful book of reference. Theodore Mommsen's History of Rome, from the German, is now accessible to English readers, and cannot be too high- ly praised for its brilliant generalizations and its success in comparing ancient with modern events and institutions. W. A. Becker's Gallus does the same for Roman which his Charicles does for Greek life. W. Forsyth's Life of Cicero, though a little stiff and ponderous in its movement, is valuable to the reader who desires to understand something of the individual life of one of the most distinguished of Ro- man ^^Titers and statesmen, and who also would learn some- what of the domestic and social life of the country, as re- fleeted in the personal record of the feelings and the fortunes of so great a man. This biography, like the most interest- ing of modern lives, is in the main drawn from Cicero's private letters. The whole correspondence of Cicero with Atticus is accessible by translations to English readers. 172 Books and Beading. [Chap. xiir. Plutarch\^ Lives have been read with enthusiasm by thou- sands of youths, and have at least imbued their readers with vivid impressions of ancient thought and feeling. They are lauded by R. W. Emerson as one of the books which every man should read and re-read. A. H. dough's revised edition is the best. This suggests the thought that the reader of Greek and Roman history who is not a proficient in the Greek and Latin languages, — as well as many who are, — cannot be said to master the history of these countries unless he knows something of their literature and of its history. There are now accessible many good translations of the works of the leading writers in prose and poetry, as also good critical and popular histories of these literatures. The great poems of Ilomer have been rendered into Eng- lish with various ability and success, from the quaint and graphic Chapman down to the Earl of Derby and two or three after him, of whom our own Bryant is the last but not the least successful. The history of Herodotus has been translated and commented upon by Rawlinson. W. E. Gladstone's Juventus Mundi is intensely interest- ing in its reproduction of the Greek life from the representa- tions of Homer. In this connexion we name G. W. Cox's Manual of Mythology, Tales of the Gods and Heroes, Tales of Thebes and Argos; C. O. MUller's Scientific System of My- thology. Several of the Dialogues of Plato have been translated into fluent English with annotations by the emi- nent piiilosopher W. AV' hewell. George Grote has written an elaborate treatise upon the writings of Plato, in the form of a careful analysis of each of his Dialogues. Aris- totle's Ethics, lihetoric, and Treatise on Poetry have been well translated and published in Bohn's Classical Library. The Tragedies of Sophocles have been translated by E. H. Pluniptre, and some of the Comedies of Aristophanes have been admirably rendered by J. Hookham Frere. Coning- Chap. XIII.] -A. Course of Ilistorical Reading. 173 ton's Virgil is interesting even to a school-boj. The well- known translations of the leading Latin writers need not be ennmerated. William Morris's Life and Death of Jason, imitated from the Greek, is admirably fitted to awaken the feeling for ancient life and to carry the reader back to the earlier centuries. Of the histories of Greek and Roman literature we may name W. Mure's History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece, also C. O. MUller's His- tory of the Literature of Ancient Gireece, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and Dun- lop's Hvitory of Roman Literature. William Smith's Dictionaries of Ancient Geography, 2 vols. ; of Antiqui- ties, 1 vol., and of Biography and Mythology, 3 vols., are an encyclopedia of reference upon all points and ques- tions which relate to Greek and Roman history, litera- ture, and biography. Rollin's Histoi-y of the Aiis o.nd Sciences of the Ancients is a much better book than the much better known Ancient Universal History. As we come from ancient to modern times, the introduc- tion of Christianity and the rise and growth of the Chris- tian Church attract our attention. They cannot be left out of view, for they are entwined with the rise and growth of all the modern States, and in great part constitute as veil as in greater measure explain our modern history. We may speak hereafter more at length of books upon these topics under the title of Religious Reading, but at present we shall confine ourselves to the notice which they deserve from the reader of general history. H. H. Milman's History of Christianity in the First Three Centuries is perhaps the best single work of the general character which is required by such a reader. This work is neither ecclesiastical nor re- ligious. It professes to treat of Christianity chiefly as it affected the secular, political, and social relations of the Roman empire and the Roman world. C. INIerivale's Con- version of the Roman Empire is a work of the same general 174 Books and Reading. [Chap, xnt scope. Hckna^s Household, an unpretending story by J. De Mille, recently issued, gives an interesting and faithful picture of the workings of Christianity in a Roman house hold, and interweaves also much of the history of a part of the first and second centuries. Zenohia, Aurelian and Julian, by the Rev. William Ware, Scdathiel, by Rev. George Croly, and Valerius, by J. G. Lockhart, are all ex- cellent examples of good historical tales of the earlier Christian centuries. Neander's General History of the Christian Relic/ion and the Christian Church is not un- M'orthy the attention of the general reader, although it is professedly written from a religious as well as a secular standpoint. The great w^ork upon this transition-period Avhich meets and satisfies the wants of the general reader most completely is the masterly history by Gibbon of the Decline and Fall of the Roman JEmpire. It still remains the treasure-house of digested learning and of critical judg- ment for all other historians. \ie have already taken ex- ception to the moral spirit in which it was written, and to the antagonistic attitude which it assumes towards Christi- anity. While we ought not to insist that every historical writer should write in a believing or devout spirit, we may reasonably require that he should treat with respect the opinions of believers in Christianity, and that he should not dishonor by contemptuous and indirect depreciation that religious system which is universally conceded to be the noblest which the world lias ever witnessed. To counteract the influence of these arguments and insinua- tions of Gibbon, both Milman and Guizot have edited special editions of this History, with abundant notes. The /^tudcnt^s Gibbon, i>repared by AY. Smith, in a similar spirit, is an edition greatly abridged, which is designed for Bchool and college use, and may serve as a convenient manual for review and reference. J. Sismondi has also writ- ten an excellent brief History of the Decline and Fall Chap. XIII.] A Course of Historical Beading, 175 of the Roman Empire. Mil man's History of Latin Chris- tianity is of the highest vahie, and is universally accepted as one of our best standard histories. Gibbon's celebrated history is the connecting bridge by which we pass from ancient to what we are accustomed to call Modern History. A dark chasm intervenes be- tween the two, in which barbarism and disorder struggle with the tendencies to civilization and order, which during a long series of centuries are furnished first and almost exclusively by the Christian Church, itself greatly unen- lightened and corrupt. Others sprung from the literature, art, and free spirit that were introduced and inspired by the revival of classical study, and both at last struck their own roots and developed an independent life in what we call modern Europe. It is not yet given to special stu- dents of history to understand this period perfectly, and the results of what has been satisfactorily established are not accessible in general histories that are adapted to the ordinary reader. Koch's Revolutions of Europe is an ex- panded chronological table, convenient for reference and instruction to those who have patience to use it. A. F. Tytler's 3Iodern History was once used in schools and col- leges, but has now been generally disused. W. C. Taylor's Manual of Modern History is to be preferred to this. Rus- sell's well-known and much used History of Modern Euroj)e may perhaps be set aside by the compilation of Philip Smith. A few manuals translated from the German, as those of J. Von INIUller, Schlosser, Weber, furnish the principal facts, with little or no expansion, illustration, or philosophy. Rev. James White's Eighteen Christian Centuries is WTitten with spirit, and fiirnishes a very convenient and interesting general view of the prominent events of modern history. It is, however, and professes to be, nothing more than a sketch of these events. A sketch of an entirely 176 Booh and Beading. [Chap. XIIL different character is found in Guizot's History of Civiliza- tion in Europe. Tiiis work treats of the great moving in- fluences and agencies which brought order and light into tlie chaos and darkness consequent upon the breaking up of the ancient civilization. Hallam's State of Europe dur- ing the Middle Ages is a work of tlie highest autlioritj. Though exceedingly dry and condensed in its matter and manner, it is indispensable even to a general reader. In this connection we may properly refer to Hallam's Intro- duction to the Literature of Europe, as giving the best ac- count which is accessible of the beginnings and progress of literature from the period of its revival and onward. Froissart's Chronicles carry us back to the fourteenth cen- tury, and give us vivid impressions of the stir and ro- mance of chivalry. Professor G. AY. Greene's Lectures on ike Middle Ages is a useful and trustworthy manual. Leopold Ranke's History of the Popes and History of the Reformation should also be read as supplementary to the exclusively secular histories of those times. It is, of course, written from a Protestant point of view, but is gen- erally accepted as candid and trustworthy. No man can understand the history of Europe who does not make him- self intimately acquainted with the manifold phases and the powerful agency of the Romish Church, and with the relation of the Protestant Reformation to the political ac- tion of the Protestant powers. An historical essay by James Bryce, On the Holy Roman Empire, treats very ably of the fancied successor to the old Roman domi- nion, which at times embraced within its supremacy many of the separate European States, and had the most import- ant influence over the whole field of European history. D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, which is -decided- ly Protestant and positively and earnestly religious, is drawn from original sources and largely biographical. The History of the Crusades by Michaud, from the Chap. XIII.] -^ Coui'se oj Historical Reading. 177 French, and C. Mills' History of the Crusades, should be read here, with Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and The Talisman. If we leave the general history of Eurojie and consider its separate States and countries, we naturally turn first to Italy. In this field the supply for English readers is un- fortunately very meagre. Frederick von Raumer's His- tory of Italy and the Italians, from the German, and J. C. L. S. de Sismondi's History of the Italian Republics, from the French, are works of deservedly high reputation. William Roscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo X. and Life of Lorenzo de Medici are elegantly and carefully written. Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer's Rienzi, or the Last of the Tribunes, and Romola, by " George Eliot " (Mrs. Lewes) are historical novels of great excellence, the last deserving all the high encomiums which it has re- ceived. Sismondi's History of the Literature of the South of Europe is very fall upon the literature of Italy. Dante's great poem should be studied in connection with Italian history. It is with Spain as with Italy. Thei-e is no general history of Spain of very high authority. This is perh ips the less to be regretted, as this history is covered to a con- siderable extent by the histories of the Empire, and by those of special periods and personages. Mrs. Calcott's Pojndar History is said by a competent critic to be as suc- cessful as the materials and the nature of the subject would allow. Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature is of the highest authority, and is very readable. Robertson's well- known History of Charles V., Watson's Philip II, Pres- cott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Washington Irving's Life and Voyages of Columbus, J. L. Motley's Histories of the United Netherlands and of the Rise of the Dutch Republic, supply in a good measure the deficiency of a single general history of this splendid but ill-fated 12 178 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. xiii. country. Xapier's Peninsular War is one of the ablest and most interesting of all military histories. Spain naturally suggests Holland, inasmuch as the for- tunes of the two countries for many memorable years were closely connected. Grattan's History of the Netherlands is a good manual history. Motley's histories, just named, are nearly all that could be desired for the periods of time which they cover. For the periods subsequent to those, the history of Holland and Belgium is treated pretty fully, as it necessarily would be, in the special histories of the great States which are adjacent, and in the general history of Europe, and especially in all histories of the French Revolution. For Germany, the English reader must content himself with Kohlrausch's General History and Menzel's History of Germany and the Germans; both translated from the German. Coxe's History of the House of Austria, and Carlyle's Frederick the Great, are books of the highest authority, the last being deformed by the author's worst faults, which are redeemed by striking excellencies. No book can be compared with this to enable the reader to undei*stand the rise and growth of the now great Prussian power. Schiller's History of the Thirty Years^ War is full of striking and eloquent passages. J. S. C Abbott's Austria is a mere compilation, as it professes to be, but is faitlifully executed. For the history of Russia we are dependent upon a few manuals — among which Abbott's takes a respectable rank. The more scholarly reader must resort to works in French and German. Geijer's History of the Swedes as translated, is unfortu- nately not complete. France is a country of which the history is most closely intertwined with that of England and America. .It ex- cites the warmest and deepest interest in almost every Chap. xiiL] -4 Course of Historical Heading. 179 reader, and deserves careful study. Rev. James White's brief history of this country, and Parke Godwin's as yet incomplete manual, are both good. JMichelct's eloquent sketches are excellent, and JNIartin's elaborate volumes, translated (as yet in part only) from the French, are ad- mirable. The .'Student's History of France is dependent on Martin, and is an excellent compend. Parke Godwin's History of France cannot but be solid and brilliant. Guizot's History of Civilization in France, Sir James Stephens's Lectures on the History of France, Smcdlcy's History of the Reformed Church in France, Smiles's Hiiguenots, The Memoirs of the Duke of Sully and of the Cardinal de Retz, Miss Pardoe's Louis XIV., come in as representatives of a great number of monographs on special topics and periods. Bungener's Preacher and King and Priest and Huguenot, are effective and eloquent portrait- ures of the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV., which attract all classes of readers. G. P. R. James' The Huguenot is trustworthv and useful. The French Revolution, as was natural, has been a very fertile theme for a great num- ber of special histories. Mignet gives a brief and trust- worthy narrative of the principal facts. Carlyle presents the chief incidents and personages in a series of brilliant and impressive pictures. Thiers has wrought up the abundant material at his command into elaborate and ef- fective representations in his Histories of The French Revo- lution and of The Consulate and Empire. Alison's His- tory of Europe from 1789 to 1815 gives the English aristo- cratic view of those convulsions in Europe. The novels of the Erckmann-Chatrian series illustrate the same period. Not a few tracts and treatises on the French Revolution of a general character have been written by writers of the first ability, which it is worth while to read in connection with its history proper — as for example Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, Sir James Mackin- 180 Books and Reading. [Chai- xiit tosh's Vindicice GalUccc, Madame de Stael's Events of the French Revolution, Paine's Rights of Man, Lamartine's Histories, and William Smyth's Lectures. The history of England is the history above all others which is important and interesting to the man of English origin, not merely because it is the history of his own na- tion and lineage, but because it records the development of the liberty and the institutions, of the literature and the commerce which have already exerted the most wide- spread influence upon the human family, and which are destined to exercise a still more extensive influence on future generations. The history of many of the countries of Europe, as of Holland, France, and Prussia, may j^re- sent many single passages of dramatic interest ; they are ennobled by the character and deeds of many heroes in arts and arms ; they have added many single products to hu- man civilization of lasting value and splendid renown. But none of these have achieved so much for man, by as uniform and steady progress in a noble direction, as have England and America. We say England and America, for to the historic student both these countries are one. No other countries have embodied their achievements in political institutions so free, in laws so beneficent and hu- mane, in a public sentiment so efficient, so just, and so wide-reaching, and in a literature so various and so enno- bling. The Englishman who is not proud of the history of his own country is degenerate and low-minded. The American who does not study it ■with filial delight and gratitude is narrow-minded and barbarous. Whatever temporary alienations may have disturbed our sympathy ^'ith the old homestead, or whatever wrongs we may have BuflTcred from the haughty and urmatural jealousy of the old mother, they should not abate in the least from the interest which we feel in that part of the history of Eng- land which is our history as truly as it is hers, or make ua Chap, xrii.] ^ Course of Historical Heading. 181 eon tent to alienate from ourselves the least item of our share in its achievements and its renown. Indeed, were the American disposed to do so, he cannot avoid reading the history of England, if he would understand his own. Her history is a part of the history of his own country. It is essential as an introduction to this history. What we most value in our ancestral spirit was first developed on English soil and in the conflicts which are recorded in English annals. The habitSj the princijjles, and the faith which have moulded this country are English in their origin. The literature which has both formed and ex- pressed our public sentiment has much of it been composed on English soil, and all of it flows in a common stream of seiitimeut that has been derived from Eno-lish hearths and English altars, from English tribunals and English cus- toms. The contributions which we have made to this stream do not discolor its purity or disturb its flow. The early English history is in some respects even more im- portant to the American reader than it is to the resident upon English soil, for the reason that to the home-born and home-bred the traditions and customs, the names of places, the associations that cleave to the very soil, that haunt every common and gather about every church-yard in the old country may in some sense and to a certain de- gree take the place of written history. The American must find all these, or their substitutes, in books and de- scriptions. To him books must supply the place of tradi- tion, and it is in books only that he can interpret the origin of the laws, the government, the church, the opinions, and manners, which make his country to be what it is. The resident of old England smiles at the enthusiasm with which the American visits the old churches and church- yards to which he lias been wonted from \iis infancy. He wonders at the delight with which the stranger explores the rickety houses and the rambling old streets of man}' a 182 BooJcs and Reading. [Chap. xiil city or village which to him are only squalid and offensive. But the same enthusiasm which sends the inteliio-ent American to England to explore the home of his fathers, should lead him to study with care and zeal the records of what his ancestors did and suffered in the same old home. The best History of England for the general reader is Knight's Popidar History in 8 vols. 8vo. It comes down to the death of Prince Albert, and is a history of the peo- ple as well as of courts and the cultivated classes. It is a history of manners and of literature, of the arts and of commerce, as truly as of the politics and the wars of the emjiire. It is not written with the spirit and the power which we find in such writers as Macaulay and Froude. This would not be expected from a writer who acts rather as the gatherer of the results and the conclusions which have been reached by a judicial survey of the movements and strifes of political and religious parties than as the repre- sentative and advocate of any. Its tone is quiet and cool. Its summings up are deliberate and dispassionate. It is writ- ten, indeed, in the interest of freedom, of progress, and of toleration. It sympathizes with the people rather than with their rulers, and with free principles and free institutions, as against the defenders of prerogative and of tradition, but it aims to be neither violent nor one-sided. AVe think, there- fore, that for a single history whicli may serve for constant use and reference in the library, or for frequent reading, it is to be })referred to every other. The PirAorial History of England, in 8 vols. 4to. by the same editor, was prepared earlier, and with less skill in respect to style and form. It is also more overloaded with matter, and is so heavy in style as to be less readable. It terminates with the death of George III. We have already given our opinion of Hume's History as drilightful in style and most readable in manner, but as open to grave objection for its intensely partisan character, as well as for tlie fli[)pant though grace- Chap. XIII.] A Course of Historical Reading. 183 fill insinuations with which it abounds to the disadvantao-e of freedom and Christianity. No diligent and zealous reader of English history, however, would be contented not to be familiar with Hume. Among the special his- torians who treat of separate portions or periods of history we name the brilliant and spirited Macaulay, who always sustains and excites the reader, even if offended by his style, or forced to reject his conclusions; Lingard, who is universally acknowledged to be eloquent and able al- though he writes as the avowed defender of the Catholic Church against the representations of Protestant histori- ans; Lord Mahon, now Earl Stanhope, who always writes with dignity and elegance, and inspires confidence in his candor if he does not transport the reader with en- thusiasm for his brilliancy ; Froude, whose merits as a writer are universally acknowledged, and who has certain- ly set forth in a bold relief, an important class of facts concerning the people of England and the state of the timea, even though his opinions in regard to Henry VIII., rather astonish than convince his readers. Godwin's History of England during the Commonwealth and Catharine Macau- Jay's History of England have not been read so generally in England as they deserved, because of their pronounced Republican sympathies. Sir James Mackintosh's brief and unfinished history is pronounced by all who have read it to be brilliant and philosophical, though its style is better suited to philosophical generalization than it is to flowing narrative. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion is written witli warm symj^athies for the cause of Charles I., but it has the interest which pertains to a narrative com- posed by one who was personally present during many of the stirring scenes of the most memorable movement by which England was ever agitated, and was person- ally acquainted with many of the leading spirits of those times. The Life of Colonel Hutchinson, by his widow. 184 Books and Beading. [Chap. xiii. herself the fairest and the most cultivated of Puritanesses, and the N'airative of his own Life and Times by Richard Baxter, have a similar fresh and personal interest. Both these works are written under sympathies and a bias in a direction opposed to those of Clarendon. Carlyle's Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell is fraught with interest to every honest inquirer for historic truth. It has made the name of Cromwell respected in circles that for generations had named it with contemptuous scorn, and came near to give Cromwell a statue among the rulers of England in the corridor of the Houses of Parliament. The Diary of John Evelyn was written by a devoted Royalist of accom- plished culture and earnest religious character. It stratches through the times of the Commonwealth into those of the Restoration. Pepys's Diary records most fully many of the events which occurred after the Restora- tion, and presents a living picture of those frivolous and shameless times, which is all the more trustworthy and life-like because the writer seems unconscious of the sever- ity of the sentence with which he condemns what he often seems to palliate. If any person has the desire or is laid under the necessity to learn more of the grossness of the shameless court of Charles IL, he may peruse the Memoirs of Count de Grammont. Butler's Iludibras should be read by all means in connection with the history of the Rebellion and the Commonwealth. Burnet's History of his own Time is gossiping and garrulous, but honest. No reader can doubt that the author might easily have been misled by his own prejudices and the misrepresentations of others. As little would it be denied by any one that this history is in the main a faithful picture of the men and scenes which it portrays. Baxter and Burnet write from of)posite points of view. Their histories cover very nearly the same period. They were both credulous and one-sided ; but he must be a bold partisan who would i Chap. XIII.] -^ Couvse of Historical Beading. 185 deny the honesty of either. Lord John Hcrvey's Me- moirs of the Reign of George II., Horace Walpole's Letters (several series,) and his Journal of the Reign of George III., are instructive and entertaining. Guizofs History of the Revolution of 1648, as also Cromwell and Monk, or the Fall of the Republic, are of espe- cial value as giving the opinions upon critical questions of a candid and well-informed Frenchman. Mackintosh's History of the Revolution of 1688, and Fox's Life of James II., are both written by earnest "Whigs and pronounced partisans of the Revolution, and are esteemed of the highest authority. If one reads Ma- caulay, however, it would seem that he might be satisfied in this direction. There is one political history of England which no intelligent reader, especially no intelligent Amer- ican, can possibly dispense with, and that is The Constitu- tional History of England by the judicious and fair-minded Hallam. This history, with the supplement of the same by T. E. May, from 1760 to 1860, is of priceless worth. We would almost say to any reader, if you can read but a single history of England, peruse this above all others, for the light that it sheds upon what is most important to us in respect to the heritage which we have received and derived from our English ancestors. It should never be forgotten that what has made our country what it is was but the devel- opment of the free spirit, the principles, the rights, and the institutions which our fathers brought with them across the seas ; and that the story of the origin and growth of all these is more interesting- and instructive to us than it can be to the Englishman at home. The beginnings of this history of Hallam are to be found in his work on the Mid- dle Ages. Dr. Robert Vaughan's Revolutions of English History are excellent examples of instructive and trust- worthy historical essays. Vaughan's History of England under the Stuarts is worth consulting. Goldwin Smith's 186 Books and Beading. [Chap. xiil little works on Ireland and The Empire are of surpassing interest and value. Burton's History of Scotland is the best. There are not a few readers who are especially attracted to the history of the stirring times of the Commonwealth. Such readers should not overlook Mr. John Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth, his history of The Debates on the Grand Bemonstrance, and his Life of Sir John Eliot. Goldwin Smith's Three English Statesmen will satisfy the most ardent champion of the cause of the Parliament. Burton's Cromtvellian Diary will attract the patient delver into the sources from which history is derived. The com- parative freedom of the press which was so long allowed in England has given birth to a multitude of political pam- phlets, tracts, handbills, lampoons, caricatures, which are invaluable for any zealous and patient student of any of the later periods of English history. Some of these have been collected and reprinted in series, like The Somers Tracts and The Ilarleian 31iscellany. Many others have been gathered by book-collectors, and are found in the largest and best furnished libraries in this country. It is quite aside from our aims to give any titles or references for mat- ter of this kind. Those who have the capacity or taste for such researches usually know what they need and where to find it. Wc only observe that Hansard's Debates, Dods- ley's Annual Register, and the Celebrated State Trials can be readily found and referred to. The collected speeches of the great orators who have been distinguished at the ])ar and in Parliament, and the biographies of the great politi- cal leaders, are the most interesting commentaries and illustrations of the political history of the country. A very convenient and comprehensive work of American author- ship, Goodrich's British Eloquence, contains a good selec- tion of the Vjest speeches of the leading British orators, from Sir John Eliot to Lord Brougham, with carefully prepared sketches of the life and times of each, and many excellent Chap. XIII.] -^ Course of Historical Reading. 1 S7 explanatory foot-notes. This book has been highly com- mended in England, which has produced no manual which deserves to be compared with it for comprehensiveness and careful preparation. The history of the British Empire can scarcely be con- sidered as in any sense completed if Martin's History of the Colonies and Mill's British India are not consulted. Miss Martineau's History of England since the Peace, in 4 vols. 8vo., is very full upon many points of very recent interest, and is a very useful compilation. The earlier history of England may attract the special attention of a limited class of readers. The works of J. M. Kemble are of the highest authority in Anglo-Saxon history, but Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons will meet the wants of most readers, and is easily accessible. Sir Francis Palgrave's England during the Anglo-Saxon Period is also one of the few classical books in this depart- ment. John Thrupp's Anglo-Saxon Home is a monograph of no little interest. Our English Home: its Early History and Progress, is a work of similar character. Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, from the French, is bril- liantly written, though probably in many points more elo- quent and highly colored than solidly true. Freeman','? History of the Norman Conquest is likely to supersede aR other books on this subject. T. Wright's History of Press, Manners, and Sentiments in England during the 3Iiddle Ages is a work of some interest, though not superior to the chapters in the Pictorial History upon these topics. A few among many historical novels may be named which illustrate different periods of English history. E. L. Bulwer's Last of the Barons; Scott's Ivanhoe, Kenil- tvorth, Woodstock, Fortunes of Nigel, Peveril of the Peak, Old 3fortality, etc., etc. ; Kingsley's Hereward and West' ward Ho! Thackeray's Henry Esmond; The Youth of Shakespeare ; W. Shakespeare, His Life and Times ; ISIrs. ( 88 Books and Reading. [Chap. xiil Charles' TJte Draytons and the Daveriants, and On Both Sides of the Sea, are a few of the many tales which are fitted to throw no little light and interest upon diiferent periods and passages of English history. To the same class of works belong The Diary of Lady Willoughhy, The Maiden and 3Iarried Life of Mary Powell, and others. We have already recognized the important truth that the literature of every country must be freely and famil- iarly consulted in order to master its history. This is true in a pre-eminent sense of English history. The freedom of thought and speech which the English people have as- serted for themselves from very early times has expressed itself in an endless variety of productions more or less worthy to be called its literature, the study of which en- ables us to understand the temper of the times. The more we read the great writers of each generation, the more completely can we understand the spirit of the age in which they lived. The more various our reading is, especially of all sorts of ephemeral and miscellaneous publications, the greater will be our satisfaction. Much of the most lively and most effective English writing has been composed upon I)olitlcal themes and occasions. Much of it has been in- spired by the noblest patriotism, in the double form of chivalrous loyalty on the one side, and of stern devotion to the Parliament and the people on the other. Not a little of the most spirited thought and the most effective writing have been incited by party virulence. John Milton, An- drew Marvel, John Dryden, Daniel Defoe, Roger L'Es- trange, Joiiatlian Swift, Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Sir James Mackintosh, Richard Price, Lord Brougham, Samuel Romilly, Sydney Smith, Robert Sonthey, William Cobbett, S. T. Coleridge, John Wilson, T. B. Macaulay, Richard Col)dcn, and hosts of others, have been distin- guished as political writers, and every reader of their writings of necessity makes new additions to his knowledge Chap. XIII.] A Course of Historical Reading. 189 of the events of English history. AVliat we have said in general of the significance of pamphlets and newspapers as interpreters of history, is in a special sense true of the his- tory of England and America. For the American who, not having visited England, would understand the country in many of its most interesting features both physical and so- cial the following may be named, H. Colman's European Life and Manners, Wm. Howitt's Rural Life in Encjland^ J. M. Hopjiin's Old England. We hardly need add, that much of the best and most permanent knowledge of the history of England is to be acquired by the study of the lives of its eminent men. Many of these lives have been written with special care by their personal and familiar friends, or those devoted to the cause or interest in which they were conspicuous. In- dividual men in England have always been prominent in the eye of the public, and have impressed themselves strongly upon every great cause. The lives of John Knox, John Wesley, Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, Garrick, Rey- nolds, Chatham, Pitt, Buxton, Walter Scott, Chalmers, Arnold, Keble; of Romilly, Robert Hall, and Henry Crabb Robinson, are not less valuable as contributions to the general history of the times in which these individuals lived, than as additions to our personal knowledge of in- dividual character. The history of America is limited especially to that of the United States, for reasons which are so obvious as not to require enumeration. Bancroft is very full, and gen- erally very accurate, on the Colonial history of the States, and his history generally is indispensable as a work of re- ference. It is unfortunately written in an ambitious style, which sometimes excessively croAvds the information which it seeks to give, and not infrequently distracts the atten- tion by affected turns of thought and exaggerated declama- tion. It is foolishly demagogical at times, and betrays 190 Books and Bcadiiig. [Chap.xiil also somewhat of the want of earnest faith in the very truths and principles which it ostentatiously parades before the reader. In one word, it is very deficient in the sterling qualities of simplicity of matter and of manner. Hildreth hn'ks neither earnestness nor directness. Unfortunately, this very able writer, though wholesome and whole-souled in his strong attachments to the Federal party, is so obvi- ously bitter in his spirit, and intolerant in his judgments, as to weaken the confidence of his readers in his candor and trustworthiness in respect to all subjects. His history terminates with the first terra of Monroe's administration. He has no sympathy with religious faith or fervor in any form; least of all with the religious aims of the New-Eng- land settlers, and no tolerance for their political systems. He does them scant justice in many other particulars. Palfrev's History of New Encjland is eminently fair, truth- ful, and trustworthy in its representations of its themes, as well as a model for classical condensation and elegance. Burke's History of European Settlements in America is written with spirit and philosophic insight, and Parkman's well known volumes need only be referred to in passing. The history of almost every State in the Union has been written by some well-known writer. Many of these States have also an historical society which has published collec- tirms of old pamphlets and other important documents. The histories of many counties, towns, and churches have been written with more or less fidelity and success. These particular and local histories should receive especial atten- ti. XIV.] Bio(jraphy and Biographical Reading. 205 cares for and comprehends the incidents, the feelings, or tlie characters which biograjjhy describes. The lives of some men present pictures and emotions into which all, even the youngest and the most unreflecting, easily enter. In all cases, however, the interest must depend very large- ly upon the skill and success with which the scenes and characters arc depicted. If the incidents are beyond the capacity of the reader to comprehend, through defect of age, culture, or reflection ; if the feelings- and character are such as he cannot or does not care to study or interpret — then the life cannot be interesting ; it may be positively distasteful. We cannot expect the life of a metaphysician, a philologist, or scientist, to be intelligible or interesting to a child, or to a full-grown man whose knowledge and cul- ture are limited. William Wordsworth was known to his neighbors only as a kind-hearted and frugal neighbor. Sir Walter Scott was esteemed by a large class of well-to- do acquaintances not as the magician of the North, but simply as the Sheriff who gave glorious suppers and was great in his talk of dogs and horses. Burns had a jolly set of associates, who cared more for his good fellowship than for the poetry of his songs. What could any of these friends of Wordsworth, Scott, or Burns know, or what should they care for the events or the characters which make the record of their lives so intensely interesting to the student of literature and the student of man ? That which made their lives so famous, and the story of them so excitino; to a certain class of readers, lav entirelv bevond the range of their comprehension and their sympathy. While then, as w^e have seen, there are not a few bio- graphies wdiich are within the range and comprehension of all classes of readers, there are many others which are reserved for men whose culture takes a special direction, or is of a higher order than is accorded to the many. The first of these which we name are those which are 206 Books and Beading. [Chap. xiv. eminently psychological, i. c, those Mliich in\oive an ana- lysis and record of the inner processes or growth of the soul. There are not a few biographies of which the chief interest arises from and turns upon the changes in the in- ner life which they record. The external incidents of the life may be unexciting, the career of the man may have been very uneventful or very humble ; but the record of tho progress of the man, of his varied experiences of feel- ing, of the development of his intellect, and the changes ill his opinions, of his new views of life, his strengthened faith, his refined culture, and his intellectual or moral achievements, lend an iudescribaljle charm to the narra- tive, and gather around it a circle of excited readers. It is obvious, however, that no man can be interested in such a biography who has never given attention to the pro- gress of his own inner life, or watched the several ste])S by which such progress has been made. Those who recognize the improvement of one's position in life as the great end of living, and who measure progress by the vulgar t^'sts of gain in wealth or power, cannot be expected to understand or care for the inner life of a man who esteems the culture of the intellect, the refinement of the tastes, the victory over the selfish and sensual passions, and the enlargement and confirmation of all right and noble principles, as the most elevated ends to which anv life can be devoted. Those who never look within but always look without, must find the biography of that which is within to be necessarily stupid and uninteresting. But those who care for their own improvement in good habits and noble achievements, and who are accustomed closelv to watch and carefully to judge of their progress or failure in these particulars, may naturally be expected to study with intense and wakeful interest the inner record of any noble life, pro- vided the story be told with requisite skill. Those who include moral culture and religious growth in their concep- Chap. XIV.] Biography and Biograplucal Reading. 207 tiou of true progress, will follow with a lively interest any such record which is sincere, provided the subject of it be otherwise so gifted as to attract the attention, or the story be told in such a way as to satisfy a pure and simple taste. Even the absence of any special gifts of nature or attain- ments of culture will often be abundantly compensated by pure aspirations and honast endeavors. The record of an honest and unlettered mind, if unskillfully made, like the life of John Wool man, the Quaker, can be so elevated by simple purity of heart, or like the life of John Bunyan, can be so irradiated by flashes of seraphic fire, as successfully to vindicate the essential superiority of moral and religious greatness over greatness of every other sort. But no gifts of genius in the subject or skill of portraiture in the writer can or ought to compensate for the absence of moral earnest- ness in a professedly ethical biography, or for the presence of the debasing alloy of Pharisaism and cant in a profess- edly religious life. Hypocrisy is always hollow; Pharisa- ism and alfectation are invariably offensive, in proportion to the elevation of the ideals to which they pretend to rise, and the purity of the saintliness which they profess to imi- tate. Hence, while a good biography of a truly good man is the best and often the most inspiring of all biographies, if it be written with tolerable skill ; an inflated, overstrained and laudatory life of a man who was very imperfectly or defectively good, is often one of the most offensive and depressing of books. The temptation to error in the form of overdoing in the quantity and quality of moral and religious biography is ex- ceedingly strong. The religious public is frightfully inun- dated with die lives of persons whose lives had better not have been written, or if written, would better have been privately printed. It is the dictate of friendship to magni- fy the virtues of the departed, and to fail to notice their de- fects, when we look at either through the tears which we 208 Books and Reading. [Chap. XI v. weep at their graves ; but no man is, for such a reason, justitieil in setting forth the lite of 9 pej-son of merely com- monplace goodness, simply because he was good. While every good life is far more elo(|Ucnt and winning in the circle which it illumines than any book can be, those lives only deserve to be brought before the public in a book, which had characteristics sufficiently uncommon to make the goodness specially attractive when it is portrayed. Second. — The lives which we have called psychological are usually most successfully written in greater or less part by the persons themselves who were the subjects of them — in part by their recorded conversations, their diaries and letters, or wholly in formal autobiographies. Hence the most satisfactory lives of really superior men are made up of their reported sayings, their private journals, and ex- tracts from their correspondence, set in a framework of ex- planatory history. BoBivelVs Life of Dr. Johnson is, for two reasons, the best example of a life made up of sayings and conversations. The sayings of Johnson were well worth reporting for their intrinsic interest and value, or for the manner in which they were expressed, and Johnson had an admiring Boswell always at hand to report them. It has of late become much the fashion to make up the lives of significant men very largely from their journals and their letters. Some of the most instructive and delightful biograjjhics of modern times are of this class; such as those of Robert Burns, Charles Lamb, Robert Soiithey, John Sterling, Walter Scott, John Wilson, Thomas Chalmers, Samuel Romilly, John Foster, Dr. Thomas Arnold; of Charlotte Bronte, J. Bhmco White, Thomas Fowell Bux- Um, Edward Irving, Richard AVhately, B. G. Niebuhr, Frederick Perthes, John Keble, Frederick W. Robertson, Henry Crabb Robinson, Baron Bunsen, Theodore Parker, xMargaret Fuller, Horace Mann, and Lyman Beecher. In all these instances the persons named were more or Chap. XIV.] Biography and Biographical Reading. 209 les.s distinguished for public and literary activity. This fact suggests the remark that the lives of this class of persons are generally more instructive and interesting than those of any other. The reason certainly cannot be that their intellects were superior, or their principles were more elevated ; that their feelings and tastes were more refined, or their influ- ence was more commanding than were those of others whose lives remain wholly unwritten. It is rather that such men more frequently leave behind them copious mate- rials of this sort. But even this is not universally the case. It is only men who write easily, and of such men only here and there one who leaves behind him a journal or diary in which he notes events as they occur, or records his views in regard to them, or his own principles, feelings, and aims. Many journals which are extended and copious are chiefly objective, and fail to express the individuality of the man, and to manifest his inmost feelings and the springs of his character. Very many really able and communicative men fail to write letters with that fullness and freedom which should satisfy a biographer. But when all these conditions are present, when the character or career is worth describing, and the character and aims are copiously expressed by the individual himself, then we have the con- ditions of such a life as Lockhart's Life of Scott, or Stan- ley's Life of Arnold, or the Lives of B. G. Niebuhr and Frederick Perthes, of Thomas Fowell Buxton, and the Rev. F. W. Robertson. The lives of men devoted to science or letters are spe- cially interesting for another reason. Such men reflect the sentiments of their times more completely and vividly than men of any other class. In great part they form these sentiments, or are the central points around whicK they gather. They give to these sentiments a concrete and personal interest, and cause the times to revive and live before the eyes of the reader. They are very often 210 Boohs and Beading. [Chap.xiv. pyruliolic and representative men — men who either origi- nate or impersonate some striking tendency of thouglit or feeling. At all events, they record in their own diaries and lettei'S more or less fully, by allusion or formal dis- cussion, the phases of thought and feeling which prevail in the community, and so prese-rve fresh and living pic- tures of transient and momentary events. These pictures are usually colored with the hues of their own personal feelings. They are warm with love, clouded by displea- sure, or disturbed by anxiety or terror. English lit- erature has of late been greatly enriched with many bio- graphies of this class, of the choicest description — biogra- phies interesting from the excellence of the character which they record, from the variety of incidents which they narrate, from the exciting phases of prevailing thought and feeling which they reflect, and from the in- sight Mhich they open into the inner springs .and motives cf the persons described. Autobiographies have for many, not to say for most per- sons, a peculiar charm. They do not always give so com- plete a picture of the inner life as we desire, nor do they reveal so fully what was characteristic of the man as we hope to discover when we begin to read ; but they almost uniformly delight the student of human nature, by their honest and natf detail of what we are more or less curious to know. They are usually brief, almost every writer of his own life being apparently overcome with irresistible modesty when lie attempts to introduce to the great public his comparatively humble self. They are often unfinished, the writer getting on very comfortably with the recollec- tions of his childhood and the experiences and feelings of his early days, but growing suddenly timid as he is o})]iged to look in the face the follies, and perhaps the sins, of his later life, and not liking always to speak so freely of others, whether dead or living, as would be necessary Chap. XIV.] Biography and Biographical Reading. 211 should ho speak freely of himself It is worthy of notice how many brief sketches of this sort are suddenly broken off, as if the writer had become disgusted with thinking and talkinir about himself, and had left for his children a mere fragment, where they expected and longed for a full and detailed narrative of his entire life. We have, how- ever, a few autobiographies that are tolerably complete, and they are all in their way fraught with interest. The life of Franklin is attractive for many reasons; but pre- eminently because it was M^ritten by himself, and becausc- he tells a story which of itself is fitted to interest every poor boy who is beginning life, with a simplicity and di- rectness which enlists the sympathies and holds the atten- tion of every reader. No book has been more popular in our country than this. None has exerted a more powerful influence, not always of unmixed good. Tried by the more elevated standard of either pagan or Christian moral- ity, it is often defective. The persistent self-seeking which crops out so offensively now and then, and the absence of faith in the more generous sentiments, as well as the sar- castic condescension with which Franklin treats revealed religion, are not always healthful. They have lowered the tone and weakened the faith and the principles of net a few. But with all these abatements its attractions are at this moment as fresh as at the first. It has in these days the additional merit of giving a vivid picture of sim- ple times forever gone by, as well as of unfolding the in- ner movements of a very unique personality. For the same reason that the apprentice and clerk read Franklin with special interest, the scholar never tires of reading Gib- son's Memoirs of my own Life and Writings, or the brief autobiographies of Hume, Voltaire, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury. The lovers of excitement and adventure will return again and again to the autobiographies of Cellini, Vidocq,J. Wolfe Tone, and IiIadajueduBarri. These auto- 212 Bools and Readinq. [Chap. xiv. biographies, with many others, are fouii'A in what professes to be a Collection of the most Interesting and Amusing Livei ever published, tvritten l)y the parties themselves. London: 1823-1832. This collection certainly contains a very great variety of very amusing and instructive reading. The fragments of autobiography which often precede the more elaborate lives of prominent men are almost invariably read and re-read with careful attention. "SVe cannot think that biography is especially uninterest- ing and unattractive. On the other hand, we believe that Ihe M-ant of interest in any life or class of lives must arise ii-om one or more of three prominent causes — a want of rapacity to comprehend the character described — a want of rs-mpathy with his aims and principles, or some defect of skill in the biographer. "While, as we have seen, there are some biographies which interest both the young and the old, the uncultured and the refined, there is a very great number which, from the nature of the case, can only in- terest a few — according as they understand or care for the stvle of man which the life describes. It is therefore im- possible to furnish any but the most general rules for the selection of this class of books — and it is, for this reason, less easy to select any list which may be called the best. Wha^ are the best for one age, or one degree and kind of culture, may be wholly unsuited for another. There is no class of reading which is ethically more profitable than this. " When I am sick of the world in ciiun^h and state, in solitude and in society," says a shaq> and stern thinker, "I turn for relief to the portraits of two saintly heroes whi(;h hang in my library, and say to myself. These two were honest and noble men, and they teach me never to despair of mankind or of myself." In like man- ner there is nothing so quickening and elevating to the generous and high-minded as to read a few pages in the Diogra])hy of one who has been a prince among men for Chap. XIV.] Biography and Biographical Reading. 213 greatness and goodness combined, especially if his life and character are largely interpreted by himself. " Xo young man can rise from the perusal of such lives as those of Bux- ton and Arnold without feeling his mind and heart made better, and his best resolves invigorated." "Horner says of the life of Sir Matthew Hale, that it filled him with enthusiasm; and of Condorcet's Eloge of Haller, '1. never rise from the account of such men Vvitliout a thrilling pal- pitation about me, which I know not whether I should call admiration, ambition, or despair.' " A snatch of such read- ing is like the injection of fresh and generous blood into the veins, or the drinking a generous and refreshing draught to one who is thirsty and faint, or the breathing copiously of a highly oxygenated atmosphere. That young man or young lady is to be congratulated who has his or her favor- ite biographies to which he or she habitually turns and re- turns — if, indeed, they present noble ideals. The lives of Dr. Arnold and of F. W. Robertson have done more for the quickening and encouragement of Christian culture and of Christian nobleness in the present generation, than the personal influence of the two men when living — inspiring as were the teaching and intercourse of the one, and the preaching and conversation of the other. In no sense is it so eminently true, that the good which men do lives after them, as when the spirit and essence of their lives are em- balmed in a worthy biography. "More sweet than odors caught by him who sails Near spicy shores of Araby the blest, A thousand times more cxquisitclj' sweet. The freights of holy feeling which we meet In thoughtful moments, wafted l)y the gales From fields where good men walk or bowers wherein they rest." But how is it with the evil which bad men do ? Is not this equally powerful to ensnare and corrupt? To this we reply, such evil is not often so frankly and fully exposed. 214 Booh and Reading. [Chap. xiv and uerrr by themselves ; and herein is very strikingly il- histrat'^Hi the homage which vice pays to virtue. It is rare tliat a bad man confesses to the world in his letters how bad he is, unless he does it with repentance and shame. It is rarer even that a man writes down in his diary, as an eminent scholar was once in the habit of doing, '' This day read the Antigone of Sophocles, after which I was desper- ately drunk." Or if a man occasionally forgets decency in his letters, and self-respect in his diary, it is rare that his biographer will spread out such revolting details for the perusal of the public. If he is forced to allude to the sins or the foibles of his hero, he usually endeavors to palliate Qud excuse them. No libertine or drunkard, no unbeliever in duty or denier of God, ever shines attractively in an honestly written life, or inspires his readers with a desire to be like him. But while the lives of bad or imperfect men do not attract, they very often warn. In the realm of biography the saying is emphatically fulfilled, " The name of the wicked shall rot." The memory of the wicked does rot, either in the withering neglect of succeeding gen- erations, to which it is so often doomed, or inihc putres- cent phosphorescence at whose lurid light posterity starts and shudders. In view of these considerations, we advise for all those who have leisure and opportunity a large and liberal read- ing of biography. AVe advise that tlic taste for this de- scription of reading should be fostered. If fostered, it cer- tainly will grow more active and intense. The study of biography is the study of man. A generous familiarity with the lives of men of all sorts of opinions tends to lib- eralize the feelings and to enlarge the understanding. Its influence in this r(!gard is like tliat of a very extended and varied acrpiaintanceship with living men. Nor need we fear to studv the lives or to converse with (he characters of men from whom we differ very widely in opinions, ol Chap. XIV.] Biography and Biographical Reading. 215 diverge very materially in our sympathies. If our own prineij^les are fixed, we shall find sufficient strength and inspiration from the lives of" the men with whom we agree in opinions and character to enable us to withstand, as far as we ought to desire, any counter-influence from the lives of those with whose ojiinions we do not entirely sympa- thize. No man of liberal culture can afford to be without — no such person ought to desire to be wholly without — • the liberalizing influence which comes from a study of the lives of men of the greatest variety of opinions and charac- ters. On the other hand, no man whose opinions are fixed or whose principles are earnest can fail to have his favorite biographies, his lives of men most loved and honored, to which he continually resorts — it may be to enjoy with them a few moments' converse in their most elevated moods, or perhaps to rise by their aid to those noble posi- tions which the soul is more competent to gain for an hour than to keep for a day. Of biographical reading we may say, that the man who has no heroes among the truly noble of the earth, must have either a sordid or a conceited spirit. He must be too ig- noble to admire that which is really above himself, or must be too satisfied with himself to care to concern him- self with the characters or the claims of others. He who reverences and admires no one of the great and good of other times, is likely to reverence and admire the man who is least worthy of honor and admiration, and that is him- eelf, — and to bring to his altar an unshared and solitary worship. Two rules may serve in the selection and judgment of biographies. The first is, "see that the man whose life you would read had a marked and distinctive character." The second is, " see that this character be set forth with truthfulness and skill." A man with small individuality, either of gifts or of goodness, is not entitled to have his 216 ^ooJcs and Reading. [Chap. xiv. life written, and certainly has no claim that his life should be read. The circumstance that he held a high position in life, or attracted honor or attention from his wealth or rank or office, is of the slightest possible significance to those who come after him, provided there was nothing in his genius, his industry, or his goodness whieli entitles him to the consideration of others. Mere goodness which is commonplace, however useful and honorable in the liv- ing, cannot shine as an example through a written life, un- less there was something distinctive enough to attract the attention and to impress the feelings of lookers-on. The number of stupid biographies Avhich encumber our libra- ries, of lords and generals and bishops, and of clergymen and physicians and law/ers who were simply significant from their position, is something frightful to contemplate. Now and then they fill several bulky volumes. They are glanced at by a limited circle, and stand upon the shelves of our libraries, to be consulted by an antiquarian or a genealogist, and this is all the service which they render. It is not enough, however, that the subject of the life should have had something in his character that was so distinctive as to be worth recording. The life should be skilfully set forth by his biographer. The power of seiz- ing tlie individual characteristics by nice analysis, or of interpreting them by sagacious generalizations, does not " come by nature " to all biographers. The gift of select- ing from conversations and correspondence what is worth preserving is not possessed — certainly it is not exercised, by all. To narrate with method and clearness, and also with spirit and life, is not so easy to a writer as it is plea- Bant to the reader. Tlie following protest, directed against the indiscrimi- nate i)ublication of an author's remains, is equally appro- priate to those lumbering biographies in which little wise eelection rules : — Chap, XIV.] Biography and Biographical Reading. 217 " The imperfect thing or thought, The fervid ycastincss of j'outh, The dubious doubt, the twilight truth, The work that for the passing day was wrought, The schemes that came to naught, " The sketch half-way '(wixt verse and prose, That mocks the finished picture true, The splinters whence the statue grew, The scaffolding 'neath which the palace rose^ The vague, abortive throes, "And crudities of joy or gloom :— In kind oblivion let them be ! Nor has the dead worse foe than he Who rakes these sweepings of the artist's room. And piles them on his tomb." Whether a particular biography will meet the condi- tions prescribed must be left, in most cases, to the judgment of the reader himself. To attempt to make a selection from the very rich and copious library of works of this class with which English literature abounds, would be diffi- cult, if not impracticable, within our limits. We must ask the reader to accept in its place the classification which we have made, and the illustrative examples which we have cited under its several heads. We add that brief biographical sketches of eminent personages may be found in any good Encyclopedia. Some of these have been prepared with great care by very able writers. Biographical Dictionaries also abound. Among these may be named the two most recently issued, as very convenient and carefully prepared. Lippincott's Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and 3Iy^ thology. By J. Thomas. 2 vols, and A Brief Biographical Dictionary, compiled and arranged by Rev. Charles Hole- Am. ed. by William A. Wheeler. The last gives only the names, profession, etc., with dates of death and birth. CHAPTER XV. NOVELS AND NOVEL-READING. From History and Biography to Fiction and Poetry the transition is natural and easy. It is none other than from true to what Lord Bacon calls " feigned history " — the one being the narration of events which have iictually occurred, the other the narration of events which •ere only supposed to have taken place. The form of the two VI the same • the matter is diiferent. The stort/ which the Dovelist and poet narrate would be history if what is nar- rated had actually taken place. But the end in both cases always is or always should be the same — i. c, the com- munication of truth ; not always what we call real truth in the sense of actual or literal occurrences, but always real tvuth in the sense of those relations and impressions which are real in that import whicli is most comprehensive and profound. Whenever the imagination, by its creations of incidents and draper}'-, can assert or impress truth of this kind more effectually than the memory by its transcripts from reality, then is it at liberty to do so, provided it does not disturb the relations of truth to veracity. There are other ends for which the truth is conveyed than the ends of instruction and science. It may often be largely for ends of amusement; but it is truth nevertheless. The mirror of the imagination must always reflect nature, though with en- larged and altered proportions. The criterion of every good work of imagination is well expressed by the dcscrij)tion of th*; Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney as a work of which " the invention is wholly spun out of the phansie, but conforma- ble to the possibilitie of truth in all particulars.'' 218 Chap. XV.] Novels and Novel-Reading. 219 "VVe have already defended works of imagination I'rora ignorant and prejudiced objections. We have also sought to show that the highest advantage which can 'come of literature and reading of all kinds is the service which they render to the imagination, as they enrich it with multiform and varied images of beauty, elevate it by no- ble associations, and inspire it with pure emotions. We sliall neither repeat nor expand our argument in vin- dication of Fiction and Poetry. If anything needs to be added, it will naturally present itself in our suggestions concerning the wise and pi-ofitable use of both. Prose Fiction is of comparatively recent growth in Eng- lish literature. It is withiu the present century that it has attained its gigantic proportions. Our grandmothers read Hasselas, The Vicar of Wakefield, Sir CJiarles Grandison, The Castle of Otranto, and a few other tales. Some of our grandfathers allowed themselves now and then the entertainment of Tom Jones, Humphrey Clinker, and Tristram Shandy. There are thousands of their grandchildren who would be puzzled to tell what novels they have read, or to recite the names of their authors — both are so numerous. Two novels a week is the smallest number that is produced as an average from the British press, if we say nothing of the novels translated from the French and German ; and the names of all the leading popular novelists it would be difficult for even the most desperate and practised novel-reader to recount. The year 1814, in which Waverley was published, ushered in the new period of English, and, we may say, of modern fic- tion, and since that time the number and variety of novels has been steadily increasing. The writing of Fiction has been widened and enriched as an art, and the reading of Fiction has been more distinctly recognized and worthily appreciated as a means of culture and a source of enjoy- ment. Juvenile Fiction has of late been increased to 220 Books and Reading. [Chap. xv. well nigh enormous dimensions. The writing of novels has become one of the regular professions ; the reading of novels is the chief occupation of a certain class of persons who are exempt from the ordinary claims of business or study, and even the criticism of novels has become a specialty — almost as much as the criticism of art or music. The world of Fiction in many minds overbears and out' weighs the world of reality. To not a few, the creations of the imagination are more interesting and absorbing than tliose of real life. With many })ersons the successful conduct of a plot excites more interest and elicits a more active criticism than the direction of a campaign, and the de- velopment of a fictitious character is watched with as keen an interest as the life and fortunes of a great general or an eminent statesman. The -issue of a tangled story is followed more anxiously than the result of an exciting criminal trial, or a closely contested political canvass. Prof. David Masson, in his very able and readable work on British Novelists, divides British novels, since Scott's appearance in the field, into thirteen classes, as fol- lows : 1. The Novel of Scottish Life and Manners; 2. The Kovel of Irish Life and Manners; 3. The Novel of Eng- lish Life and Manners; 4. The Fashionable Novel; 5. The Illustrious Criminal Novel ; 6. The Traveler's Novel ; 7. The Novel of American ISIanners and Society ; 8. The Novel of Eastern Manners and Society ; 9 and 10. The Military and Naval Novel ; 11. The Novel of Super- natural Phantasy; 12. The Art and Culture Novel; 13. The Historical Novel. This claasification cannot be accepted as exhaustive, but it may serve to imjiress the reader with the variety of topics that are treated in modern novels, as well as be convenient for reference and illustration. A broader and simpler classifif-ation is that which divides all novels into two groups, according as they are more or less conspicuously Chap, xv.i Novels and Novel-Iieuding, 221 Novels of Incident or Novels of Character, i. e., according as they are more or less occupied with pictures to the ob- jective phantasy, or as they present strongly mamed and strikinj2;ly individualized characters. There are no novels of incident in which various personages do not figure largely, but there is only now and then one in which these personages have the relief and reality of living men and women, with a distinct personal existence and a strongly marked individuality. On the other hand, there are no novels of character in which there is not more or less of a story or plot. But the interest in all novels which deserve to be so-called, turns invariably upon the illustration or the development of character. Novels of incident are especially fitted for the young, because their tastes are eminently ob- jective. They like an exciting and picturesque story, no matter how grotesque and improbable it may be. Persons are as real and objective to them as incidents and events. It is what these do and suffer for which their readers care, not what they are, or how their characters are expanded or made known. AVith the analysis cf their motives, their inner conflicts of feeling, and the developments or changes of their character, their readers have little concern. The excitement of the story is the chief attraction, and if the story is exciting, they neither care nor inquire whether the events are jn-obable or possible, or whether the characters are natural or true. Nor are they fastidious in respect to either imagery or style. Indeed, provided the imagery is bold, they do not care if it be coarse and highly-colored ; and provided the language be strong and passionate, they do not mind if it be declamatory and raving. The taste of young peojile in respect to novels is very like their taste for food. They do not totally reject the more delicate fruits and dishes,, but they swallow them without discrimi- nation, and without appreciating their exquisite flavor. But the stronger and coarser edibles they devour not only 222 Books and Reading. [Chap. xv. with no offence, but often ^vith an astonishing relish, as unripe apples, squash-like melons, rank soups, and ranker meats. They are not insensible to Rohinson Crusoe and the Pllgrvns Progress, and the manifold delicatesses of modern fiction; but they do not" see the difference between these and the Pirate's Oion Book, Jack Sheppard, Beadle's Dime Novels, and the sensational stories which inflate the English language till it almost bursts with the expansion, and whose heroes scream out all the possible varieties of hysterical passion. There is nothing which is more amazin2 liOoJcs and Reading. [Chai>. xv. becomes almost an intellectual idiot or an effeminate Aveak- ling by living exclusively upon the enfeebling swash or the poisoned stinmlants that are sold so readily under the title of tales and novels. An apprenticeship at a reform school in literature, with a spare diet of statistics, and a hard Led of mathematical problems, and the simple beverage of plain narrative, is much needed for tlie recovery of such inane and half-demented mortals. \Miy, then, it may be asked, should we read novels at all ? Why not set them aside altogether, especially as the quantity of light literature of other descriptions is so great, and the quality of it is constantly improving ? These ques- tions are certainly fair questions, and merit answers as ex - plicit and as fair. AVe have to answer first : The reading of fiction furnishes a kind of amusement and relaxation which no other reading can give. There can be no ques- tion that this description of " feigned history serveth and conferreth to delectation^ No intellectual enjoyment is so delightful as this. No withdrawment from one's customary occupations and associations is so complete as that which a good novel effects; no breaking up of the cares and the sorrows, of the wearin(!ss and the fears of the ordinary life is so entire as that which an absorption in its scenes and an interest in its personages so easily accom- plishes. That this indulgence is attended with special dan- gers and i)eculiar temptations we cannot deny ; but that the anmsement and relaxation are innocent and desirable, every raticmal man will acknowledge. Many of the bravest workers for God and man have found this sort of relaxation to be the most complete?, and have used it with the happiest results. "Wliy it should be so is not diffi- cult to discern. Do we delight in a vacant hour to survey a quiet nook, a placid river, a luxuriant valley, or an am- ple and varied panorama? We open a novel, and one scene after another rises before the mental vision more raj)idly Chap. XV.] Novels and Novel- Reading. 233 and in quicker succession than any which nature can pre- sent. Does it rest the brain because it amuses the mind to gaze upon a crowded street, and to watch the motley and brilliant succession of the passers-by? But over the pic- tured page of animated fiction, one group follows after another of men and women, of children and youth, in country and town, crushing and jostling in the alleys and thoroughflxrcs of the city, lounging upon the open lawn, or sauntering along the shaded lanes of the country. Tourna- ments, races, hunting courses, fishing parties, rushing cavalry, marching infantry, gangs of robbers, stealthy as- sassins, a cavalcade of knights, a tribe of Bedouins, a gang of gipsies, a band of pirates, pass and repass in swift suc- cession before the mind's eye. Does it refresh because it excites us in a new direction to tell and hear the news of our neighbors, or of the last fire, shipwreck, or battle? But it refreshes us more, because it excites us less painful- ly, to fi)llow the fortunes of a few imaginary beings with whom the novelist acquaints us completely, and in M'hom he contrives to interest us profoundly, — as they pass from sunlight to shade, and from shade to sunlight, till, in our anxious or our curious sympathy for them, we lose for the hour all thought and care even for our personal joys and sorrows. The novel instructs as well as amuses the reader, and it instructs him by methods and in directions in which no other reading can. It instructs him in History, as has already been explained in our remarks upon the historical novel. It instructs him in respect to scenery as no traveler ever does, and as few travelers would dare to attempt. The pictures of the oriental plain, jungle, and forest ; of the Irish bog, pass, and shieling ; of the Scottish heath, loch, and manse, and of the English lawn, cottage, and rectory ; of hedge-rows and oak vistas, of clumps of yew and game preserves ; of the American prairie, forest, and 234 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. xv. the settler's clearing and log cabin ; of the Southern negro quarters, rich fields, and hunting grounds, which we find in countless novels, are invaluable as substitutes for views of those scenes which we cannot receive by the eye, and as reminders of those which we have actually seen. No man with a moderate amount of curiosity can well afford to dis- pense with such pictures. The cultivated person whose curiosity has not yet been awakened, may need, most of all, that this curiosity should be excited in ways which, and for ends in respect to which, there can be no substitute for the novel. The novel instructs in respect to the domestic and social life of other countries, or grades of life in our own country to which few readere can have direct access, and fewer, if they have such access, can observe and judge of fully. The reader of Scott and Wilson, of Hogg and Macdonald, learns to understand and to sympathize with Scottish life and manners, and to appreciate the Scottish character, as he could not possibly do in any other method. In a similar way Lever and Lover have made it possible for us to understand Ireland and the Irish, in their blunders and their genius ; their frugality and their improvidence ; their wit and their folly; their beauty and their squalor, on manifold more sides of their character than any personal obser\'ation or reports of fact or history could qualify us to know and love them. Bulwer and George Eliot, Mrs. Gaskell and Trolloj)e, Dickens and Thackeray, enable the foreigner to understand somewhat of the secret of English society, with its singular contradictions of conventionality and independence, of suspicion and confidence, of bland- ness and gruffness. They even introduce us to the sacred privacy of the English home, without the doubtful ex- periment of letters of introduction, or the more questionable imj)udence of thrusting open the door. Does not every English reader of the tales of Miss Bremer and Miss Chap. XV.] Novels and Novel- Reading. 235 Carlin feel that he owes to them obligations of gratitude which he cannot repay for the fresh and delightful pic- tures of Swedish manners and Swedish life with which their tales abound? Have not Freytag, Tautphoeus, and Auerbach and Spielhagen, done the same for German life ? and have not Balzac, Paul de Kock, George Sand, Eugene Sue, Alexander Dumas, and Victor Hugo taught their readers more of the worst side of life in Paris and in France than it is desirable or healthful for many of these readers to learn? Of Italian life and manners, Manzoni and Ruffini and T. A. Trollope give us delightful pictures. That the wise reading of novels is fitted to enlarge our acquaintance with human nature, and in this way to give the most valuable instruction, is sufficiently obvious. It invites, and often compels us to enter into the thoughts and feelings, and to share in the experiences of men and women most remote from our personal observation or our possible acquaintance. It opens to us the heart of the skeptic in his torments of doubt and his gropings after cer- tainty. It makes us watch the tempted man as he main- tains his doubtful step along the narrow and swaying bridge that overhangs the fearful gulf, or to recoil with horror as he makes the desperate plunge. It opens to our inspection the inner being of the condemned. It enables us to over- hear the fearful soliloquies of the cell, and the procession that leads to the scaffold. In manifold methods does it enlarge our knowledge, enlighten our personal experience, and widen and make yielding our sympathies. In short, it lets us into a wide range of human experiences, under the greatest possible variety of conditions, of excitements, and of issues. It places at our service the results of the sharp observation, the subtle analysis, the earnest sympathies, and the skilful interpretations of many of the most gifted stu- dents of humanity, who present the products of their obser- vation and their skill in a form best fitted to attract the 236 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. xy, attention of the unreflecting, and to excite the curiosity of the listless — the form of an exciting and artistic tale. If the representations are often too extreme and too highly colored to correspond to the observations and ex}>eriences of fact, ^nd if it may reasonably be objected that for tliis reason they are actually misleading as representations of human nature as it is, it cannot be charged that they mis- represent the ideal possibilities of human nature ; that they either overpaint human nature as it is desirable it should be in its good, or degrade its evil lower than it is conceiva- ble it should sink. If cither happen, it does not follow that the most important results of substantial truths are not nttained. If stronger impressions concerning the evil or the good of human nature are thereby achieved than could possibly be reached in any other way, then the mind is taught the most essential truth, while the imagination is enriciicd in respect to the range and variety of conceivable or ideal human experiences. The objection may sometimes hold good against novels of incident, that they excite mischievous expectations of ex- traordinary turns of fortune, and beget, even in sober and sensil)le people, a romantic and dreamy habit of mind in resi)ect to the chances of success in life, and the conditions by which it is to be achieved. Nothing too severe can be said against the mischievous influence of a certain class of so-called romantic stories upon uncertain, shuffling, indo-. lent, and l)roo(lii)g sort of people, with feeble energies and strong self-indulgence. It is not such novels that we com- mend, but novels of character. A similar objection might Ihb urged against the influence of novels of the latter class — that they encourage extravagant views of what a person may become in character, or of what he may demand of his associates or expect from his fellow-men. If such a ten- dency should now and then be observed, we may set off against it the very desirable and elevating influence in the CHAr. XV.] Novels and Novel-Reading. 237 other (lirectioD, which comes from elevated ideals of char- acter in ourselves and in others. J f our conceptions of character be correct as to their principles or elements, they cannot be too elevated or noble in the scale after which they are adjusted. They should be human and practical and ethical and Christian, but they cannot be too unselfish or aspiring. The sordid, the mean, and the prosaic ; the selfish, the trickish, and the bullying; the uncultivated, the sensual, and the vile, are already so rampant and unblush- ing in our religion, our politics, our literature, and our society, that there is little danger from excess in literature in the direction of the nobly romantic and the ideal. What- ever fiction can contribute to quicken and elevate the ima- gination, so far as its ideals and estimates of character are concerned, is only actual and positive gain to the sum of good influences; and it is a gain of a kind which cannot easily be spared. It is not a triv^ial advantage of the novel reading of our day that it suggests elevated and quickening topics for con- versation. This advantage is not a trivial one, when we reflect that conversation too readily degenerates into gos- siping personalities or unmeaning twaddle about the weather, or the last insignificant occurrence that happ'cns to interest any person present. For young persons espe- cially it is of no little service to have topics at hand that are fruitful of thought, that awaken .a warm interest and call out positive opinions. The last new novel is sug- gestive in all these directions. It stimulates to the analysis of its characters and the criticism of its plot, and calls out likings and dislikings, which the holders of either are for- ward to assert and defend. These opinions, and the rea- sons by which they are defended, invariably turn upon the observations of actual life, characters and manner which the parties may have made, and in this way stimulate to ac- tivity of thought and independence of judgment. Even if 238 Booh and Reading. [Chap. xv. tlie novel is second-rate, the incidents unnatural, and the eharactei*s extravagant, the effect of discussing these is usually good. Xovel-reading is a powerful educating in- fluence in whatever aspect it is regarded, and thougli it may often educate to evil, its power to stimulate from bar- renness and frivolity should never be overlooked. Having already answered the two questions, what novels we should read, and ichy, it may not be amiss to inquire how we should read them. What we have already said upon the general topic of how we ought to read all books, Avill apply with pre-eminent propriety to the reading of novels, because there is no description of reading in which tliere is greater exposure to the worst of habits. Coleridge has pungently enough described these habits : " As to the devotees of circulating libraries, I dare not compliment their pass-time, or rather kill-time, with the name of read- inrj. Call it rather a sort of beggarly day-dreaming, dur- ing which the mind of the dreamer furnishes for itself nothing but laziness and a little mawkish sensibility, while the whole materiel and imagery of the dose is supplied ah extra by a sort of mental camera obscura manufactured at the printing-office, which pro tempore fixes, reflects, and transmits the moving phantasms of one's own delirium, so as to people the barrenness of an hundred other brains afflicted with the same trance or suspension of all common sense and all definite purpose. We should, therefore, trans- fer this species of amusement .... from the genus read- inf/ to that comprehensive class characterized by the power of contrary, yet coexisting, propensities of human nature, namely, indulgence of sloth and hatred of vacancy. In mldition to novels and tales of chivalry in prose or rhyme (by which la.st I mean neither rhythm nor metre) this genus comprises as its species, gaming, swinging or swaying on a chain or gate, spitting over a bridge, smoking, snuff-taking, tele-i-tete quarrels after dinner between husband and wife, Chap. XV.] Novels and Novel-Reading. 239 conning, word by word, all the advertisements of the Daily Advertiser in a public-house on a rainy day, etc., etc." These remarks are pointed and explicit as to hoiv not to read novels, and the reader can very easily infer by the rule of contraries how to read them. They also forcibly suggest the inquiries — " What is the metiiod after which children read the majority of the books called tales and stories, which make up so large a share of juvenile and Sunday-school libraries ? What is the aver- age value of the great mass of 'juvenile ' books which are prepared by the score every month to quicken the intellect and elevate the imaginations of the rising generation? Are not the most of these books eminently juvenile in the greenne&s and crudeness of their authors as well as of their work r CHAPTER Xyi. POETRY AND POETS. * What is Poetry ? We ask this question, because in order ^-jsely to seleet the poetry whicli we read, as well as to read witii intelligence and sympathy that which we se- lect, we need to know what poetry is ; so far at least as to be able to discriminate the real from the factitious and the counterfeit. But to answer our question we do not need to construct or defend an elaborate theory of poetry. Nor need we study and criticise the several theories which have been j)roj)osed, from Aristotle and Horace, down to Matthew Arnold and F. W. Newman. We may be satisfied to ad- here to the definition of Lord Bacon, that poetry is a species of feigned history. Every (description of poetry may with no great vif)lence be brought under this com])rehcnsive definition. Narrative poetry of every sort, from the stately epic of the ancients down to the familiar tale of the modern bard — from the Iliad to Aurora Leigh — will easily be classed as history. JThis feigned history must indeed also have a human interest. Every descriptive ])oem, even if it set ff)rth some objective scene, supposes this human interest; even though it only concerns the single' human being who ^ the looker-on, and out of whose experience have s])rung the feelings with which he colors, and the ends for which he constructs the picture, of which nature furnishes the ma- terials. Beneath every sonnet of Wordsworth, and every description of Browning, there lies a chapter of human liis- torv, 'J'hc Lyric, in every one of its va^'ied fi)rms, from the loftiest ode to tlic iiio-t trivial love-song, is the breaking 240 Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Pods. 241 forth in verse — suited to song — of the feelings of some human soul, under the circumstances of some real or sup- posed personal history ; and these must be known or sup- plied by the reader, to enable him to understand and appre- ciate the ode or the song. The meditative and the moraliz- ing, the didactic and the satirical, cease to be poetry and l)(.'come prosaic and heavy, the moment that there falls out of either some form of human life, enacted or conceived. Every drama is eminently a story — a story acted and not alone desciribed ; dramatica poesis ist veluti spectahilis — a storj'- in which the parties are made to live again before the eyes of the reader or hearer, to speak their own thouglits and to pour forth their inn)assioned utterances, as they seem to be freshly excited by the deeds and words that are produced upon the pictured stage, or upon the written page which the imagination dresses up as a mimic theatre. But not every feigned history is poetry, else every ncvel were a poem. Poetry is feigned history in verse. The feigned story whether it is narrated or suggested, must be told in verse ; i. e., in measured and rhythmical language. Y/e are accustomed to call verse an artificial structure ; in contrast with prose, as more natural and obvious. If it has become artificial in our less excited and more critical modes of existence and action, it certainly was not so origi- nally, in the earliest times, w'hen the most literal truth was framed into a poem under the excitement of love and admi- ration, and was set forth with measure and cadence from the lips of sages and bards. Then the prophet, the law- giver, and the historian were also poets. Admonitions to duty, and rules of living, and the records of the past, were cill committed to some rude or measured form of verse, out of which now and then the flashing war-song would gleam as the lightning, or along which the ]iean would thunder in triumph. Whether this preference of verse in the earlier days is owiug to the predominance of imagination and feel- 242 Books and Reading. [Chap. xvl iug, or to the greater convenience which verse affords to the memory when its elt'ect depends not upon what is written for the eye, but upon what is heard by the ear, the fact is Unquestioned, that the earliest compositions take the form of vei-se. We know also that to the individual man in the dawn of intelligence, verse is far more j)leasing and easy to be retained than prose. The ditty with its readily recur- ring refrain, the song that suits the simplest air, are forms of composition which are most pleasing to infancy. Whether it be more natural in tlic earlier ages to compose in verse than in prose, we will not inquire. Whether with the poeticid modes of conception which are natural at that period, in the forms of affluent imagery and elevated feeling, there sj)rings up for man's use a fit medium of expression in " the gift of numerous verse," we need not ask. We are ibrced to confess that this gift is not universal when literary '•ulturc is refined and matured. As, in this condition, man finds it less easy to write "in verse than in prose, so he re- serves for this form of writing his choicest thoughts and fiis best emotions. The constraints of verse also comi)el a selec- tion in the words employed and a special nicety in their arrangement and combinations. Hence he is insensibly led to require as fit for verse, sentiments that are rare — usually that are rare for their nobleness — and emotions that are uncommon for their elevation, strength, and purity. So far Matthew Arnold is in the riglit when he insists that there must be sometliing of the grand style in every com- position tliat is truly poetic. This leads the reader or critic almost instinctively to reject the trivial and the low, or even the familiar and the homely, as beneath the dignity of jtoctry. It was an exaggeration of this feeling that led 6o many of the poets of the last century to adoj)t a peculiar stilted and factitious j^oetic dialect as alone suited to the elevated uses of poetic writing. This diction became by its traditionary character not only empty of meaning, but Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 243 was followed by the double evil of repressing that freshness and individuality of language which are indispensable to poetic power and freedom, and of appearing as a substitute for thoughts and feelings which were in no sense poetic. Against this Thomson and Cowper entered their practical protest, by refusing to conform to the rule and example of their times, and Wordsworth set up the theory of poetic diction which gave so much oflfcnce and aroused so warm a controversy. Moreover, the oft-recurring pauses and turns of verse do not admit protracted or complicated arguments, refined abstractions, or a philosophical terminology. Hence there grows up the sentiment and the demand that every- thing which is fit for verse should be simple in phrase, f^hould be lively with imageiy, and be readily followed by the common mind. For this reason offence is taken at metaphysical discus- sions, protracted reflections, labored conversations, and even elaborate descriptions, as unsuited to poetry. Hence the reasonableness of those criticisms and complaints which are often unreasonably urged against Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and the Brownings, that they are abstract, metaphysical, over-refined, and difficult to read. Simplicity, however, is neither silliness nor common- place ; it does not exclude the extremest subtlety of thought nor the most delicate refinement of feeling, but its rule demands that the poetic diction should be direct, brief, and easily followed. In this way, out of the very exigencies which the use of verse prescribes, do we derive the usually- accepted characteristics of poetic thought and expression. These characteristics we often find abundant and consj)icu- ous in prose- writing. In such cases we say truly, and with an intelligible meaning, this or that passage is highly poetic. We call Jeremy Taylor the Shakspeare of Divi- nity. We say that Milton in his prose writings surj)asses himself as a poet. We are amazed at the bewildering 244 Books and Beading. [Chap, xvl beauty of many a magnificent passage in Coleridge's prose. "We say of this or that person of our acquaintance, he hag a highly i)oetic mind, simply because his thoughts and emo- tions are intensely ideal and imaginative, even though he may never have written a line of verse, or even may be unpractised in any form of written composition. We ougiit also to add, as pertaining solely to the matter of poetry, that it deals chiefly with those thoughts and sentiments which are universal to the race, as distinguished from those which are in any sense limited or conventional. The poet speaks to the heart of man as man ; and he must, therefore, speak from his own heart as that of a man ; ut- tering only those thoughts and sentiments to which all other men will respond, and leaving unexpressed much that is peculiar to his race, his time, his civilization, or even his religion, except so far as this answers to what is common to the race, the time, the civilization, and the re- ligion of another, and thus addresses the intelligence and enlists the sympathies of all human kind. Tiie truth with which the poet deals is common and universal, in the sense of being accessible to all men who have attained that de- gree of culture and of thought which is supposed in the use of the simple diction that poetry requires. It is, more- over, truth in an attractive form, — that truth which is worthy to be draped with the "singing robes" of poesy. Pleasure as truly as reflection, delight as truly as impres- sion, are ends which poetry may never lose sight of. The measured cadences which soothe or excite the ear, the flow- ing diction which is ripi)lcd with s|)arkling imagery, are all unsuited to any truth but that which pleases by its in- to! ligibleness, its weight, its liveliness, and its emotional attractions. " Poetry," says Wordsworth, "is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expres- sion which is in the countenance of all science ; emphati- cally may it be said of the poet, as Shakspearc hath said Chap, xv I.] Poetry and Poets. 245 of man, ' he looks before and after.' He is the rock of defence for human nature ; an upholder and preserver, car- rying everywhere with him relationsliip and love. In spite of dilfercnce of soil and climate, of language and man- ners, of laws and customs ; in spite of things silently gone out of mind, and things violently destroyed, the poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of hu- man society, as it is spread over the whole earth and over all time." " Poetry," says Matthew Arnold, in memora- ble words, " is simply the most beautiful, impressive and widely effective mode of saying things and hence its im- portance." But while the poet must invariably be universal in the spheres of thought and feeling, he is none the less emphati- cally an individual in both. Indeed his power and genius depend entirely upon that intense individuality, which can set forth that which commands universal intelligence a,nd sympathy in the form and coloring of individualized thoughts and ernotions. Not only must the local coloring of his own race, nationality, and civilization tinge every stroke of his pencil, but the private thoughts and feelings of his individual self must impress themselves upon evory sentiment which he utters and should give direction to ev';ry turn of his language and imagery. Homer is a Greek in every fibre of his being, and none the less because his pages move alike the stately Latin, the fierce and moody Scandinavian, the sentimental German, the reserved Eng- lishman and the talkative Gaul. Isaiah and David are none the less Hebrew in thought and imagery because their odes are the fit vehicles to express the praises and prayers of men of all races and of all times. Shakspeare was English of Elizabeth's time, and Milton a Puritan of the times of the Commonwealth, and Dryden a wit of the days of Charles and William, and yet they s])eak to the heart of every nationality. While the universality of the poet re 246 Books and Reading. [Chap. xvl, quires that he sliould use a language which all can under- stand, his genius impels him to employ a dialect of his own which no man can imitate. The poet, especially the poet of modern times, must re- flect the culture of his own generation, and in that form and degree in which it has afi'ected himself personally ; his own individuality determining very largely the use which lie makes of it. Neither Tennyson nor George Eliot nor Robert Browning could have written what or a^ they have done, in any other than the present generation. The In Mcmoriam, the Spanish Gi/p,vj, the Ring and the Book, all treat of themes and follow trains of thought which their authors did not wholly create. Nor could they have ima- gined these had they not found them existing already in the minds of nniltitudes of their countrymen. The so- called Poets of the Lake School — Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and Wilson — found already existing, a readi- ness to be moved in the direction in which they thought and wrote, much as they accomplished in giving that direc- tion permanence and force. They .could scarcely have gained a hearing in the generation previous, however earn- estly or boldly they might have striven. On the other hand, Tennyson, Browning, and Eliot are no more closely united by sharing in the thought and feeling of their times, than they are severed by the pronounced individuality for which each is distinguished. However closely the Lake Poets resemble one another in certain common aims, each individual poet is distinguished by features which are un- mistakably his own. It by no means follows, however, because every poet must deal with those thoughts and feelings which are com- mon to human nature, and are as universal as the race, that every poet should be ])opular in the sense of being eiisily understood and passionately loved by men of every type of thought and every shade or degree of emotion. Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 247 There are and there ought to be poets for the multitude and poets for tlie people/ as well as poets who, while they move the multitude to a certain degree of appreciation and pleasure in single poems or passages, move the few far more profoundly in every line which they write. Even those who are called poets for the multitude — the poets in whom all men delight — delight the few far more intensely whose taste has been ripened by culture and has become more appreciative by critical training. As culture ad- vances and thought becomes more just and profound, as society is in a certain sense more artificial and yet comes nearer to the simplicity of nature and the frankness of honesty tempered by love, we may anticipate that poetry will follow in the line of culture, wherever it can find " an audience fit thoudi few." " If the time should ever come when what is now called science, thus familiarized to man, should put on, as it were, a form of flesh and blood, the poet will lend his divine spirit to aid the transfiguration, and will welcome the being thus produced, as a dear and genuine inmate of the household of man." It follows that a taste for poetry, especially that of the highest order, is to a great extent the product of special culture. It is true, as we have observed, that an ear for verse and an eye for bold and brilliant imagery are natural to all men, and that children even in their earliest years are charmed with any measured refrain that sets forth a stirring or plaintive story. The " drum and trumpet " lyrics of Macaulay suit the martial bravado of the storm- ing boy. By and by the pictured tales of Scott will en- chant his fancy while liis ready ear responds to the rapid lines that hurry the attention along by the simple rush of their own movement. Gentler ballads of olden times, of deserted children and ladies sore oppressed or captured and immured by giant or robber, — plaintive tales of the Ed- wins and Angelinas of later days, delight the ear and move 248 Books and Reading. [Chap. xvi. the heart of the little maiden, in whom the poetic sense begins to stir and tlutter. This is the period for reading and tor learning verses of all sorts, both ballads and hymns, provided the ballads and hymns are fraught with poetic feeling and imagery. Much of the stuff which passes for poetry with young folks, and their parents also, should be carefully shunned. Its rhythm is jingle, its words are strained, its pictures are hazy, its sentiment is silly. But if the imagery be sharp and bold, the diction concise and strong, the measure be smooth and sweet, and the sentiments manly, tender and correct, then the more that is learned the better. It were not amiss if books of ancient ballads were studiously souglit for and learned by heart, and by this means the leading scenes and per- sonages of English history were permanently fixed in the mind. There are not a few boys who are capable of en- joying the Iliad in a translation, and scarcely one v/ho might not be trained to delight in Scott long before it is dreamed that they can relish poetry. Certainly such read- ing is greatly to be preferred to the rub1)ish of the sensation novels, whether moral or otherwise, with w^hich now-a-days the appetites of so many are weakened or debauched. But this early relish for poetic tales scarcely dcscrvcM to be called a taste for poetry. That which is really su ;h, supposes a nicety of eye, a reflecting habit, and, above all, a dclicaf-y of feeling which are not native to impetuous and ol)jective childhood — least of all to boyhood, after the gentleness of infancy has entirely given way to the storm- ing and ;ht to illustrate the truth, that al- though the poet should recognize that which is common to the race, and which in a certain sense attracts the sympa- thies of all men, he may also reflect tlie thoughts and feel- ings which are distinctly recognized by men in peculiar circumstances or of special experiences. Tennyson's In Mcnioriam speaks to the heart of man as man ; yet it is only the man of the present century, who is acquainted with the si)eculations of the time and has been staggered by its doubts and misgivings, who can fully appreciate thousands of its masterly strokes and its delicate suggestions. The PrinccHS of the same author, and the Aurora Leigh of Mrs, Browning, van be adequately enjoyed only by one who has read much and thought dce])ly on the social problems of CuAi'. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 253 the time. But it is none the lass true that the poetry ig genuine and excellent for all. Bhakspeare and Milton, and even Burns and Cowper, contain many passages of which only the man of much reading and of grave reflec- tion can adequately estimate the meaning or enjoy the sub- tle flavor. It is most unjust to say of the works of Words- worth and Tennyson, of Browning and Eliot, or of the passages of Shakspeare and Milton referred to, that they are not poetry, because they are not understood by men of all classes and in all stages of culture and thought. The mature and refined thought of an age of daring speculation, and the subtle emotions which spring out of its life of doubt and faith, of fear and hope, may properly be reflected in its poetry. Poetry should never be technical or select, in the sense of using the language of a coterie or a school, but it may express the feelings and thoughts that are pro- duced by an age or a generation of special culture and spe- cial conflicts. It is implied in all these hints and rules that poetry, to be fully appreciated and enjoyed, must be earnestly and perseveringly studied. This may seem to many like an obvious and a startling paradox. How can that which is chiefly designed for pleasure require study, which is uni- versally associated with painful effort ? We reply : a poem must be studied for the same reasons and in the same way that a painting, an engraving, or a drawing must be studied, in order that tlie refinement of its perfection may be re- vealed. If the poet has a soul that is " finely touched " it is " to fine issues ;" and in order that he should be ade- quately estimated and judged, he requires a soul akin to his own, a soul in some sense as fine to receive as his is fine to give. How shall one sing joyous songs to him who is of a heavy heart? By this same rule, let the poet's imagina- tion be ever so fertile and refined, how can it create for the reader who cannot recre^ite after him at his suggest- '2'j4: Books and Reading. [Chai>. xvl ing words ? What are the words that speak his thoughts or feelings if the reader does not transkite them into mean- ing by his own answering thoughts and feelings? To re- quire that the poet should inject his thoughts into a lazy intellect, or kindle emotions in a torpid or stupid heart, is to insult his very name and office. If the priest should not be allowed to approach the altar except with unspotted robes, and after many lustrations, let not the worshiper enter the sanctuary with soiled feet and careless tread. When it is fit to inspect a choice engraving M^ith careless eye and divided attention, or to handle a Sevres vase or an exquisite chasing with a rough hand and a heedless grasp, then shall it be seemly to read the choicest works of a poet's inspiration and a poet's ear with a dawdling nonchalance, or to answer to his thoughts and feelings with energies half aroused or an attention that is slack or divided. Many of the poet's best productions are so subtle as to escape the notice of any other than a close and fixed attention. His felicities of thought can only be appreciated by a mind that concentrates its eye for subtle differences. His images and allusions, his pictures and emotions, are often tlie more beautiful because they do not spring into the eyes of thr: reader, whether he will or no. Beauties that are modesJ, and even shy are often specially attractive in poetry as they are in life. It is to be remembered, also, that great writers, and especially poets who are great, are usually wiser than their readers. They know more of the art in which they excel than many of their readers or critics. They are often ♦oo proud ostentatiously to display or set off their wares by rhetorical tours deforce. If the genuine poet often require, he will always bear study and repay it. That man has a mcsfc dishonorable and unjust conception of ])oetry and the poet who regards poetry as valuable only to while away a lazy or listless hour. If poetry, to be appreciated and enjoyed, must be studied, much more does it require to be studied Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 255 iu order that it may be intelligently criticised. But the study is not painful, though it must be faithful ; it brings its abundant and exquisite enjoyments, though it requires faithful and persevering effort. No luxury of literature is so exquisite as that which comes of a really superior poem, of which the diction is finished and smooth, the imagery is bold and brilliant, the sentiments are inspiriting and ele- vating, the pathos is tender and sweet, and the faith is reverent yet bold. It follows that it is well, at least for the time, to have a favorite poet, who engrosses our chief attention, and whose best works are read, and read again, till they become alto- gether familiar. It may expose to a certain narrowness and bigotry when our taste is crude and unformed, but it is wise after this taste has become catholic and self-reliant, because in this way we really master the works which we have in hand. A poem, of all literary products, deserves to be often read if it has superior excellence. It cannot be appreciated without ; neither the diction, nor the imagery, nor the allusions, nor the feeling, nor the truth. If we give ourselves up for a little while to a single writer, we live in his atmosphere, and form with his mind and heart the sympathy of almost a personal friendship. There are not a few men who make a single poet the favorite of their lives, for some conspicuous fitness of his to their oav n tastes and needs. Thus Shakspeare is cherished for his many- sided fullness ; or Milton for his majestic music and his stately and solemn truth ; or Dryden for his comprehensive common sense and ready wit; or Cowper for his domestic sympathies and habits, or his religious tenderness ; or Scott for his romantic spirit ; or Wordsworth for his sympathy with nature as a peace-giving and elevating friend^ or Tennyson for his struggling faith in goodness and in God ; or Whittier for his love of simple men and simple manners, combined with a fiery enthusiasm for the right ; or T^ong- 256 Books and Reading. [Chap. xyi. fellow for the clearness, the music, and the pathos of his rhymes; or Lowell for the abandon of his affluent and quick moving genius. It would not be difficult to show that the familiar study of one of the great poets of England brings an education of wider reach and lu'gher elevation than that which is often attained at the most pretentious and costly schools. We have seen men and women of the olden time, trained in the old-fashioned schools of "plain living 'and high thinking," of rugged face and form, of manners unstudied yet most refined, with whom Milton, or Cowper, or Shakspeare, or Burns had been a life-long study, and who had gained thereby a power of thought, a refinement of feeling, and a sagacious insight of which many a flippant Bohemian can have no conception, whose mind has been inundated by the sewerage of modern poetry, made up of the good, the indifferent, and the bad. We have been told of a wrathful farmer, with whom Miltonic studies were always fresh, who, when selling a basket of eggs and talk- ing politics, in the same breath vented his indignant im- patience at the inevitable law by which bad politicians unite and honest ones divide, in the words — Devil and devil damned Firm concord hold. Men only disagree. The farmer's family, in a secluded valley in New England, or on the remote prairie, in which the girls can effectively and lovingly read, and the boys can intelligently and responsively ai)preciate Milton, or Shakspeare, or Coleridge, or W'liittier, may boast of a better culture than many a saloon in the most pretentious avenues of the wealthiest and most luxurious cities. Many a Scottish cottage draws from its well-tlnnnbed copy of Burns more refinement of thought and feeling than is attained by the '•ultivated coxcomb or the accomj)lislicd miss, whose man- ners and accomplishments are consummate in everything Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 257 but the nobleness and refinement of sincere and elevated feeling. Better still than to confine ourselves too lono; to a sin<>-le favorite poet, is it to read very frequently from a choice selection of the best poems of a variety of authors. A^ery busy men, who in their youthful and less occupied days have become familiar with the circle of the best English poets, may refresh their recollections, and deepen and strengthen their best lessons, by having always at hand, and frequently in hand, a good selection of the best brief poems and parts of poems, in which English poetry is so abundant. We know more than one such person, who often takes Palgrave's Golden Treasury as a traveling com- panion, and never tires — as who could possibly — of read- ing again and again one of its many gems in the vacancy of the crowded rail-car, or the ennui of the steamboat trip, or the prolonged delays of the waiting-room. Such a re- source is worth not a little if it enables one under such depressions to rise in a moment by the withdrawals of the imagination, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call earth, and with low thoughted care Confined and pestered in this pinfold here, Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being. Such a snatch of reading is more than refreshment ; It ele- vates and purifies the imagination, and gives new sprino- and tension to our nobler nature. It is reasonable to hope that many may thus "by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key Which opes the palace of eternity." Dana's Household Book of Poetry is indeed a Hausschatz, as similar collections are called in Germany, from which may readily be drawn the beguilement of many a weary 17 258 Books and Reading. [Chap, xvt hour, rest from eating cares, and deliverance from petty irritations. We have already anticipated in part the answer to the question, " Why should we make much of the reading and study of poetry?" We may be more explicit and add: They are valuable for the peculiar and elevated pleasure which they give. Poetry pleases the ear. The charm of rhythmical vei'se is universally confessed. There is no- thing in well-turned prose, however choice in Avords, or weighty in thought, or eloquent in emotion or ajipeal, which can be compared with a consummate passage of superior poetry, whether it be graphic in description, or passionate, intense, and elevating in lyric effect, or suggestive in re- flection, or life-like in the action and emotion of the drama; provided only the diction answers to the sentiment. The limitations and the demands of verse require something in language which cannot be enforced of prose writing. The satisfaction of these demands is gratifying to the well- trained ear, not with a merely sensuous effect, but with the effect of sound as expressive of, and corresponding to the soul of sense and meaning. Tiic practised student of poe- try may augment this pleasure if he will train his ear by the hearing of poetry well read. Few accomplishments are more satisfactory in the use than the skill to read with effect and feeling, the poetry which we or others admire and love. The gift of song may be more admired because it is more rare, but the gift of reading musically and well, is "an excellent thing" in man, and pre-eminently in wo- man. To hear good poetry well read is always pleasing, and even to imagine we heard it read as we follow the rhythm in appreciative and critical judgment gives no trivial pleasure. The study and reading of poetry exercises and cultivates the imagination, and in this way imparts intellectual power. It is impossible to read the 2)roduct of any poet's imagina- Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 259 tion without using our own. To read what he creates is to recreate in our own minds the images and pictures which lie first conceived and then expressed in hmguage. Tlic unimaginative soul cannot enjoy poetry ; he cannot understand it, because he cannot interpret its words by re- sponsive pictures of his own creating. On the other hand, the man who does read poetry, and with effect and appre- ciation, must use his imagination, and by use make it more dexterous in its power to create, and more refined in its ca- pacity to judge. We do not intend that such a training involves the power of expression either in prose or verse ; for the reason that this gift, and pre-eminently the gift of expression in verse, is the product of another and an en- tirely different species of training. But that poetry strengthens and refines the imagination is evident from the fact that it trains the mind to view nature and the human life under poetic aspects. The student of Thomson, Cow- per, of Wordsworth and Tennyson, cannot read them with success without forming the habit of seeing nature under poetic aspects and with poetic eyes. He cannot be taught by these writers to muse upon the human life which they describe in its ideal and imaginative relations, without re- flecting himself upon the human life which he sees, under similar lights and shades. He must inevitably view its darker shades as transfigured with poetic beauty, and its brighter aspects as tinged with graver shadows. Whatever he sees, however common-place or prosaic, he learns to look into a picture. Whatever he thinks of he must invest with ideal beauty and refinement. That these habits are favor- able to purity and nobleness of feeling, and to magnanim- ity and morality of word or deed, we shall not argue over again. We are contented to cite a second time the words of Bacon, that " Poesy serveth and conferreth to magna- nimity, morality, and to delectation. And therefore itwaa ever thought to have some participation of divinencss." 2(30 Books and Beading. [Chap. xvl ^Vhat Coleridge says of the writing of poetry must be true of the reading of it. " Poetry has been to me its own ex- ceeding great reward ; it has soothed my afflictions, it has multiplied and refined my enjoyrrients, and it has given me the habit of wisliing to discover the good and the beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me." Wordsworth's lines recur to us in this connection — " Blessings be with them — and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves and nobler cares — The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays." The habitual reading and study of poetry, especially of the loftier types, is eminently nseful as a preparation for the writer or speaker, who is required to compose in mov- ing discourse on grave and elevated themes. It was the counsel of a very eminent Christian preacher to one who was just entering upon his profession : "Always have some fine poem in hand — dramatic is to be preferred — if you would keep yourself in tone for the successful composition of sermons ; " and the advice is pertinent to every species of elevated prose composition. That the poetry which elevates and excites the imagina- tion is also favorable to religious aspiration and religious faith need not be argued. It is evident from the single fact, that however grievously the highest gifts of imagina- tion have been occasionally abused, no great poet has ever failed to express at times the semblance of high religious as- piration. Every poet of the higher type has often fired his imagination at the altar of religious worship. Whether the aspirations and worship which lie has offered are in- consistent or not M'ith fixed principles and high moral pur- poses, or whether they are the passing flush of the excited phantasy, makes little difference with our argument, that the imagination rannot soar without flying upward towards God, and in seeking God must approve that which is holy Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 261 and pure, as well as unselfish and self-controlled. The imagination, in order to rise and soar, must at least feign that she believes and worships. Shelley and Byron and Goethe are memorable witnesses to this important truth. But what poets shall we read, and in what order ? and why should we select certain poets above others? Upon this topic we have sought to furnish principles rather than rules ; to enable the reader to select for himself rather than rely on the authority of another. But we may for a mo- ment glance at a few of the leading names in the long list of English poets. Chaucer leads the way — the morning star of English poesy — fit leader of a host so brilliant ; for we may say, without conscious exaggeration or fear of dis- pute, that the poetry of England is the richest, the most varied, and the most brilliant of any which the world has ever seen; as it should be, reflecting as it does a manhood which has been developed most variously and most nol ly, and a life the most heroic, the most fervent, the most affec- tionate, that has marked the world's history. Chaucer must be .studied in order to be read ; but when Chaucer has been studied so as to be easily followed, he confronts you with the dawn of a brilliant day — dewy, fresh, transparent, and invigorating. He gives you the Odyssey of the Eng- lish poetry, and reveals the spring-time of English li fe. Next comes Spenser, wearisome for his meandering verse laden with its wealth of bewildering imagery, but affluent to excess with pictures that are clear and bright, and al- ways noble, chivalrous, pure and Christian. He gives English feeling in its knightly aspect, as it Avas exempli- fied in the life of Sidney and others of the selecter spirits of " great Eliza's golden time." Then comes Shakspeare, the myriad-minded indeed, reflecting in the manifoldness of his products and the power with which he lives and feels in all, the fervent and manifold life of England's popula- tion in his times ; the admiration of the modern world in 262 Books ami Reading. [Chap. xvl its height of culture and its depth of philosophy ; the chal- lenger of critics, before whose mysterious power to think and express they confess themselves abashed, and by the unsolved enigmas of many of whose characters and whose truths they continue to be dazed and overcome. Milton follows, representing another type of poets, and anotlier aspect of Engli.sli life ; learned, grave, and stern, bearing the impress of one who had indeed been " caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words ;" but still human in his unmatched love of nature, his tender sympathy with human life, and his delight in music, whether He hears the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced choir below, In service high and anthems clear, or rejoices in the sweet rising of thcearliest morn with *' charm of earliest birds." Milton gives us the life of the English people, when believing in God as the greatest of kings, they dared in his name to vindicate the rights of hu- man subjects, and showed the virtues of that stern knight- hood which had received such a fiery consecration. We name Dryden next, the best and the manliest poet of English thought and feeling at the beginning of a sad degeneracy — the man of the world, frank, brave, out- spoken, with a brilliant genius, but often untrue to his better self through the corruption of manners and the degradation of the higher imagination. Pope follows next, sententious, acute, brilliant, and felicitous, the servant of an age which he was content to flatter and to please, but never attemj)ted to elevate, who fixed for English poetry that factitious and stilted poetic diction which was echoed and re-echoed by imitators till it became ashamed and vexed at its own empty reiterations. Against this excess of factitious emptiness there came an inevitable reaction, Thomson dared to follow his own Chap. XVI.] Poetry and Poets. 263 luxuriant fancy, and rose to occasional flights that remind us of the earlier and better times of Milton and Spenser. Cowper with no suspicion of his own genius, and often homely and uncultured in his diction, was by the very un- consciousness of his power left more free from the tram- mels of allegiance to poets or critics, to follow the prompt- ings of his love of nature, humanity, and God. Crabbe, more homely even than Cowper, was also more literal than he in his transcripts of the humble life with which he was familiar. Burns, having no impulse and little guidance except from within, sung from his own heart songs of penetrating sense and wondrous tenderness. Campbell, '^Icott, and Joanna Baillie represent types that are unique, ^ut each gave an impulse to the better spirit. Byron was Jtirred by pride and wrath to use the genius which he •■■"ould not repress ; breaking other of the traditions of the past besides the poetic, which he fancied he kept as against his rivals, the Lake Poets. With Byron, Shelley may prop- erly be connected, though in many respects more spiritual, refined and noble. Meanwhile the Lake School had been gathering strength, and began to act as a redeeming force. Wordsworth, with his cool defiance of the prevailing fashion, promulgated an extreme theory, with a practice still more extreme. Coleridge, Southey, Wilson, Landor, and Lamb were agreed, not in adopting the theory or fol- lowing the practice of Wordsworth, but in their emancipa- tion from any fashion of poetic diction, and in their fresh and liberal imitation of, or rather inspiration by, the elder poets. From their triumph commences the new era of English poetry in England and America. Milman, Ten- nyson, Barry Cornwall, Henry Taylor, the Brownings, Hood, Ingelow, Arthur Clough, and Matthew Arnold, in England ; Dana, Pierpont, Percival, Bryant, Longfel- low, Lowell, Whittier, and Emerson in America, follow in great or less measure the impulses of the modern school, 264 Bool-s aiid Beading. [Chap. xvl which wc need not characterize. Last of all comes Wil- liam ]Morris, with his antique "and objective spirit, as a healthful and needed counterpoise to the excessively sub- jective tendencies of the same recent school. In religious poetry English literature is rich. Milton, George Herbert, Watts, Doddridge, the Wesleys, Keble, and Faber are examples of its diifcrent types. In poetic translators from the ancient bards we have of Homer, Chapman, Pope, Cowper, Lord Derby, Sotheby, Newman, Bryant and others ; of Virgil, Dryden, and Conington ; of Horace, I^ytton Bulwer and Conington ; of Dante, Cary and Longfellow ; of Tasso, Fairfax ; and of various works of the modern Germans, Coleridge, Scott, Lytton Bulwer, and others. • But it is time we had ended. The golden roll of English poetry is embarrassing from its wealth and tempt- ing suggestions. CHAPTER XVII. THE CRITICISM AND HISTORY OF LITERATURE. WiTHiX the present century, there has come into being a new description of Books and Reading, viz. : those which are devoted to the criticism and history of literature itself. Our libraries and book-shops are furnished with many books which consist of criticisms of other books. Not only is there a countless number of essays devoted to the criti- cism and interpretation of single authors and even of single works, but entire volumes are occupied with commentaries on great authors or some one of their writings. We have more than one series of essays, and even whole libra- ries, occupied solely with critiques upon single writers, as Homer, Goethe, and Shakspeare. Active controversies have arisen between the partisans of opposing theories. Indeed, critiques and counter-critiques are so abundant, that it almost seems as though this was the ao;e of nothing; but criticism, and literature were nothing if not criti(^al. It is certain there now exists a special department of litera- ture which is employed in the interpretation and judgment of literature itself, and that it has enlisted the services of many of the ablest writers of their time, some of whom have not only been distinguished as critics of the produc- tions of men of surpassing genius, but have themselves been known as foremost writers of their own generation. We need name only Goethe, the Schlegeh, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Ilade. de Stael, Sainte Beuve, Professor John Wilson, and Mattheto Arnold. Criticism itself has become a depaitment of literature, and is justified in its claims by 265 266 Boohs and Heading. [Chap. XVIL being also historical^ philosophical, and almost creative of itself. This new criticism, In the eminent sense of the phrase, may be said to -be of German origin, though it has attained a vigorous growth on English soil. That it should first have taken form in Germany was natural. It is the natu- ral outgrowth of extensive reading, joined with an appre- ciative imagination and reflective sagacity. It must neces- sarily have been somewhat late in its development. As men must act poems before they write them, — as one or many must act the hero, before others can recount their exploits or celebrate their praises, so literature must be created before it can be criticised. There must be brought into being a considerable number of productions, in the forms of poetry, fiction, the drama, history, biography, and eloquence, before the materials are prej)ared W'ith which t>ie critic can begin. When we assert that the species of c'iticism which we have in mind is comparatively of recent origin, we do not say that criticism of every kind is recent in its growth, nor indeed that before the present century tlicre were no profound and genial critics, who took historic and philosophical estimates of the great writers who had gone before them, but only that criticism as it noAV exists has come into organized being, with distinctly recognised functions and fixed principles and laws for its direction. Dryden and Johnson were l)oth penetrating, and to a cer- tain degree large-minded critics,'but neither Dryden nor Johnson rose above very narrow traditions, or personal j)rc'judi(;es. We speak of the old and the new generally when we say, that formerly, criticism confined itself almost exclusively to the forms of literature, as the choice of words, the rhythm of verse, the proportion of parts, the order of development, the effectiveness of the introduction, the argu- ment and the peroration, and these, with the illustration and explanation of the meaning of a work or a writer, con- Chap. XVII.] Literary History and Criticism. 267 stituted its principal aims. Now, while it docs not neglect the foi'm, it thinks more of the matter, i. e. the weightiness and truth of the thoughts, the energy and nobleness of the sentiments, the splendor and power of the imagery, and the heroic manhood or the refined womanhood of the Avriter as expressed in his or her works. Formerly it judged of the form by the fashion of the day in respect of style and die tion, and pronounced everything barbarous which was not after the newest type, very much as the dress or hat which are most becoming in themselves are declared to be dowdy and frightful, if worn a year or a season too early or too late. Now the form is regarded as that which in some re- spects must be transient and changeable, according to the shaping power of the matter itself, the temper of the writer, and the temper of the times in which he lived and in which he ^vrote. Formerly the critic was regarded by others an^ too often regarded himself as the natural enemy of the author. Now it is exacted of him that he should be the expounder of the author's thoughts and the sharer of his feelings ; that he should almost see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and judge with his mind. But this estimate of the characteristic features of the new criticism is general and superficial. A closer and more careful examination, gives the following results : First : the new criticism starts with a more enlarged and 'profound conception of literature itself. The word litera- ture, etymologically considered, is necessarily somewhat loose and general in its import, signifying whatever is com- mitted to a permanent form by writing. AVhen this im- port is somewhat narrowed, it signifies whatever survives a merely ephemeral existence, and attracts the notice ot second generation. In this sense, any book or tract would come under this designation, if it be worth retaining in '. library, or if it happens to be so preseryed. With the older critics, literature included only those works which 2GS ■ Boolcii and Heading. rcnAP. xvii. were eminent and attractive from pert*'jij^Ion in style, beautj and fitness of imagery, or elevation r,/ sentiment ; those being preeminent wliicli combined all Ihese excel- lencies in one. By a practice that was almor-it universal, the word was restricted to those works whoso j^rime ob- ject was to address the imagination or to please* the taste. Under this usage literature was confined to poetry, fiction, and the drama, also to various lighter effusions, but they all must have the common characteristic of being designed to amuse rather than instruct, to gratify some Eesthetic in- terest rather than to convince or to arouse to action. If a work had any higher end than these, it was by general consent excluded from literature and deemed unv/vrthy of the notice of the critic, as it was exempt frona his jonsure. The poetry of Milton was literature, but his Areupagitiaa with its magnificent prose, and his Deferisio Popidi AnglU can I with its splendid invective were not, beSuse they were political tracts. The poems of Donne and Cowley were literature, but the sermons of Jeremy Taylor, though luxuriant with the wealth of an oriental imagina- tion, were not literature, because they were composed with an earnest Christian purpose. A work profound in thought, if it was designed to convince of truth ; impas- sioned in eloquence, if it was written to persuade ; bright with humor, if it was intended for practical effect ; was ex- cluded from the roll of the literature of the period, as too severe and earnest, however finished it might be in style, rich in imagery, or elevated in sentiment. A conception of literature so narrow must, of necessity, be belittling and trivial to author and critic. It could not but make the writer trifling and heartless, and his censor fastidious and flippant. Now-a-davs literature is restricted within no such nar- row limits, and, as the result, both literature and criticism have been elevated. While it is required that every work Chap. XVII.] Literary History and Criticism 2G9 which aspires to be called a work of literature should have a certain perfection of finish and of form, none are ex- cluded by reason of their solidity of matter, or earnestness of aim. A history or a sermon, an oration or a political tract, even a scientific essay if excellent in method and style, in eloquence and imagery, takes the place as a con- tribution to the literature of a period or of a nation, to which its merits entitle it. As a consequence, the concep- tion of literature itself is greatly elevated and ennobled. Instead of being regarded as one of the accessories of cul- ture and luxury, it is viewed as the best and noblest ex- pression of the best powers of the ablest men of an age. Instead of being judged by the mere accidents of form, and according to the capriciousness of a changing taste, it is both studied and tested according to its perfect ideal. It follows, — Second : that while the older was narrow and conven- tional in its standards, the new criticism is catholic and liberal in its spirit. The tendency of the earlier criticism was to set up a single author who was suj^posed to be near- est the ideal perfection, as the standard by which to try every other. Every other author, and the literature of every other period, were measured by him and the litera- ture of which he set the fashion. Thus, in the days of Queen Anne, Dryden, Addison, or Swift furnished the norm of actual and almost of 1)ossible perfection. A generation later, Johnson and his imitators imposed, if they did not constitute, the rule of measurement. The earlier and nobler writers of the days of Elizabeth and James were now depreciated for their latinized and lum- bering sentences and then counted half barbarians for that individual freedom which inspired their genius and con- stituted their real strength and glory. In a generation still later, literature ^vas still more or less conventional, because criticism kept it in bonds to the 270 Books and Beading. [Chap. xvii. flictitious standards which were derived from Addison, Pope and Johnson ; inconsistent with one another as were the examples and the teachings of the masters from which she received her laws. ' In vain did Thomson give range to the impulses of his creative imagination, and Cowper plead the exemption from rule of one who claimed to be a rhymester and did not aspire to be called a poet. In vain did Burke give vent to the eloquence and imagery which his fiery imagination could not restrain, and Scott followed the bent of a romantic spirit which was inbreathed from his infancy. Criticism was still inexorable, till the more •catholic spirit of Coleridge, AYordsworth, and others whom ihe.y incited and inspired, awakened the English mind to ihe personal and admiring study of the older writers, and r^ncouraged the young litterateurs to dare to use all the re- sources of their own affluent language with the freedom of the elder days, and to give utterance to their thoughts in a more copious and untrammeled diction. The cumbrous pliraseology of the old writers, their involved sentences, their learned pedantry, their disregard of neatness, directness, simplicity and taste, had previously made them outcasts from polite society, or if they were admitted they were wondered at, rather than admired on account of "■ the bar- baric pearl and gold " with which they were so richly clad, because their ornamerLts were not in the mode and their garments were out of fa»iiion. But now these defects are little tliought of in comparison with the greater copiousness and variety of their dictiickens by Thackeray, or Thackeray by George Eliot, or George Eliot by Hawthorne. It does Chap. XVII.] Literary History and Criticism. 273 not test the subjective Tennyson by the objective William Morris, nor Robert Browning by the simple William Barnes of Dorsetshire, nor The Spanish GyjDsy by The Ring and the Booh, nor Whittier by Longfellow. It finds what is good in each, and judges the good of each, by the individuality of the author, the ends for which he writes, the audieuce to whom he writes, the times in which he writes, and the language through which he writes, as well as the people whose genius inspires what he writes. While it receives, as the rule of its judgments, the nature of man, it recognizes the truth that this nature exists and manifests itself under an indefinite variety of conditions, without ceasing to be the same. We add next, and — Fourth : that this criticism, in being more just, is neces- sarily more generous and genial. It cannot well be other- wise. For its cardinal maxim is, the critic cannot be just to an author unless he puts himself in the author's place. Its comprehensive rule is, if you would understand an author's meaning you must learn to think as the author thinks, to feel as he feels, to look at nature and man through his eyes, to respond to both with his soul, to esti- mate his audience as he knew them, to measure the instru- ments of language and imagery which he had at command, in their several limitations, as well as their capacities. You must do all these things before you can even begin to judge him. This is only a special application of the prin- ciple which is expressed in the goldefi rule, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." In putting in practice this rule of simple justice to any author who deserves our attentive study, there is wakened toward him an appreciative sympathy. It is only by seeking fairly and fully to understand a writer, that we are enabled to enter fully into his feelings, to catch his spirit, and to weigh his reasonings if we are not cou- 18 274 Books and Reading. . [Chap. xvil. vinccd by them. So complete, at times, is this sympathy with a writer whom we desire to understand, tliat as we give ourselves up to his influence, we seem to be his other self: we seem with him to create, and, borne on the rushingi stream of his thick coming fancies, to revel in the joy of exercising the gift which we have newly acquired. Criti- cism tims applied wakens enthusiasm rather than represses it. It teaches us to look for excellences rather than to search for defects — and when it has taught us to find them, it ])rompts to our unrepressed enjoyment of them. It wakens in the mind a generous, because an intelligent de- light in the beauties it reveals. It bids the reader be lenient to inadvertencies and defects in a writer of positive merit, because it teaches him how they are to be accounted for. Fifth : The philosophic critic, in the very best sense of the term, interprets the author to the reader. Thomas Carlyle says, in his peculiar way, of Heyne, the editor of Virgil, " I can remember it was quite a revolution in my mind when I got hold of tiiat man's book on Virgil. I found that for the first time I had understood him — that he had introduced me for the first time into an insight of Roman life, and pointed out the circumstances in which the ])oems were written — and here was interpretation." This is indeed interj)retation, and such interpretation is need(;d in a far wider and dee])er sense than is commonly appreciated, and of a multitude of authors whose meaning seems obvious to a man of common utuk-rstanding, while yet it may be im[)erfectly understood. What Carlyle calls the circumstances in which a work was written, are very comprehensive in their significance. They include almost everything which maybe known about an author; not the accidents of his external lifi; — the day of his birth and death, or the number of years that he lived, — but the sort of :i man he was in character and tlie sort of peo])le with wliora he had to do ; and this, not so much in their man- CaAP. XVII.] Literary Hlatory ami Criticism. 27o ners and habits as in their conceptions of life, their moving principles, including their prejudices and superstitions — what they were willing to fight for and die for, what they loved most heartily and hated most bitterly ; how they i^ept their holidays, how they spent their work-days, and all else that may give a complete picture of the life out of which sprung the poems or sermons or tracts which the writer composed, and for which he wrote them. Matthew Arnold says, very pertinently, that " creative literary genius does not principally show itself •an discovering new ideas," but " its gift lies in the faculty of being happily in- spired by a certain intellectual and spiritual atmosphere, which finds itself in them." "This is the reason why creative epochs in literature are so rare," " because, for the creation of a master-work of literature, two powers must concur, the power of the moment and the power of the man, and the man is not enough without the moment." To understand the atmosphere on which a great writer de- pends for the development of his genius, is not always easy. It requires much study and sagacity to find it out, much honesty and zeal to appreciate it, and often great skill to represent it for the ready apprehension of another. This is the reason why the greatest gifts of genius can be so severely tasked as well as worthily employed in this service of interpretation, and also why when this service is successfully performed, it invests the author with manifold greater attractions for the reader, and binds him to his in- terpreter by heavy obligations. There is also another sense, perhaps a higher, in which the critic interprets his author, especially if he be a great dramatic writer who must outline his characters by a few bold and masterly strokes, and manifest their inner life by means of a few significant words and actions. The reader, without the aid of the critic, may be astonished by bold deeds and be excited by passionate words, and yet be una- 27G Books and Reading. [Chap. xvil ble except with tliis aid to penetrate their significance or to fill out what the poet has only suggested. We select Hamlet as a striking example of what we mean. As we study this character, it seems to require some age and thought to interpret its obvious import. Let us concede, however, that an intelligent person however young can scarcely follow the fortunes of the unlucky prince, without feeling a saddened sympathy stealing over his soul, even while he is more and more perplexed by the enigmatical character of much tJiat he says and does. But let the rea- der study the analysis of the ideal Hamlet which Goethe has given in two or three pages of Wilhelm Meister, and return to the play ; he will find it invested with a new in- terest, as well as enriched with a deeper significance. If we suppose Goethe's conception of Hamlet to be correct, it not only explains the play as a whole, but it also gives sig- nificance to incidents and sayings that would otherwise be unintelligible, if not offensive. The difficulty in fully un- derstanding Hamlet without such a guide is, in part, as we have already intimated, that his character is rather sketched than completed — that it is suggested rather than de- veloped ; and also that many readers lack the experie.'ace of human life, and the sagacity to interpret w^hat they ob- eerve, which are requisite to comprehend a character so complicated and strange. Goethe interprets Hamlet when he teaches the reader to imagine some one of his own cir- cle who has had an experience similar to his, and to con- ceive what would be his conflicting emotions, under a calamity so sudden and so sad. Pie goes even further and teaches us to understand the almost superhuman sagacity of the poet in making a word or an act, perhaps of irony or bitter sajrn, to express or suggest so much. For Goethe to have interpreted Plamlet may not be so signal a proof of genius as it was for Shakspeare to create him, but no man who could not also create could have interpreted the fnAr. XVII.] Literary History and Criticism. 211 character so well, if he could have interpreted it at all. The acceptable service which Goethe has rendered to the readers of the great Dramatist is one of the most import- ant which modern criticism has achieved. While it illus- trates the need which the reader may feel of the critic's assistance, it exalts the service to which the critic is called. AVhat Goethe did for Hamlet, has been done by other cri- tics for many of the other characters of Shakspeare, We know it is often said that some of the most distinguished of these critics have found more in many of his characters than ever Shakspeare dreamed, and that by the extrava- gance of their fancies and the boldness of their sugges- tions, they have displaced the originals which Shakspeare conceived. This may be conceded, and the fact still be unquestioned that even where critics err by overdoing, they stimulate to healthful inquiry and to wakeful earn- estness. Certainly, the modern world would lose much of stimulating and instructive reading, if it should lose what Coleridge, and Hazlitt, and Mrs. Jameson; what Ulrici, Schlegel, and Gervinus; what Henry Reed, H. X. Hudson, and Richard Grant White have v.ritten uj)on the great English Dramatist. If the gifted critic sometimes errs or overdoes by substi- tuting his own fancies for the thoughts of his author, he more than compensates for this, by making the suggestions of the author a text for brilliant thoughts of his own. As there is nothing more stimulating to a man of genius than the works of another man of genius, so it should not be surprising that the criticisms upon a great writer of such thinkers as Coleridge, Goethe, and Sainte Beuve, may con- tain the most valuable and inspiring original contributions. The thoughts need be none the less original because they are excited by the thoughts of another, any more than the thoughts of two persons who are brilliant in conversation, are less original or less weighty because the one stimulates 278 Books and Reading. [Cnw. xvii. or arouses the other. The encounter, when the critic meets his author, may not be unlike that wliich the Avitty Thonias Fuller records of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson, in the words which, though familiar, will bear repeating: " Many were the wit-combats between him and Ben Jon- son, which two I beheld like a Spanish great galleon and an English man-of-war. Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning; solid but slow in his per- formances. Shakspeare, like an English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention." Sixth : Philosophical criticism not only interprets an author by means of his times, hut it interprets the times of an author by means of his icritings. In other words, modern criticism is a most important adjunct to history, and for that reason eminently deserves to be called histori- cal criticism. Not only must we know something of the history of an author's surroundings, — his atmosphere, as Matthew Arnold calls them, — in order to appreciate more justly either the man or his works, but we can also learn very much of these surroundings by means of his writings. The literature of a period is one of the most important ad- juncts to the story of its history. It supplies certain de- scriptions of information which no other sources of know- ledge can yield. It stamps and fixes impressions of much besides, such as no secondary or indirect information can po&sibly imprint, giving those vivid and life-like images of the men and scenes of the past which are the best substi- tutes for having actually lived among them. The Odyssey of Homer is a fresh and detailed picture of the Greek life in its golden age. As we follow the story of the wanderings of its hero, we see and feel how the Greeks must have lived in the times when Homer actually wrote,— what they thought, how they felt, how they fur- Chap, xvii.] Literary History and Oriticism. 279 nishcd their houses, how they supplied their tables, how they entertained their guests, how they regarded their wives and ehildren, and in what esteem they held their horses and dogs. We learn with what thoughts they looked up to the stars, with what longing and admiring eyes they looked out on the neighboring azure sea as it lay along their sharp horizon, ever glittering with its rippling laughter, and with what a shuddering awe they thought of the mysterious and unexplored ocean which extended beyond, how far and whither they knew not. We are made to know how the Greeks viewed the present life in its wealth and friendship, its prizes and honors, its love of country and of glory, its comforts of home and its delights of love, and how they sought to penetrate into the life un- seen, filling it with the shapes of beauty and of terror with* which their brilliant mythology also peopled the earth and the air. We visit Greece with longing expectations. We rejoice in its transparent atmosphere and delight in its beautiful islands and azure sea. We admire the few rem- nants of its temples and shrines. But we are appalled at the misery and degradation of its present inhabitants, and cannot find the lively and polished Greek whom we look for among the loungers in the market places of Athens or the attendants upon its university. We can only find him as we study the comedies of Aristophanes. AVe look for Socrates in the scanty and starveling groves which we fancy may be haunted by his shade, but we can only find Socrates where we find Aleibiades and Plato, in the dia- logues written by Plato himself, and in Xenophon's sketches from the life. We go to the Pnyx to hear Demosthenes, and to the Areopagus to listen to Paul, but it is only in the recorded words of each that we can either hear the orators or see their audiences. We visit Damascus, Syria, and Palestine. Simple his- tory, even when it is the best constructed, and the most 280 Books and Reading. [Chap. xvil foithful, can only givs us imperfect impressions of the people which once inhabited the now half deserted plains and mountains. The brief, but graphic, annals of Jewisli .patriarclis and kings supply us only with the facts con- cernins: the external life of the tribes that once made these deserts blossom as the rose. But in these records Ave can neither find the people as they were, nor can we imagine how they felt and lived. We must go to Job to find the devout man of the desert, the counterpart of Abraham, the father of his people ; but with Job and the Odyssey to- gether, we begin to understand the monotheistic patriarch of the East. When we study the code of laws which Moses enacted, and the solemn counsels with which he en- forced these laws, we learn more of who the Hebrew peo- ple were. If we proceed to study those matchless Psalms, in which God was praised for the glory of the heavens, the beauty of the stars, the tumult of the storm and the noise of the ocean over which He thundered with His aw- ful voice; the Psalms in which His holiness was extolled, the victories of His leadership were recounted, the nation's feasts of thanksgiving and sacrifice were solemnized, and the glory of Jerusalem was fitly set forth ; in which also the prayer and praise, the penitence and thankfulness of the individual worshiper were expressed in words which have never been surpassed ; tlicn, and not till then, do we learn, in the spirit of Hebrew poetry, the spirit of the Hebrew peoj)le. If we follow- on through the sad lamenta- tions of their propiiets, their fierce rebukes, their faithful admonitions, and their glorious predictions, w^e learn to know this j)eople more perfectly in their evil as well as their good, in their sad perverseness, as well as their many repentings and frequent returns to God. Moreover it is only in all these treasures of poetic and prophetic litera- ture, that we trace the rising of the star of promise, till it Chap. XVII.] Literary Hldory and Criticism. 281 stood at last over Bethlehem, and heralded the angelic shouts of glad tidings of great joy. We wander lingering from Bethlehem to Calvary, — in those holy fields, Over whose acres walked those blessed feet. Which, eighteen hundred years ago, were nailed For our advantage to the bitter cross, studying the path in which those footsteps lie, if perhaps we may catch some vision of the present Jesus. But both in Bethlehem and at the Sepulchre, we hear the answer to our longings, He is not here. He is risen. As we read the history which records His deeds, we cannot bring Him back to the desolate land which He once inhabited. But as we read His own words in the most precious legacy which human literature has preserved, we seem to see Him living — and while we worship at His feet, we rejoice .in His benediction. When we go to Rome and Italy we cannot find the old Romans, however earnestly we search for them in their sepulchres, in the Forum, or the Coliseum, or however sanguinely we look to see them repeated in the population which now inhabits the Eternal city. We cannot revive them to our imaginations by the unaided force of all the suggestions which haunt the Tiber or the Appian way. We find them only as we consult the letters of Cicero and of Pliny, and the poems of Virgil, of Lucan, and of Lu- cretius, or study the treatises of Seneca and Antoninus. The old Roman life re-appears in the incidental records of their thoughts and feelings, wliich we find in these and similar writers, and in the incidental glimpses which they give of the life of the people with whom they had to do. As we compare ancient literature with modern, we reach the confident conclusion, that the virtues of the ancients were patriotism, hospitality, friendship, and honor, all re- stricted in their sphere, however noble in kind, and limited 282 Booh and Heading. [Chap. xvii. to certain external duties and elevated sentiments. We miss entirely the self-denying love of man as man, which Christianity sanctioned by the most characteristic act of its great founder. The Christian love to enemies, the Christian forgiveness of injuries, its sweet and contented submission to adversity, its patience under undeserved wrong, the overcoming evil with good — all being special virtues of the temper, springing from charity as the bond of their perfectness — -were not known, we do not say in the practice of the ancients, but they were not honored as elements of their ideal. All this we know from their lit- erature when it is critically studied as a trustworthy re- presentation of the people's inner life. From the litera- ture of the ancients wc learn with satisfactory certainty the place which woman held in the house and in society. We know that in the esteem and affections of the best and the purest, she did not hold the place, with tlie rarest excep- tions, which she now holds in the confidence and love of myriads of households and of hearts. The ideal man of the noblest ancient schools, was immeasurably inferior to the ideal man of multitudes of humljle and uncultured C'hristian communities. We learn all this from what is plainly manifest in the literatures of the ancient and modern worlds. Tlie importance of the critical study of literature as an aid to the interpretation of modern history is equally mani- fest. It is even more so, because the appliances which lit- erature furnishes for the exposition of many periods of mo- 3ern histor}^ are so much more varied than those whicli il- lustrate the best known of any of the ancient generations. The reign of Queen Elizabeth is reflected, as in a magic mirror, in the plays and letters, in the sermons and diaries of her time. The times of the memorable conflict between Puritan and Cavalier can be almost literally reproduced from the direct and indirect sketches which were made of Chap. XVII.] Literary History and Criticism. 283 its various characters and scenes, in the manifold forms of literature ^vhich were photographed from the life by un- conscious artists. The writings of Swift and his compeers, the plays and songs of the hour, libels and street placards, sermons and letters — all these were materials which en- abled Thackeray, with the rarest critical discernment to re- construct his admirable historical tale of the days of Queen Anne. It was out of the literature of their several periods that Scott was able almost to recreate these periods. The service of the critical study of literature is as great to the reader of history as it is to the writer. No onfe can fully appreciate the history of any people or of any period by relying on the descriptions and judgments of others. He must, in a certain sense, construct this historv for him- self, even when he reads it as constructed by others ; at least he must reinforce the assertions, and verify the con- clusions of his authorities, by looking for himself, so far as he may, upon the people and events described, and doing this face to face. This he can in no way do so effectually as by studying their literature. But in order to do this with the most eminent success, most readers require the aid of the philosophical critic, to explain the relations of litera- ture to history. Seventh. The critical study of literature is of service to biography as well as to history. If we can read the times of an author by the pictures of them which he reflects in his writings, ranch more can we learn the character of the author himself by the sentiments and feelings with which he reproduces his times, as they are seen in the shadings and colors with which he represents them. If a man's pri- vate letters are often the best materials out of which to con- struct his biography, it should be remembered that much of what he publishes as his works are in some sense his public letters, his epistles to the world and to posterity, as these convey, not alone what he professedly aims to produce 284r Books and Reading. [Chap. xvii. and record, but often much more of what he unconsciously reveals. Some books from their very nature, reveal very little of their author's feelings and character. But very many books communicate much more, at times, than he de- signs or desires. The sonnets of Shakspeare, the poems of Milton, the playful and serious essays of Cowper, the med- itations of Wordsworth, the passionate outbreaks of Byron, the vague aspirations of Shelley, and the prolonged lament of Tennyson, when skillfully interpreted, enable us to pe- netrate into the secrets of their hearts, and open to us the hidden springs of their character. It is the office of the critic to dist'riminate between what does and what does not express the man, and thus to interpret the man by many of bis works ; and the service which he renders to the reader Ls often of surpassing mterest. CHAPTER XVIII. THE CRITICISM OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. The features of modern criticism which have been enu- merated, may suffice. We may perJiaps more profitably, as well as more practically, proceed to consider our own literature as a field for its exercise. AVe may aver with confidence, that English literature furnishes the amplest, the most varied, and the most interesting materials for the critic, of any whether ancient or modern. It ought not to surprise us that it should. The compound structure of the language gives an advantage to the writer as well as to the philologist, furnishing often a richer choice of terms, a greater variety of phrases, and a wider range of structure, than is possible for any other modern tongue. That this structure pertains to its form alone is true, but the form in this instance happens to furnish large capacities for the (em- bodiment and expressions of a rich and manifold material. This material is rich and manifold, chiefly, because its peo- ple have been free, have been bold in thought, and earnest in feeling. They have been moved and stirred by the largest spirit of adventure in commerce, in war, in coloniz- ing, and in self-government. They have had an intense religious spirit, manifested in a sufficient variety of forms, and inspiring to fervent faith, to martyr-like boldness, and to consistent and heroic self-denial. They have had ear- nest political struggles /or the crown and against the crown —for the liberty of the commons, and the traditional rights of the people, and for the divine right of kings, and the dignity of the royal prerogative. Thev have had sacred 285 286 Books and Rcauing. [Chap, xviii and happv homes, — firc-^ide enjoyments hallowed by domes- tic love, and made doubly sacred and dear by ancestral re- collections. They have had cxhaustless and irrepressible humor — an inborn love of noisy hihirity, an infinitude of original characters to provoke this humor, and insj)ire the songs of a people ever ready to be excited to uproarious merriment. They have had a free press — a free pulpit, and free newspapers, in spite of occasional censorship, packed juries, and venal judges. If we trace the history and characteristics of this litera- ture Avc may well be amazed at its varied riches, and be excited to avail ourselves of its inviting stores by a more earnest as well as a more critical use of its ample resources. We begin with Chaucer. In the Canterbury Tales %ve have a wortliy counterpart to the Odyssey, giving as they do, a graphic and varied picture of the many-sided life, and the strongly marked characteristics which, even at this very early period, were manifest among the English peo- j)le. Indeed we could not desire a more satisfactory illus- tration of the trutli and justice of all that we have said of literature as a field for the study of history, than is fur- nished in thes2 tales of Chaucer. The attentive reader c.innot fail to observe how eminently true it is that the times illustrate the author and the author illustrates his times; how, through tlicse tales, we have a direct insight into the manners and the sentiments, the customs and the philosophy of our ancestors, as they were, and as they lived some five hundred years ago. We have only to look tlirough this magic show glass, and we are transported back to the very scenes which were then transacted, and those eirly times live again before oir eyes. It is not a lifeless chronicle which we read, it is not a grave description, not a careful analysis, not a logical generalization, such as the annalist and the historian furnish. It is not even an his- torical novel in which a writer of a later period has endea-' Chap. XVIII.] The Criticism of English Literature. 287 vored to recreate the times as he conceived tiiera, but it is an unconscious painter of the men and the manners with which he was conversant. How strong and bold-hearted were those men, how natural their manners, — how bravo and sincere, how humorous and tender-hearted, how bene- ficent and devout were the sentiments which they express. After a long and somewhat dreary interval, we come to the age of Shakspeare, and not to the age of Shakspeare alone, but to that of Spenser and Sidney, and Raleigh, and Hooker, and Bacon, and Ben Jonson, and the train of dra- matists of whom Jonson was the representative and the head. We call this truly the golden age of English literature, and we ask what agencies could have produced such writers as these ? We find our answer — first in the original force of the English stock, that under all the burdens of royal and church I y oppression, had never been corrupted or crushed, but. had held its own in the halls of the gentry, the farm-houses of the yeomen, and the cottages of the laborers. This vital force was marvellously aroused by the Protestant Reformation, and when after many struggles, a Protestant Queen had come to the throne, it experienced, as it were, a thrill of newly created energy. Foreign wars, commercial adventures, romantic discoveries, all united to keep this young life excited to its utmost tension, and to move it by an inward ferment. The thoughts of men were great in those times ; their hopes were unbounded ; their feelings were fervent, their self-confidence M"as untram- meled ; their power of expression was untamed. They had at their command the language not as yet shaped by critics or developed into any normal structure, — a fit instrument for the young giants, rejoicing in their strength, who were ready to use it, each as he would. Could the reader de- sire a studv more invitins; than that to which the literature of those active and hopeful days invites him? Whether he wculd study the authors or their times, or both together, 288 Books and Reading. [Chap. xviil Mhcthcr he would study the matter or the form of litera- ture, — tliought, sentimeut, and imagery, on the one hand, or diction, rhythm, and i)eriodic power on the other, — he could ask for nothing more exciting or more rewarding than what is furnished here. The age of Milton follows, and not of Milton only, but of Taylor and Sir Thomas Browne, of Baxter and Bunyan, of Ilobbes and Fuller. Here the English life — and -with it English literature — appears in other forms, more fixed, and serious, and grave, but with not a whit of its force abated, nor auglit of -its fiery energy repressed. Imagina- tion is still as soaring as ever, and the manifold and seem- ing exhaustle&s varieties of diction illustrate the resources and the plastic capacities of the English language. This period was marked for its political struggles and its reli- gious strifes, for its intense feeling and its strong thinking ; for its ardent longings and its patient endurance, and above all, for its faith in God and in man ; and all these influences shaped the literature, as the literature helped to form the period. The age of Dryden followed, and not of Dryden only, but of South, and Locke, and Boyle, and Newton. It \vas a tamer period, in Mhich accuracy of thought, and exactness of language, and symmetry and conciseness of style, aiid repression of feeling, and caution in imagery, were all con- spicuoas. It was an age of repression and of criticism, as was natural after the real and imagined excesses of princi- ple and feeling wliich had characterized the times of the Commonwealth, — an age in which religion declined and im- morality was less restrained — an age of frt;e thinking and unbelief which were scarcely held in check by the efforts of Lf)cke and Boyle. With an age thus characterized by the life of the people, the literature of the period sympathized. First of all, it was the period in which the modern and the better English style was developed and fixed — pre-emi' Chap, xviii.] The Criticism of English Literature. 289 nently by Dryden. Next criticism itself was first applied with systematic aims and definite results. In this Dryden was also conspicuous. With more accurate thinking and careful writing, there were not wholly lost the fire of feeling and the splendor of imagination which had distinguished the earlier periods. Then followed the age of Pope, and not of Pope alone, but also of Addison, Swift and Shaftesbury, and these were closely followed by Bishops Butler, Berkeley and Warbur- ton, by De Foe, Richardson, Fielding and Smollett. It was an age in no wise distinguished for earnestness or for faith, an age of conventionalities, gaiety, and frivolity, an age of free living, and of free thinking, an age in which satire and sneering criticism would be likely to flourish, and in which both were abundant. As was the life, such was the litera- ture of the period, with here and there an exception, ]^or the ease and felicity of its prose diction, and for the corn^ct- ness and smoothness of its verse to the ear — it has been called the Augustan age of English literature, but the per- fection of form to which it brought this literature scantily compensated for the loss of those higher qualities by which the earlier periods had been distinguished. In the latter half of the same century there was a change for the better. This was the period of Johnson, and of Burke, of Thomson, Goldsmith, and Cowper. The nation- al life grew more serious. The lower classes had been moved to greater religious earnestness by Wesley, AVhite- field, and others. The higher were tired by the empti- ness and dissoluteness, by the heartlessness and frivolity of the generations before them, — there was a longing after better things, and to this longing the literature of the period gave expression in manifold signs. Then came the French Revolution, filling many hope- ful and sanguine spirits with ardent enthusiasm, and stir^ ring their minds with inquiries which led to profounder 19 290 Books and Reading. [Chap, xviri. t^tudios of the principles of moral, political, and theologi- cal truth — then the inevitable reaction, involving strong repressive measures, and dividing society into angry sec- tions, — then the long and costly wars of the Allies, and the exciting career of the first Napoleon. All these move- ments in English thought, attended, as they were, by the ?orrupt demoralization of the court and example of the last of the Georges, were reflected in English literature as it presents itself in the first thirty years of the present cen- tury. This is the jieriod of Scott and Burns, of Byron and Shelley, of Coleridge and Southey, of Wordsworth and "Vilson, of Macaulay and Hallam, of Jeffrey and Mackin- losh. Literature is sharply divided into oj)posing schools - —expressing the divided sentiment and opinion of the /"English nation. Foremost among them is that catholic ynd comprehensive school which dared to free itself from the fashion of the day in both thought and diction, and to ^.o back to the English writers of the earlier j)eriods, ;.nd to vindicate Shakspeare, and Milton, and Hooker, and Bacon, from the neglect into which they had fallen. !More than all, this school dared to vindicate for itself the liberty to use all the resources of the English language, as well as to sound all the depths of English thought and feel- ing after the ancient wavs. "While in one direction, as with Byron, literature is passionate and Satanic, and in another, as with Shelley, it is blasphemous and atheistic ; while in Scott it is brilliantlv romantic; while wiih Hal- lam and ^lackintosh it is solidly earnest ; with Coleridge, "Wordsworth, Southey, and Wilson, it is more thoughtful and affectionate, it is mindful of nature and of God, and above all it dares to be true to whatever is best in hu- man chanutcr and aspiration. With this school and its awakened interest in all the older literature, there arose also the sj)irit of historical and philosoj)hi('al criticism, which has very largely contributed to the many-sided, and Chap.xviii.] The Criticism of English TJtevdture. 291 in general, the elevated literature of the present genera- tion. Of this recent literature we need not write, for to attempt to characterize it would lead us beyond our limits. This English literature is our heritage, and to study it should be our delight and occupation. That it may be a delight, it must be, in some sense, an occupation. If we are to judge of it in a truly critical spirit, — if we are to understand historically its authors and the times in which they lived — if we are to judge of it philosophically, and to read intelligently its graver, writers of the past, or the more novel and fresher of the present, — we must read it earnestly and comprehensively ; we must make it our i5tudy — not a study that is painful or repulsive — but one that is patient, systematic, and earnest. English literature when once it has become a familiar field of intelligent study, brings this advantage, that it is a field which the student will never be able and never will desire to desert. To him who has learned to read aright, every week will bring some fresh tale, or poem, or essay, or history ; every season will introduce some fresh author, summoning the reader to a new feast of delight, which will be none the less keenly enjoyed, because it is enjoyed with a chastened taste, and is judged with critical aj)pre- ciation. All the life-long, amid its cares and its sorrows, its employments and its leisure, there will be at hand a capacity and a taste for those satisfying and elevating plea- sures, — which instruct while they delight, — which lead us upwards to heaven, while they make us content with the earth. No class of habits that are purely intellectual can possibly enter so largely into our happiness for life, as those habits of reading with discrimination and with ardor, which are formed by abundant studies in the history and criticism of English literature. The appliances for such studies are ample and accessible, 292 Books and Beading. [Chap, xnu and they are likely constantly to increase. We have R. Chatnbei-s' Cyclopedia of English Literature, which is fur- nishoil with separate biogra[)hical sketches of the leading English authors, and sufficiently copious extracts from their works. This may serve as a convenient guide and refer- ence book, after which to mark and map out one's journey. Dr. G. L. Craik's compendious History of English Litera- ture and of the English Language from the Norman Con- quest, is more learned and critical, while it is unequal in its character, some portions being skillfully and carefully written, and others being hastily and superficially sketched. Its estimates of authors and its tone are in general very candid and judicious. Abraham Mills' Literature and Jjiferary Men of Great Britain and Ireland is a well con- sidered and trustworthy book. H. Morley's two volumes, English Writers before Chaucer, From Chaucer to Dun- bar, are far more learned, and the work when comi)lete bids fair to be an encyclopedia of learned criticism in the literature of England. S. A. Allibone's Critical Dictiona- ry of English Literature and British and American Authors is at once the most extensive and complete reference book for facts and dates and critical estimates, that can be found in any language. Special editions of the earlier po^s, as Chaucer and Spenser, are now accessible; also of single poems and plays of the earlier writers, which are -designed for school purposes, and for tlie general reader. Cheap reprints of the best single works of the older writers, as Arber's Reprints and The Bayard Series promise to dif- fuse more extensively a taste for reading of this kir,d, by making it possiI)le for every one to gratify it. The publi- cations of the early English Text Society are doing the same scrvi(« for scholars. R. Tauchnitz's Five Centuries vf English Literature is a very instructive selection. J. P. Collier's Early English IJtrrature is critical and al)lc. E. A. and S L. Duykinck's Cyclopedia of American Literal Ceiap. xviil] The Critic'wn of English Literatare. 293 ture is carefully and faithfully prepared, and is a classical work of reference and autliority. 0. D. Cleveland's Man- uals, entitled A Compendium of English Literature, Eng- lish Literature of the Idth Centurjj, and A Compendium of American Literature, as well as his edition of Milton^s Po- etical Works with a verbal index, are very convenient and useful books, which are wisely used in many seminaries, and arc good substitutes for the more bulky works of re- ference which we have cited. Thomas B. Shaw's Complete Manual of English Literature, with a volume of selections from English authors, may be confidently recommended as compact and well prepared volumes ; also Wm. Spalding's History of English Literature. The same is true of An- Qus's Hand-book of English Literature, and Specimens of English Literature. Prof. Henry N. Day's Introduction to English Literature may be safely trusted as scholarly and ingenious. Thomas Arnold's Manned of English Litercdwre Histo7'ical and Critical, is a solid and judicious historv^, such as we should expect from a son of the genial and loving critic who was once master of Rugby. H. Hallam's In- troduction to the Literature of Europe is always judicious and often full in its notices of English authors. In all the general Encyclopedias, the biography and bibliography and criticism of English and American authors is usually co- piously given. Jn what is called the higher criticism of literature, as has been already intimated, our own language is in some re- spects deficient. In others it is abundantly supplied. Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesie is worthy of a writer ivho had a poet's phantasy and a critic's delicacy of discrim- ination. With the exception of Sidney, Dryden is the ear- liest critic who rose above the mere technics of form and aimed to be at once just and genial, but Dryden's criticisms are too brief and limited to render any satisfactory service. Addiscn's Papers in The Specfcdor upon Milton^ s Paradise 294 Books and Reading. [Chap, xviii. Lost are examples of a well intended attempt to attain to something- higher in criticism than could easily be achieved in those times. Samuel Johnson was an omnivorous as well as an appreciative reader and a discriminating critic. His Lives of the Pods, his remarks upon writers in the Ram- bler, and his familiar talks concerning them which are recorded by Boswell, are fraught with good sense and not wanting in discrimination, but his comprehension of the aims of criticism was limited, and his standard was in many respects conventional. The so-called British Essayists con- tain more or less of criticism upon standard and current writers, which certainly did not rise above that of Johnson and Addison. The Gentleman's Magazine and the other monthlies, with Dodsley's Annual Register, neither aimed at, nor attained to anything l)etter. The establishment of the Quarterly Reviews within the present century gave a powerful impulse to the critical ex- amination of books and the critical study of literature, opening as they did an opportunity for some of the ablest critics of their time, to express their opinions upon the lead- ing authors of the day. The time of the establishment of the first was nearly coincident with the awakening in Great Britain of the new and better criticism, and these re- views were at once the cause and the effect of this awak- ened spirit. Sir Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Sir James Mackintosh, Lord Brougham, Lord Macaulay, Robert Southey, and Sir Walter Scott, Sir James Stephen and many others have contributed critical papers of surpassing al)ility to some one of the leading British Reviews. But most of these reviews were conducted in a political as well as a literary s])irit, and many of their best critical papers are written in a tone that is ambitious of smartness and effect in the forms of expression, rather than of justice and candor in their estimates of authors and their works. In later years this partisan feeling has been greatly Chap. XVIII.] The Criticism of English Literature. 205 Boftened, and many of the critical papers in these reviews have been composed in the spirit of eminent fairness and honor. A general feeling of homage to public justice has gained a strong hold of many of the leading minds in Eng- land and America, and the trenchant and slashing charac- ter of a review does not always save its injustice and par- tiality from general reprobation; much less does it com- mand as formerly almost universal praise. While it is true that at present the leading English Quarterlies do not maintain that exclusive prominence in the field of criticism which they formerly held, they are still very ably conducted and contain many papers of masterly superiority from the foremost men of the present time. The better criticism of England and America, as we have already explained, was either inspired from Germany, or it grew up with that interest in German literature which forced the English critics to confess that in some tilings England might learn from the continent. The writings of the Schlegels were early translated and read in the English language. Previous to this time, however, Wordsworth had written the profound, and in many re- spects, just criticisms upon Poetry which are found in his prefaces, appendix and postscript to the earlier editions of his Lyrical Ballads. Coleridge also, soon began to astonish the literary world by his public lectures upon Shakspeare, and by the bold and comprehensive criticisms which are to be found in his Biographia Literaria, and his occasional contributions to periodical literature. His conversations with many of the leading writers and critics of his time, were stimulating and attractive, and did much to create a new school of sympathetic and enlightened admirers for the best, and till then, much neglected older English writers. The Retrospective Review, a quarterly devoted exclusively to the criticism and history of the earlier English writers exercised a powerful influence for good. The series is an iu- 296 Books and Beading. [Chap. xviil valuable acquisition to English critical literature. Waltoi Savage Landor, in his Imaginary Conversations, taught a few select but admiring readers what it is to seek to put one's self in the place of a great writer and a great mind of another nation, and of other times. Prof John Wilson, better known as Christopher North, invested criticism it- self with the dignity and interest of original creation, by filling his Nudes Anibrosiana', and other papers in Black- wood's jSIagazine with the most enthusiastic and genial criticisms that ever proceeded from an English pen. W. Hazlitt, in spite of his prejudices, gave many examples of a discriminating appreciation of the older and of contem- poraneous writers. Leigh Hunt did the same with a far more loving spirit. Mrs. Jameson wrote a whole theory of the varieties of female character in her criticisms of the female personages of Shakspeare, entitled Characteristics of Women. Thomas Carlyle almost began his literary Jiife by a delightful article on Burns, in the Edinburgh Review, in which, for once, he wrote English as other people do. Thomas De Qnincey through his multitudinous papers of a critical and gossiping character, has done much to stimu- late and to gratify interest and curiosity in the literary men of his times. Hartley Coleridge has, if possible, surpasiied his father in his sagacious and well-l)alanced, yet wa.'m and hearty judgments of his favorite authors. Thackeray's Lectures on the English Humorists has the double merit of opening a new vein and working it successfully. The elder D'Israeli has done not a little to interest the public in literature and in authors by the miscellaneous contribu- tions contained in his Curiosities of Literature, hh Amenit ies of Literature, and liis more mctliodical essay on the Literary Character. N. Drake's Essays, Memorials of Shakspeare, and Shakspeare and his Times, are worth consulting, at least, as showing one step in the transition to a bett(!r style of criticism. Meanwhile, the excellent Chap. XVII I.] Th.c Cnticlsm of English Literature. 297 work upon Shakspeare of the estimable and industrious Hermann Ulrici has been made known to the English peo- ple. Goethe has been extensively read by English littera- teurs who have imbibed his spirit, and been taught by his example. The extensive school of German historians and critics of their native literature, has also become familiar to not a few English and Americans, and inspired them with a laudable desire to imitate their example in dealing with their own writers. The French have also taught something in respect to criticism. The comprehensive work of H. Taine upon English Literature, and his other works of art-criticism are genial, and almost recreative. The appreciative and subtle, the acute yet always civilized Salute Beuve has en- forced by abundant and attractive examples, the impression of what criticism may and ought to become. Matthew Arnold has inculcated these same lessons in his Essay in Critiaism ; Culture and Anarchy ; On the Study of Celtic Literature, better sometimes by his precepts than by his own practice. Interesting examples of what criticism may and ought to be are to be found in the Hours icith the Mystics by the lamented R. A. Vaughan, in the Prefaces and notes of Henry Taylor, as well as in his Notes on Books, and in the Dublin Afternoon Lectures upon Literature and Art which have now reached their fifth annual volume. Indeed there are few volumes in the English language which are better fitted to inspire and instruct the student of literature and of criticism, than the volumes of this series, or which de- serve to be more generally known. Prof. David Masson is deserving of especial notice for his excellent volume The British. Novelists, etc.j to which we have previously referred. His Life of Milton, of which one volume only has been published, is a mine of critical and historical research on its illustrious subject and his times. His Recent British Philosophy is a contribution to literary as well as philoso' 298 Books and Heading. [Chap, xvrii. pliical criticism. Prof. J. C. Shairp's Studies in Poetry and Philosophy are genial and discriminating. E. S. Dal- la.?, under the enigmatical title of The Gay Science has published a work, which tliough it contains many caprices and oddities, is yet of rare interest so far as it treats of the principles which arc fundamental to the critical en- joyment of literature. F. W. Newman On Homerio Translation and Matthew Arnold's papers on the same t(ipic, are instructive and stimulating. F. W. Newman's Miscellanies contains a series of Lectures on Poetry to which we have referred. Guesses at Truth, The Oxford, Cmn- bridge and Udinburyh Essays, Peter's Letters to his Kins- folk, Dr. J. Brown's Horce Suhsecivce — better known among us as Spare Hours — contain much that is suggestive and inspiring to the critic. To a very large extent the Biographies of literary men include criticisms on their works and those of their contemporaries, and some of the most interestino; criticisms in the lano-uag-e arc found in the familiar letters of distinguished persons concerning the works and authors of the season and the week while each was the novelty of the hour. Tn tlie United States, literary activity has to a large ex- tent taken the form of literary criticism. We have had critics of the old school and of the new. Amono; those of the old are the prominent contributors to the North Amer- ican Review, as Alexander and Edward Everett, the brothers W. B. O. and 0. W. B. Peabodv, also Rev. Pro- fessor A. P. Peabody, Prescott the historian, George El- lis, Francis Bowcn, and scores of others. Of the new or modern school the following are prominent: Henry Reed, Horace Binney Wallace, Orestes A. Brownson, Mar- garet FuHer Ossoli, George Ripley, H. T. Tuckerman, E. P. Whipple, Richard Grant White, Henry N. Hud- son and James Russell Lowell. Mr. Feed is conspicu- ous for his laljors on Wordsworth and Shakspeare — ' Ch.vp. xvirr.] The Criticism of Enr/lish Literature. 299 Mr. Wallace for his spirited criticisms upon art and phi loso^diy — Mr. liipley for the very elaborate and genial lit- erary notices which have formed so conspicuous a feature in the Neiv Yot'k Tribune for so many years — Mr. Brown- son for the trenchant and aggressive review which was for so many years sustained by his name — Margaret Fuller Ossoli for an enthusiasm which was almost genius — Mr. Tuckerman for the faithful and patient labor which has been bestowed on so many literary and art topics — Mr. Whipple for the careful research and elaboration of his analyses and delineations, especially those in his Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabtth — Mr. Hudson for his knowledge of, and his enthusiasm for Shakspeare and his vigorous way of putting his thoughts — Mr. White for his many explorations into curious literary facts, and his nice discriminations — Mr. Lowell for his masterly though personal Frthle for Critics, as also for his discriminating and kindling literary papers. We have by no means named all who deserve notice, but these may suffice. The reader who has followed us thus fixr, will have learned still flirther to seek and find for himself, and to judge what he requires better than we can judge for him. We ought not in this connection to omit all notice of the history and criticism of the Fine Arts, inasmuch as a critical interest in Art is nearly allied to a taste for literature. The standard English authors in English literature before the days of Ruskin and the Germans, were Alison on Taste, Burke On the Sublime and lieautiful, Price On the Picturesque, Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses, Horace Walpole's Aiiecdotes of Painting, Lanzi's History of Painting, Vasari's Lives of the Paijiters, Fuseli's Sculp- tors and Architects, and Hogarth's Anilgsis of Beauty. But since the German criticism began to make itself felt in Art as well as Literature, we have J.Winckelmann's His- tory of Ancient Art, C. O. Miiller's Ancient Art and its 300 Books and Reading. [Chap.xviil Bemains, F. T. Kiigler's Hand-hoolc of Painting^ {German^ Fiemish, and Butch ScJtooIs),aho Iland-hook of Painting in Itahj. More recently AV. Liibke's History of The. ArtSy J. Ferguson's Illustrated History of Architecture, J. H. Parker's Glossary of Teryns of Architecture, all of the last four being abundantly illustrated. Following in the footsteps of tiie Germans Ave have A. W. Lindsay's Sketches of Christian Art, Mrs. Jameson's Memoirs of Early Italian Painters, Sacred and Legendary Art, His- tory of our Lord in Works of Art, C. L. Eastlake's Con- tributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts and other kin- dred works. We ought not to omit to name Dunlap's His- tory of the Arts of Design in the United States and H. T. Tuckerman's Book of The Artists; nor G. W. Samson'a Art Criticism and S. Spooner's Art Dictionary. Since John Ruskin first took the modern world by Btorm in his 3Iodern Painters, and began to follow the first impression by a succession of stimulating volumes, the subject of art and criticism generally has been invested with new interest to a multitude of readers who never thought before earnestly concerning either. There is little danger that a very considerable number of Ruskin's readers will adopt his theories in full, or would be injured by th«m if they should. The exciting, and at the same time de- vating (character of all his wi'itings, has been acknow- ledged with enthusiastic appreciation by the great number of Headers who feel that they have been wisely taught by him many valuable lessons in the observation of nature as well as in their judgments of art and literature. His works or selections from thera, cannot be too warmly re- commended for their moral as well as their aesthetic excel- lence. Now and then a young j)erson may be overborne and swallowed n\) by Ruskin, but there are very few who iiavc read him with ardor who Ijave not been greatly bene- fited. Chap. XVIII.] TJic Criticism of English Literature. 301 Books on the English Language, and on language in general deserve a passing notice in this place inasmuch as reading on these subjects comes legitimately within the scope of the general title of this chapter. The number of school grammars is well nigh boundless, and among them there is a great variety in respect of excellence. Of Philoso- phical Grammars of the English language there is a lamen- table deficiency. It is in the German language only that we find those which are at all satisfactory and truly scientific. The works of E,. G. Latham, and the grammar of W. C. Fowler are perhaps the best. George P. Marsh's Lectures on the English Language and Origin and History of the English Language, stand prominent as treatises adapted for general reading. R. C. Trench On the Study of Words, English Past and Present, and Select Glossary of English Words are instructive and popular books. W. Swinton's Rambles among Words, and Scheie De Vere's Studies in English are books which excite and gratify curiosity. The attention which has everywhere been given to the study of Anglo-Saxon and of the early English, promises to yield large contributions to this class of works. In General Philology, which is a subject that interests very many general readers, the following books may be named : Max Muller's Lectures on Language, Chiles from a German Workshop, W. T>. Whitney's Language and the Study of Language, F. W. Farrar On the Origin of Lan- guage, B. W. Dwight's Modern Philology, and J. Stod- dart's Glossology. The study of words in their general aspects and of language is very nearly akin to literary criticism, and careful and critical attention to the style of the authors we read, is itself a most important means of culture, as well as a source of high enjoyment. For this reason such works as Dean Alford's The Queen s English, G. W. Moon's Bad English and The Deans English, and E. S. Gould's Good English are well worth reading. The 302 Boohs and Reading. [Chai-. xviit. habit of consulting an English Dictionary in reading is not maintained as commonly as it should be by intelligent persons. No single habit is at once so eminently the cause and the indication of careful attention to the lano-uag-o which we use, and an edicient training to the best kind of culture. It involves daily and hourly criticism of the use of an instrument which cannot be correctly and felicitously applied Avithout accurate and careful thinking <^ud active and refined sensibility. CHAPTER XIX. BOOKS OF SCIENCE AND DUTY. Philosophical and ethical reading next claim our at- tention, and those books which aim to eclarge or confirm our convictions of Truth or to convince and incite us with respect to Duty. We use the words philosophical and ethical in a very liberal sense — to define all those works whether longer or shorter, whcthei graver or less serious, which have for their direct object conviction or action in the light of permanent principles, in contradistinction from those books wdiich narrate facts or address the imagination. We do not include Theological and Religious reading, but reserve these for a separate chapter. We exclude all books and reading in technical or special science, because our de- sign contemplates only a general course of reading, and be- cause, for obvious reasons, the teachers and manuals of the several sciences may be relied on to direct to courses of special and technical study. We begin with the sciences of Nature, i. e., physical na- ture — for we hold that the universe of Xature includes the spiritual as truly as the material, and that it is inaccurate to restrict the word nature to matter, whetlier it be hard mat- ter or soft matter, whether it be solid and fixed as ada- mant or as impalpable and evanescent as the most dif- fused and diffusible of the gases. Most of the books upon these sciences wdiich are of the highest authority are necessarily technical. They require careful study and exact knowledge. Of these standard treatises there is a very large number, and they are constantly displacing one 303 304 Books and Reading. [Chap.xix, another, with the very progress of science itself. A few books only come within the range and scope of our discus- sion, but these few should not be omitted. For the general reader Alexander von Humboldt's Cosmos is the best single book which gives what was known concerning the physical universe or was regarded as established by scientific methods and scientific evidence, at the time when the illustrious author finished the work which was so splendid a ^^'naZe to his laborious life. This work is very concisely written and is often abstract and technical, but it will well repay slow and careful reading. The History of the progress of the sciences of nature, to the man of philo- sophical tastes is in the highest degree exciting and instruc- tive, especially when followed in the more recent stages of their rapid and brilliant development. William Whe- well's History of the Inductive Sciences from the earliest to the present time, is the best if not the only compendious work upon this general topic which is accessible. It meets all the wants of the general reader up to the time when it was written. J. F. W. Herschel's Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, is a clear and popular position of the methods of studying nature and of the grounds of our confidence in the processes of induction. W. AVhewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, after- wards re-wrought and published under the title of History of Scientific Ideas, etc., is much more ambitiously metaphy- sical and entirely beyond the reach of the general reader. John Stuart Mill's System of Logic Ratiocinative and In- ductive, treats in Book Third of the processes and laws of induction, more carefully and exhaustively than any other work. The defective philosophical system taught in it diminishes wry little from its practical value. The sub- stance of Mill's work may be found in abridgements, as W. Stebbing's Analysis of MilVs Loyic, and T. Fowler's Ele- ments of Inductive Logic. L. Agassi z's Essay on Classifi- Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 305 cation, is a treatise often referred to in respect to the phil- osophy of the inductive processes. His Methods of Study in Natural History, and Creological Sketches are at once popular and scientific. Arnold Guyot's Earth and Man comes within our rule, for though it treats in special of physical geography it discusses it very largely in its general relations to the history and development of tlie race. Many of the writings of the lamented Hugh Miller are very attractive to the unscientific reader, even when they are strictly technical, for tlie interest with which they invest physical research and the light they throw upon its pro- cesses. The same is true of many of the writings of Sir Humphry Davy, Sir Charles Bell, of Richard Owen, Michael Faraday, and of J. Tyndall. It is to be borne in mind that the press is literally oppressed by the number of superficial books in which the attempt is made to popu- larize science and to set forth its relations to the imagi- nation and to faith. To uninstructed minds and to those who have only a smattering of knowledge many of these writings are attractive just in proportion to their superfi- cialness and pretension. The style in which they are written is often vicious and inflated, and overloaded with tawdry ornaments. It is not wise either to trust the science taught in such books or to follow the imaginative flights to which they would exalt and inspire, unless their authors are known among scientific men to be men of requisite knowledge and of sound judgment. Although the phvsi- cal sciences are in their nature severe and in tl^eir requisi- tions exacting, they afford the amplest room for all grades of sciolists and pretenders as well as the widest range for every species of imaginative romancing. Science run mad is the maddest and the most uncontrollable of all forms of madness, as the steadiest and most trustworthy of hoi-ses is the most stiif-headed and unmanageable when he g^oes off in a fright or indulges in an escapade. It i.« !> safe 20 306 Books and Beading. [Chap. xix. rule uot to waste one's time or money on any of these pre- ttntious travesties of scientific truth, or works of science poe- tically treated. Among standard books of science in gen- eral and on some of the special sciences, may be named, Mary Somerville's T/ie Connection of the Physical Sci- ences, The Mechanism of the Heavens, and Physical Geo- graphy, L. Euler's Letters on Natural Philosophy, D. Olmsted's Letters on Astronomy, E. Loomis's Progress of Astronomy, J. Licbig's Familiar Letters on Chemistry, J. P. Cooke's Religion and Chemistry, G. P. Marsh's 31an and Nature, also J. Tyndall's Heat as a mode of Motion, Sound, H. F. Roscoe's Sjiectrum Analysis, E. L. You- mans', (cdr.) Correlation and Conservation of Forces, E, F. Burr's Ecce Caelum. Natural History differs from Natural Science, in that it is limited to descriptive classifications of living things and beings, and excludes reasoned theories of the laws and prin- ciples of the inorganic agencies and elements of the physical universe. The reading of works of this description is usu- ally fascinating to children and youth, and should be culti- vated assiduously in order to stimulate to the careful study of Botany and Zoology as the powers of observation are matured. In all these branches of study, as in Geology, we have manuals and authors of the liighest rank and trust- worthiness, as L. Agassiz, J. D. Dana, A. Gray and A. A. Gould, and many others. That observation of Nature which is within the roach of every person of active mind and curious tastes may be greatly stimulated by reading euch books as Gilbert White's Natural History of Sel- borne, W. Howitt's Book of the Seasons, G. B. Emerson's Forcfd.'i and Shriihs of Massachuseibi, Samuel's Birds of New Englnnd, T. ^\'. Harris' Bisects of Massachnsetts, L. H. Mf)rgan's Tlie American Beaver, J. G. Woofl's Illustrated Natural History, etc., all which are attractive and trust- wortliy. Such works as those of J. L. Michelet, The Bird, Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 307 and the many prepared by L. Figuier — those published in , The Library of Wonders from tiic French, The Universe by L. A. Pouchet, never cease to attract and reward the reader whether young or old, and they render a most im- portant service when they stimulate a family of children, especially if they have a home in the country, to use their eyes and ears in the observation of nature. If rightly used they furnish the happiest illustration of the remarks which we have made, that reading becomes most interesting and instructive when it is interpreted by, as well as when it directs the employments and amusements of the daily life. We are reminded by this of the important use which may be made of books and reading by those who cultivate the soil. The old and stupid prejudice against " book- farming" has almost entirely passed away. No person who reads this volume will be likely to retain the least remnant of it. A sense of the value of agricultural books and periodicals is now generally diffused throughout the community. It were difficult to decide what are the best books upon the many topics comprehended under this ex- tensive department. Every part of the country has thos(i which are thought to be the best. Every leadiiig journal and newspaper is usually interested in certain favorite writers. Should we attempt to furnish a select list which might be approved for the present year, it would probably be soon displaced in part in the year following. The list which we subjoin has been carefully studied by a compe- tent and discriminating authority who is endorsed by an author who stands high in favor with the farming as well as with the literary world. S. W. Johnson, Hoiv Crops Grow. How Crops Feed. G. E. ^yaring, Draining for Profit. J. J. Thomas, Farm Laplements. A. Gray, Field, Garden and Forest Botany. W. Darlington, American Weeds and Useful Plants. C. L. Flint, Grasses and For- 308 Books and Reading. [Chap, xix -age Plants. F. Buvr, Field and Garden Vegetables of America. P. Henderson, Gardening for Profit. J. J. Thomas, Fniit Cidturist. G. Husman, Graj)es and Wine 3Iaking. A. S. Fuller, Small Fruit Calturist. J. A. Hoopes, Forest Tree Calturist. Book of Evergreens. F. Parkman, i>oo/c of Roses. E. S. Rand, Jr. Bulbs. Sev- enty five Flowers. S. Tcnney, Natural History. R. L. Al- len, Domestic Animals. C. L. Flint, il/i/c/i Cows and Dairy Failing. H. W. Herbert, Hints to Horse-keepers. W. Youatt, The Horse. Harris, On the Pig. H. S. Randall, The Practical Shepherd. T. AV. PIarris,i/isecfe of Massa- chusetts. A. J. Downing, Landscape Gardening. L. L. Langstroth, The Hive and Honey Bee. D. G. jNIitcbell My Farm at Edgewood. Wet Days at Edgewood. From Agriculture to Psychology and Speculative Phil- osophy seems a long stride. It is a wide leap which car- ries us from the most concrete to the most abstract of topics. And yet the stride is by no means so long,. nor the leap so wide as would appear at first view. The cul- ture of the earth forces us to consider life in the plant and the animal, and we find ourselves before we know it as- cendins: from the soil and the clod into the fascination and mystery of that life which nature sustains by the earth and from the air. The study of life carries us up to finer and more subtle processes and powers so that before we are aware, we are confronted by the presence of spirit with its wondrous capacities and gifts and its still more wonderful intuitions and beliefs. The analysis of these implicates us in psycliological inquiries and metaphysical researches. Ethical priufiples spring out of the soul's inner being, and conscience and duty are seen to be clothed with authority by the soul and to be enforced by all the indications and utterances of the universe. God himself looks out upon US from all the windows of heaven and is felt by us to be Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 309 the strength and stability of the fabric of Nature and the institutions of human socictv. The mental and moral sciences are often abstruse, but they are not technical and special as are the so-called sciences of Nature, for the reason that the principles and facts with which they have to do are more within the reach of common minds and have a nearer relation to many of the higher interests and feelings of the race. They require less technical preparation in special studies, and hence are more accessible to the judgment and interest of any thought- ful and studious person. An intelligent reader, it is true, is not likely to be destitute of curiosity respecting mechanics or astronomy. But he is still less likely to be devoid of interest in those speculations which concern the nature of the soul, the sanctions of conscience, the rights and duties of men, the limitations of government and the destiny of the race. All men as soon as they begin to reflect, begin a course of metaphysical activity whether they know or not, and many a plain man whose reading is very limited is ready to be aroused to excited interest in speculative studies and in the history of such inquiries as conducted by others. Wherever men have been made earnest thinkers by theological discussions, political excitements or moral revolutions, there has it been uniformly true that the sub-, ject matter of speculative and moral philosophy has awakened a i)rofound and excited interest in the minds of the common men of the communitv. A great social con- vulsion, like the so-called Great Rebellion of 1640, the English Revolution of 1688, the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1848, or our own Civil War of 1861, forces even the ignorant and un- thinking to fall back upon the ultimate principles of politi- cal and social obligation and to discuss them with excited interest. It turns a nation of farmers and artisans into a school of acute and disputatious philosophers. The din of 310 Books and Reading. [Chap. xix. preparation for plivsical conflict in the field is usually inter- spersed with the hum of excited if not angry discussion and debate. The questions of the suffrage of women,of blacks and whites, of natives and foreigners, cannot be settled without an intelligent reference to the principles of ethical and political philosophy. The occuircnce of strikes, the organization of traders unions, the demands of the laborer, aiul the retorts of the cmjiloyer, force all parties to examine the doctrines and definitions of political and social science. Earnest religious excitements and controversies, whether they end in faith or in unbelief, compel every man who is interested, to a profound philosophical inquiry. All men who think earnestly upon fundamental questions must so far be philosophers. In this way is the fact to be ex- j)lained, that plain and even unlettered men are so often acute philosophical reasoners and are interested so profound- ly in boolvs and reading of a speculative character. This is especially true in a country like ours, so receptive of ideas and so quick to transmit them, all over which so many persons of active minds arc profoundly interested in great practical questions and are finding themselves as constant- ly forced to decide these by a reference to fundamental principles. Hence we explain the fact that there are mul- titudes of men making no pretence to extensive literary culture who not only take a strong interest in books on these subjects but are qualified to read and judge them with intelligence and discrimination. We do not consult the wants of the learned class, but provide for the occa- sions of the general reader when we suggest a course of reading in Philosophy. We begin with the History of Philosophy. While there is no general histoiy in the English language which meets all the wants of the general reader there are several which deserve to be named as worthy of perusal. F. D. Maurice's Hhiory of Moral and Mctnphynnal Philosophy is perhaps Chap, xix.j Books of Science and Duty. 31 1 the most readable of any. A. Schwegler's History of Phil- osophy translated from the German by Prof. J. H. Seelye, and a later edition with large additions by J. H. Stirling, is a very good brief manual. An Epitome of the History of Philosophy from a French manual translated by Prof. C. S. Henry, which is published in Harper's Family Library, is a convenient but rather dry book of reference. Mr. G. H. Lewes' Ili'itory of Philosophy is in some respects more erudite and acute than the work of Mr. Maurice, but it is written too decidedly in the negative spirit of the positive school to inspire entire confidence, especially as it is a car- dinal doctrine of this school that philosophical speculation is vain and profitless. A translation from the very learned and comprehensive manual of F. Ueberweg is now in course of publication, from which much may be expected of accurate .statement and intelligible information. For modern phil- osophy J. D. Morell's Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the \^th Century is a very comprehensive and convenient though not always sat- isfactory treatise. For the history of the modern German Philosophy H. M. Chalybiius's Historical Survey of Specu- lative Philosophy from Kant to Hegel is perhaps as good, i. e. as intelligible an account as could be expected from a German historian, of the jjrogress of a series of specula- tions which are confessedly dark and abstruse. In ancient philosophy in particular W. A. Butler's Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy arc the most satisfactory as they are the most eloquent history which the language can show. Mr. George Grote in his History of Greece gives a very attractive sketch of Socrates and the Socratic school, M'hile in his very elaborate work on Plato, and the other companions of Socrates, he has drawn out a careful outline of each of his works. Mr. Grote is in many cases unjust to Plato, so far at least as he interprets and judges him by the: tenets of the narrow and superficial school of philoso- 312 Booh and Heading. [Chap. xix. phy to Avhich ho liimsclf belongs. Mr. G. H. Lewes has devoted a special volume to the contributions of Aristotle to pliysical science. B. F. Cocker's Ohristianitij and Greek J^/tilosop/ii/ is a valuable discussion of the themes and the achievements of ancient speculation and a comparison of both with those of modern thought and the positive teach- ings of Christianity. For the history of speculative pliil- osophy in Great Britain nothing better can be named than Dugald Stewart's General View of the Progress of Meta- physical, Ethical and Political Philosophy, which as was natural is specially devoted. to British metaiihysicians, and Sir James Mackintosh's General View of the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, Both of these w^orks are very incom- plete and imperfect, though containing much valuable his- tory and criticism. All mere histories of philosophy, are necessarily unsatisfactory by reason of the narrow limits •within which the writer is confined. It not unfrcqucntly happens that these defects are supplemented by articles in Encyclopedias or by special treatises of a biographical or critical character. Leaving the History of Philosophy and proceeding to Philosophy itself, the general reader will find translations of the following works ample for the direct knowledge which they give of the teachings and modes of thinking of the most distinguished of the ancient philosophers. W. Whe well's Select Platonic Dialogues. R. W. Browne, ylrw- totle's Nicomachean Ethics. T. Hobbcs and T. Buckley's Rhetoric and Poetics. Cicero's Offices, Letters, Tusculan Disputations and De Einibus, translated by different wri- ters; also the writings of Seneca, Epictetus, Antoninus and the poet Lucretius. Coming to modern times we name the following works as pre-eminently worthy to be read. R. Desciirtes, Meditations and Ensay on Metliod. J. Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, with V. Cousin's Lectures on Locke, known in one translation as Cousin's Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 313 Psychology. T. E. Webb, Tlie IntdlecluaUsm of Locke. D. Hume, Philosophical Treatises. G. Berkeley, The Ilinute Philosopher; The Principles of Iluinnn Knowledge. T. Reid, Inquiry and Essays. T. Browti, Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Hind. Dugakl Stewart, Phi- losophical Works. I. K^ant,Critique of Pure Reason, trans- lated by Meiklejohn. J. G. Fichtc, The Science of Know- ledge; The Destination of Man. Sir William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, also Discussions on Phi- losophy and Literature. H. Caklerwood, Philosophy of the In- finite. H. L. Mansel, Limits of Religious Tliought ; Tlie Philosophy of the Conditioned; Prolegomena Logica. Goldwin Smith, Letter to H. L. 3Iansel. J. II. Stirling, TJie Secret of Hegel. David Hartley's Observations on Man. J. Mill, Analysis of the Human Mind. J. S. Mill, 4 *%s- tem of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive ; Examination of Sir William Hamilton s Philosophy. J. M'Cosk, Ex- amination of 3Ir. J. S. Milts Philosophy, being a Defence of Fundamental Truth ; The Intuitions of the Human Mind, etc. J. F. Ferrier, Institutes of Metaphysics. Her- bert Spencer, First Principles, and Principles of Psy- chology. A. Bain, The Senses and the Intellect; The Emo- tions and the Will; Mental and Moral Science; A Com- pendium of Psychology and Ethics ; Logic, Inductive and Deductive. D. Masson, Recent British Philosophy. F. Bowen, Essays. J. Martineau, Essays, Philosophical and Theological. These works with the Histories of Philoso- phy and the numerous critical papers which many of them have occasioned would give the reader a reasonable know- ledge of the various schools of opinion which have pre- vailed in modern Philosophy. Of Manuals of Psychology we name as in more or less extensive use, those of T. C. IJi)ham, F. Wayland, L. P. Hickock, Dugakl Stewart, Thomas Brown, Sir William Hamilton, J. Haven, A. Mahan, J. T. Champlin, X. Por' ter, J. Bascom and A. Bain. r> 14 Booh and Beading. [Chap. xix. To Psvcholofcv, Phvsioloi:;y has close relations because of the intimate connection between the human body and the human soul. Tlie interest in this science has also of late been greatly increased as the result of materialistic views in respect to life and spirit. The study of life in any of its forms is indeed the best introduction to the study of spirit in any of its manifestations. W. B. Carpenter's General Pltysiology and Human Pliysiology are very genr* crally accepted as of the highest authority. Tliey are characterized by their encyclopcdiac character more than bv acuteness of discrimination, force of reasoning or «-omi)rehensiveness of thought. J. Miillcr's Human PJiy- i'iologg is in all these respects incomparably the supe- i ior. Very able JNIanuals have been produced by E, C. })alton, AV. Draper and T. II. Huxley. A more compre- hensive treatise is in process of publication by A. Flint. A brief and plausible argument for materialistic views may l)e found in a tract by T. H. Huxley, The Physical Basis of Life and a reply of great ability As regards Protoplasm by J. H. Stirling. Vegetable Physiology is usually treated in works upon Botany. A. Gray's How Plants grow, L. II. Grindon's Phenomena of Plant Life, H. von Mohl, The Vegetable Cell, J. Marcet's Vegetable Physiology, J. M. Schlciden's, The Plant a Biography, C. Darwin's Origin of Species, P. W. Roget's Animal and Vegetable Physiology are all works of authority. In Ethics the contributions to English literature are very numerous, but are almost universally deficicnf in precision, method and philosophical completeness. We name the most significant writers, and they may be advantageously read in connection with the following critical histories, J. Mackintosh's Progress of Pthieal Philosophy, AV. Whe- wcll's History of Moral Philosophy in England, R. Blakev's History of Moral Science, Th. Jouifroy's Intro- Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 315 duction to Ethics. The leading writers are: T. Plobbes' The Leviathan, R. Cudwortli's Treatise concerning Eter- nal and Immutable Morality, R, Cumberland's De Legibus Naturae, F. Hutcheson's Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue; Moral Pldlosoj^hy, D. Hume, Inquiry into the Principles of Morality, Jonathan Ed- wards', A Treatise on the Nature of True Virtue, R,. Price's Rcvietv of the Principal Questions in 3Iorals, A. Smith's Theory of 3Ioral /Sentiments, W, Palcy's 3Ianual of Moral and Political Philosophy, J. Bentham's Princi- ples of Morals and Legislation ; Deontology, J. S. Mill's Essay on Utilitarianism, Alex. Smith's On the Philosophy \f Morals, I. Kant's Metaphysics of Ethics, (tr, from the German), F. P. Cobbe's Essay on Intuitive Morals, an eloquent exposition of the Kantian system, W. Adams' Elements of Christian Science, S. S. Laurie's On the Phil- osophy of Ethics, M. Hopkins' Lowell Lectures, also Laiv of Love and Love as Law, D. Motcalf's Nature Founda- tion and Extent of 3Ioral Obligation, A. Bain's Compen- dium of Ethics. Of manuals of the theory and practice of ethics, we name W. Whewell's Elements of Morality including Polity, W. Fleming's 3Ianual of 3Ioral Pliilosophy, F. Wayland's Moral Philosophy, L. P. Hickock's System of 3Ioral Science, J. Haven's 3Ioral Philosophy , J. H. Fairchild's Moral Philosophy, or the Science of Obligation, A. Alex- ander's 3Ioral Philosophy. Politics and Jurisprudence are akin to ethics, and the principles of both these sciences are generally discussed in manuals of duty. The principles of the science of govern- ment should be th.oroughly considered by every reading man in a republican government. The attempt has been made to introduce the study of the elements of this science into our public schools but with no flattering success, for the reason that the study in its own nature is too abstract 316 Books and Heading. [Chap. xix, and roqiiiiYS too much reflection to be suited for very young persons. The Political Class Book by W. Sullivan, a verv clear-headed -writer, was prepared for use in schools. Bhickstone's Commentaries is the text book Avhich intro- duces every student to the common law of England. It is eminently instructive to every general reader who is not repelled by its length and terminology. J. Kent's Com- mentaries on American Law in its extended or its abridged form is a M'ork of the highest authority. H. S. INIaine's Historif of Ancient Law is a work of a decidedly philoso- phical character, and traces many of the principles and rules of positive legislation back to their first beginnings; so to speak to their rudimental germs. J. Austin's Lec- tures on Jurisprudence is a work of eminent interest and value. J. X. Pomeroy's Introduction to 3Iunicipal Law is a popular and thorough treatise. Of works in political science, the following are worth attention. F. Lieber's Civil Liberty and Sdf -government is a comprehensive and trustworthy manual which ought to be mastered by every intelligent reader. J. INIackintosh, On the Laio of Nature and of Nations, J. S. Mill, On Liberty and On Representative Government, J. C. Calhoun, On Government, J. Locke, On Government, S. Nash, Morality and the State, E. Mulford, Tlie Nation are works of greater or less interest and authority. A. De Tocqueville's Democracy in America is universally ac- knowledged to be the most sagacious and profound work on American Institutions and American society that has ever been produced. The Federalist is a classical work upon the nature and origin of our general government, as are the so-called Madison Papers, which contain a sketch of the debates in the convention which formed the constitution. With this should be connected J. Elliot's Debates on the adoption of the Tt'deral Conslifutinn in the several State 'Conventions, also Geo. T. Curtis' Origin of the Constitu- Chap. XIX.] Books of Science and Duty. 317 tion of the United States, also Marshall's Decisions of Cases which concerned the interpretation of the same. T. Jefferson's Memoirs, CorresjJondence and Miscellanies, with his Life by S. Randall are invaluable to a right understanding and a just estimate of parties in this country. The life and works of Alexander Hamilton give the views of a leader on the opposite side. "W. Sullivan's Letters on Public Characters, T. Dwight's The Character of Jeffer- son as shown by His Writings and History of the Hay-tford Convention may be consulted with great profit. The wri- tings and speeches of John C. Calhoun and Daniel Web- ster which relate to the doctrines of nullification and seces- sion are also of the first importance. M. Van Buren'p History of Parties in the United States, J. A. Hamilton's Reminiscences, T. H. Benton's Thirty Years' View of the United States Croveryiment, J, Buchanan's President Buchanan s Administration are all instructive concerning our more recent political history. The treatises and speeches elicited by the recent civil war on both sides, are too recent and too well-known to require to be named, if indeed a selection from such a multitude could easilv be made. The publications of the National Loyal League association pre- sent the national view with great force and varied ability. Of treatises upon the English government and constitu- tion W. Bagehot's The English Constitution is foremost in thoroughness and authority. E. S. Creasy's Rise and Pro- gress of the English Coyistitution, Lord John Russell's Eng- lish Crovernment and Constitution, T. L. De Lolme's Consti- tution of England, are all good books. The histories of H, Hal lam and E. May have been al- ready noticed. E. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and other writings, J. Mackintosh's Vindicice GallicoCy Guizot's History of the English Revohitinn and Causes of Success of the English Revolution of 1640 and 1G88 are publ ications of the first rank. The reader moreover who as- 318 Bools and Reading. [Chap. xix pircs to pursue an extended course of reading m political science or political history will find no difficulty in select- ing the best worlcs upon every topic in cither of these de- partments. In International Law, H. AVhcaton's History of In- ternational Law, and Elements of International Law are of the highest authority. T. D. Woolsey's Manual and Text Book on this topic is universally commended and is brought down to the latest decisions. G. Bemis' Precedents of American Neutrality and Hasty Recognition of Rebel Belligerency ; Letters On International Law by "Histori- .;us " and M. Bernard's British Neutrality should be con- ..julted on this much vexed topic. Political Economy is a science much attended to in our country and indeed in all civilized countries. The science of wealth and questions of Exchange and Finance must necessarily be thought of by every intelligent man. The newspapers abound in discussions upon these topics, and the destinies of great ijolitical parties hinge upon them. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is the first in time and almost first in importance. J. S. Mill's Principles of Po- litical Economy is a more modern authority. J. Ricardo, N. W. Senior, R. AYhately, H. Fawcett, J. R. McCul- loch, among others, are all very able writers. H. C. Ca- rey, in Essays and his other writings is the able and in- domitaljle adv^ocate of a decided Protective system, while F. Bastiat, in Pojjular Fallacies, etc., Sophisms, etc., is its scientific foe. F. Bowen, Political Economy, and Aniei-ican Political Economy i!-, the moderate defender of Protection and A. Perry, Elements of Political Economy, is its ingenious and apt opponent. Sociology is a new name for a so-called science which proposes to investigate those social conditions and arrangements whether natural or artificial, which af- fect the well-being of the community as a whole and that of the individual through the community. It treats of ques- Chap. XIX.] Books on Science and Duty. 319 tions of the public health, the public morality and popular education. Active and efficient societies are formed for the furtherance of these objects, and the reports and treatises which they "svill produce must soon become an im- portant part of our literature. Treatises upon education both special and popular are very abundant in our country, and are brought before the notice of all readers of newspapers. There remains to be considered a very large class of works of a more or less decidedly practical character, which in the language of Bacon come home " to men's business and bosoms." Many of these works are more or less Etiiical in their influence and character, and may be (ilassed under treatises or suggestions relating to the minor morals. They must almost of necessity be Ethical, for all those writings which propose to teach men how they ought to think and act in respect to any matter whatever must recognize more or less distinctly some standard of duty or some obligation enforced by duty. But these works treat of the minor rather than of the greater morals, of the lesser interests and ends of life, rather than of those commanding objects and aims which are universally and seriously enforced by morality and religion. Lord Bacon's Essays, Civil and Moral, stands confessedly at the head of all works of this class in English literature. It is in a sense properly taken as a model for all, and is one of the wisest and most thoughtful books for men of every con- dition and every age. It has been edited by Archbishop Whately with abundant comments, all of a solid and in- teresting character. Whately's edition may be fitly called Bacon adapted to modern times, by a writer of marked good sense. Whately's comments are never unworthy of Bacon. Of books of the class we have in mind, there are hundreds if not thousands in the English language. They are in a sense the legitimate and most characteristic product of the practical tendencies of the English people. They reflect 320 Books and Reading. [Chap. xix. that freedom in criticism and discussion which for so many ages has been asserted by English writers, enforced by public o}Mnion and secured by the laws. We can only set down a few of the best, somewhat after the order of time, and shall doubtless omit scores if not hundreds of great value. Roger iVscham, The ^Schoolmaster ; ToxopJiilus. T. Fuller, Holy and Profane State; Good Thoyghts in Bad Times. Sir T. Browue, Religio Medici. O. Feltham, Resolves, Moral and Political, etc. Earl of Shaftesbury, Characteristics. Daniel De Foe, The Family Instructor, Political and other Tracts. D. Hume, Essays. The Bri- tish Essayists from Addison to V. Knox. M. Montaigne, Essays. I. Watts, On the Improvement of the 3Iind. B. Franklin, Essays. William Cobbett, Miscellaneous Works. AV. Irving, The Sketch Book, etc., etc. J. Den- nie. The Lay Preacher. E.Sampson, The Brief Remark- er. S. T. Coleridge, The Friend and other works. J. AVil- son, Noctes Amhrosianoe and other works. C. Lamb, Essays of Elia. Leigh Hunt, The Indicator and other woiks. T. Hood, Whims and Oddities, and other works. W. Ilazlitt, Essays and Criticisms. T. De Quincey, Confes- sions of an Opium Eater and a score of works besides. T- Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Sartor Res^xr- tus, etc. J. Foster, Essays. Isaac Taylor, Home Educa^ Hon and other works. W. Channing, On Self-Culture and other M-ritings. Anon., Self- Formation or History of the Growth of an Individual Mind. H. Taylor, The States^ man and other writings. Arthur Helps, Friends in Coun- cil and other works. Mrs. Ellis, Women of England, etc. Anon., Small Books on great Subjects. John Ruskin's WrilingS. C J. and A. Hare, Guesses at Truth. C. C. Colton, Lacon. II. Davy, Consolations in Travel, Salnio- nia. L. Withiugt^ju, The Puritan. H. Coleridge, Essays and Marginalia. John Brown, Ilorce Subseciva', or Spare Hours. H. B. Wallace, Papers in Art and Criticism. F. Chap. XIX ] Books on Science and Duty. 321 Saunders, Salad for the Solitary, etc. G. Mogridge, (Old Humphrey) various works. D. M. Mulock, A Woman^s ThuugliU about Woman. M. Fuller Ossoli, Papers on Lit- erature and Art, etc. N. P. Willis, Various icorks. W. Legget, Writings. P. Bayne, Essays. H. Bushnell, Work and Play. H. W. Beecher, Life Thoughts; Star Papers. R. W. Emerson, Conduct of Life and other works. E. P. Whipple, Essays and Reviews. D. G. Mitchell, (Ik, Mar- vel) Reveries of a Bachelor and other writings. J. A. Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects. A. R. Hope, Book aboid Dominies. Book about Boys. D'Arcy Thompson, Day Dreams of a Schoolmaster and other works. A. H. Boyd, {The Country Parson) IMiscellancous Volumes. W^illiani Smith, Thorndale, or the Conflict of Opinions; Gravenhurst. J. G. Holland, Letters of Timothy Titcomb, etc. 21 CHAPTER XX. RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND SUNDAY READING. AVe approach both these topics with some hesitation. We do not expect that what we write will be understood by all our readers, or will be accepted by all who under- stand it. Very many persons who are intelligent upon a variety of other subjects never think 3r read with earnest- ness upon religion, akhough in the words of Daniel Web- ster, "the noblest theme that can occupy the intellect of" man is man's relations to God." Lord Bacon also says in sober earnestness that " Theology is the haven and Sabbath of all man's contemplations." Religion and its truths, its theolo- gies and its ethics, its histories and its biographies, its poetry and its criticism, are despised by many otherwise well and even highly cultured persons as the offspring of a fond ima- gination, a credulous superstition or a timid traditionalism. Or all these are disliked as imposing unwelcome restraints upon the pursuits and passions by which too many are controiied ; perhaps tliey are scorned with passionate con- tempt from some inherited or conventional associations. Tiiere are not a few skeptics or rejectors of Christianity who if honest would be forced to confess with Hume, that they had never read the New Testament through with intelli- gent attention. On the other hand, there are not a few earnestly and actively religious people who rarely read earnestly npon the very subject which occuj.nes their best emotions and inspires their best activities, either because they never read upon any subject with intelligen';e ai^d effect, or becaase they have been trained to conceiw^ i}i?t the ex- 322 Chap. XX.] Rellgious Books and Sunday Reading. 323 ercise of a very active intelligence upon religious topics is inconsistent with warm emotion or a confiding faith. Hence the religious reading which they allow themselves is be- low their intelligence, and done rather for the purpose of exciting devotional feelings or spending a half hour over a quantum of religious phraseology than for the ends of in- telligent conviction and reasonable emotion. They read history, biography, novels, poetry and criticism on the most liberal scale and with excited wakefulness, but then* religious reading is limited to one or two books of de- votion or a few second-rate biographies of second-rate and goodish people. Others perhaps never care or never dare to read any religious book unless it has the miprimatur of their own religious communion. The Romanist is by ne- cessity almost precluded from any other than Catholic lit?.- rature. If the reader is a Methodist he is likely to read only such books as are issued by the " Book Concern,^' if a Presbyterian, to believe only in the blue-backed volumes of "the Board of Publication," if an Episcopalian he ignores all works except those written or sanctioned by Churchmen, or if he is a Liberal Christian he may have a traditional and very illiberal contempt for every literary production that proceeds from the so-called Orthodox. A very large class of Christians are so intensely practical or evangelical as to be conscientiously jealous of the exercise of earnest thinking upon religious truth or duty, and are offended by every book which would either awaken or stimulate the in- telligence, or requires its vigorous exercise in order to be understood. It must be confessed that relig-ious emotion as such, like every other description of emotion, is not of itself friendly to or promotive of, the exercise of intellectual energy. The fact has been noticed by Coleridge that the fond indulgence of religious feeling has often brought a species of drj' rot into a noble intellect by the force of sim- ple stagnation. We hold that this is unnatural and abnor- 3:24 Books and Heading. [Chap. xx. mal — nny more, that this happens not only by error but by Sill, and that as a consequence the religious character itself becomes one-sided and degenerate. We contend that ifa man dwarfs or blinds or stupefies his intellect in order to attain to earnest and sustained religious feeling — especially if he uses vigorous thinking and earnest reading upon other top- ics and dares not to do it or is disinclined to do it upon re- ligious themes — he will sooner or later suffer lamentably in his rcliiiious faith and fervor. We assert that it is the duty of every one who reads with zest and curiosity upon other subjects, to read Avith earnestness and with freedom upon religious themes. AVe would even go farther and as- sert that the cause of the decline iu the fervor of very many persons of active and imaginative minds is that they do not give to religious subjects the same activity which they be- stow upon subjects of inferior interest. The injunction "give attention to reading" has a wider reach and is sup- ported by a greater variety of reasons than is usually thought. If what we have said should have disturbed the feelings of any, we hasten to relieve them by adding that we do not propose to discuss any questions which relate directly to special theological creeds or to ecclesiastical or denomi- national divisions. We assume indeed, as we have already explained, that the Christian History is true and that Christ is the proper object of confidence, reverence, and gratitude. This being premised, we proceed to speak respecting the selection and reading of religious, i. e. Christian books. Religious books may be divided into four classes: good books, i. e. books which are very good — goodish books — boy their extravagance, would be done more effectually by other books, Avhile the positive evil they occasion to the bigoted, the undcvout and the scoffer is fearful to think of. Two questions here suggest themselves as worth the ask- Chap. XX.] Religious Books and Sunday Reading. 327 ing. Why is the number of inferior religious books propor^ tionatcly so great? and why are such books treated with greater consideration than inferior books upon other sub- jects? The first of these questions is easily answered. The reasons which ex^jlain the production and use of in- ferior books of any description explain with especial signi- ficance the demand for religious books. The demand accounts for the supi)ly. Incompetent men will write mean books on religious topics, as they do upon all topics, with the best intentions and with intentions which are none of the best, and incompetent judges will read such books without being aware of their inferiority, and may even prefer the inferior to the superior. The goodness of the aim often hides from the well-intentioned author and reader the essential inferiority of the author and critic. The public teachers of religion are also by the necessities of their profession, more or less practised in literary composi- tion. Very many are surrounded by circles of kindly- disposed and even admiring' friends, who feel a special in- terest in everything which comes from them. Many a preacher becomes an author who has no other call to this vocation than the call of an admiring congregation for a volume of discourses, or of sermons turned into lectures or essays. He yields to the call, either because he mistakes it for the call of a wider circle, or because he desires to gratify the kindly preferences of his friends, or because he knows that they will read with a special interest a tract or book written by himself. The reasons why inferior books upon religious topics are treated with especial forbearance are the following : First of all, there is the general disposition to consider the goodness of the end which every such book contem- plates, and to overlook the question, whether the book in hand is fitted to promote the end. Even though the book is painfully weak or commonplace, or bristles with shock- 328 Book^ and Reading. [Chap. xx. ing extravagances of style and conception, it is charitably said of it, "perhaps it may do good with some people;" and therefore is it exempt from the criticism which it deserves. Those who see its weakness allow it to pass — if they sym- patliize with its aims, from charity — if they despise its ends, from simple disdain. Many fail to see that the book is weak, because of their interest in or their contempt for these ends. In view of such considerations criticism is either unconsciously disarmed, or distinctly repressed, when it is called for. It is in place here to notice, that motives which are far from being worthy often present themselves under the guise of an appeal to the religious feelings. A book that is written in the interest of a religious sect or party, a book that is published by our favorite publishing society or which is in any way identified with our church or denomi- nation may lead the critic and the public for whom he writes to be tolerant of defects which in the books of another party or society or church he w^ould be sharp- sighted to observe and foremost to expose. It is also to be observed that not a few good or goodish people, in their conceptions and judgments of religious literature, seem conscientiously and even religiously to dis- regard the relation of means to ends. Tliey reason that because now and then a weak book or a weak and offensive passage in a book has caught the attention, or wakened a response of feeling in some person who was without re- ligious thought or feeling, — therefore no relation is re- cognizable between argument and conviction, persuasion and aas'int, eloquence and impression, or genius and edifi- cation. Some religionists seem to labor under the impres- sion that too great a measure of logic, eloquence or genius is not to be desired, lest they should usurp the place of mysterious and undiscerned agencies of a higher character. For this reason, though they, in all cases, somewhat in- Chap. XX.] Religious Books and Sunday Reading. 329 consistently require that the English should be grammati- cal, they contend that the diction should not be too fine or too eloquent ; though they would think it well that there should be a certain degree of logical coherence and eloquent exposition, they are religiously offended if these excellencies are too conspicuous. That such an attitude is purely sancti- monious and in so far irreligious, we shall waste no words to prove. The conditions of success are as truly observed in the sphere of religious thought and feeling as in any other, although they are at times dispensed with or over- borne by special interpositions. Such interpositions are not furnished to sanction intellectual laziness, or careless Ensr- lish, or inapt logic, much less to justify those enormities of platitudinous commonplace and sensational inflation which are so largely represented in some departments of religious literature. For man to crown his indolence or unculture with the awreo?e of superior spiritual sanctity is to dishonor his Creator in the most sacred of operations, as well to dishonor his own human powers by one of the most de- basing of untruths. If there is no connection between un- cleanliness and godliness there can be none between care- less diction, blundering logic, and tumid eloquence, and the special power or presence of the divine Spirit. So far is it from being true that earnest feeling requires or tends to promote an inferior literature, it may be shoAvn that the quality of religious literature degenerates, in con- nection with the decay of religious earnestness. While it must be conceded that the ends immediately proposed by religious orators, poets, and essayists, are practical rather than literary, it is also as true, that it is only when faith is earnest and zeal is ardent, that eloquence is overpowering, poetry sublime, and argument irresistible, because it is only at such times that the noblest human energies are strongly aroused by the highest objects. It is only by men thor- oughly aroused and inspired that the great works of reli- 330 Books and Beading. [Chap. xx. gious literature have been produced. But when faith and fervor decline, then twaddle and cant take their place, reli- gious books abound in imitated thoughts, in solemn forma- lisms, in sanctimonious utterances and tiresome platitudes. It is at such times that books are manufactured to order, not produced by inspiration. They are brought into being because godliness tends to reputation or to " gain," not be- cause the writer " believes and therefore speaks." No mis- take can be more serious than to suppose that the production of shoals of inferior religious books is a sign of religious progress. The exact opposite may be true. But enough of this fault-finding : It were wiser and more useful to notice some of the signs or tests by which good religious books can be distinguished from those which are inferior or worthless. Good religious books should have the stamp of individu- ality. They should express the writer's individual thoughts and feelings. They should come from a person who has something to say which is his own, and is neither the affected nor the unconscious repetition of the thoughts of another. This is the true conception of what we call originality and freshness, which are closely allied to genius. An author may be defective in respect to literary culture, and range of knowledge, and yet if he has these, he is usually worth reading. The sources of fresh and individual thoughts on religious themes, are more universally ac- cessible to all men, than in respect to any other, because they arc all found in God and nature, in Christ and the Scrip- tures; and in the soul of man as moved by each and all of these objects. A devout thought if it is a "waiter's own, is often a stroke of genius. Hence the power of such writers as Bunyan and Defoe. But real originals should be distin- guished from the factitious and imitated. As real origi- nality in religion is always fresh and dewy, and is always greatly to be desired — so the factitious is to be avoided Chap. XX.] Beligious Books and Sunday Reading. 331 and rejected. The sensational, the strained, and the bizarre are often present in religious writing for the reason that many authors seek to shun the commonplace, by running into a variety of unnatural extravagances and excesses. Hence the intellectual antics and vulgarities of every de- scription which infest the pulpit and degrade religious books and newspapers. A fresh writer like Coleridge, Carlyle, Emerson, Robertson or Ruskin, cannot appear without ex- citing a host of imitators in style and illustration. Many in almost every religious congregation are agape for what they call or conceive to be originality in a preacher. It should ever be remembered that while in all departments of writing, sincerity, (and, therefore, simplicity,) is a sign of genius, this is emphatically true in religious writing. Another sign of a good religious book is its freedom from phraseology that is needlessly technical and stereotyped. Theology and religion must certainly have their appropriate terms; truths and emotions that are so marked and uniform must necessarily shape for themselves certain words with a fixed and definite import. To those persons to whom this import is unfamiliar or distasteful these terms must seem strange. As the terras that are necessary in music or art or any of the sciences are strange and even uncouth to those who concern themselves with neither — as the language of the lover is an unknown speech to those who have never felt his emotions, so must the language of the humble and de- vout be offensive to the proud and the godless. The in- cubus upon religious literature is not the use of such terms when they do express thought and feeling, but when they fail to express either, Tiie same evil ensues when terms of thought are used simply to manifest feeling with little or no intelligence, and when customary phrases are repeated with little or no significance. The repetition of " stock phrases" such as are taken from the Scriptures out of all proper connection, or are borrowed from the current private 332 Books and Beading. [Chap. xx. dialect of any religious communion, is what we have already noticed, as the otteuse of multitudes of religious books to men of culture and good sense. The sensitive and sensi- ble John Foster was so painfully affected by this feature of much of the religious literature of his time that he made it the theme of one of the ablest of his Essays. An important point will be gained when this conventional and factitious religious dialect is discarded by all good writers. This re- sult will be hastened if buyers and readers make it a test of a good religious book that it is free from technical or canting phraseology. A good religious book is always stimulating to thought and elevating to the imagination. A book that does not make us think and feel and aspire — that does not exalt us by the grandeur of its objects and ennoble us by the aspi- rations of duty, that does not aid us to soar upwards to- wards God is not a good religious book however pious its tone or pretentious its phraseology. It is the appropri- ate function of a good religious book to accomplish all these objects, and whatever book fails of these ends cannot be good of its kind. When we say that a good book should stimulate thought we do not mean that it should be scholastic or theological or obtrusively intellectual ; least of all that it should swell with the meretricious airs of what is called originality ; but we do intend that it should offer thoughts which are fitted to stir and quicken while they overawe and sober the intellect. We do not mean that these thoughts should be other than practical, for truths of practice and duty especially when they search the heart nnd purify the motives are of all truths the most quicken- ing, but we do intend that they should take hold of the mind with a strong and definite grasp. When we say a good book should elevate the imagination we do not intend that it should make man proud, but that it should make him humble. This it will do most effectually if it confronts Chap. XX.] Religious Boohs and Sunday Reading. 333 him with ideas that take away the thoughts of self, that subdue him to repentance while they encourage him to faith. It is also eminently fitting that a good religious book should have all the accessories which are found in a pure and elevated diction ; that it should suggest no offen- sive or degrading associations ; that it should be free from all suggestions of coarseness, egoism or vulgarity. It is natural to add that a book may be a good book for one man which is not good for another, and that no man is bound by religious duty to make a book seem good to him- self which reasonably offends his judgment, his taste or his imagination. Of the few classes of religious books of which we may venture to speak, we name first those which relate to Theism and the Christian History. With subjects of this class every reader should be more or less conversant, and inasmuch as the methods of discussing them have materi- ally changed within the present century, there is occasion for careful selection if we would read the books which are best fitted for the present generation. While in one , sense it cannot be conceded that scientific Atheism, Pan- theism or Infidelity are more formidable at present than formerly, inasmuch as true science and a thoroughly scien- tific spirit are favorable to neither, it cannot be denied that not a few are shaken in their faith in both Theism and Christianity, by what they regard as the teachings and deductions of Science. Upon the existence and moral Government of a Personal God may be consulted, the so- called Burnett Prize Essays of 1854,?*. e. R. A. Thomp- son's Christian Theism and J. TuUoch's Theism. To these may be added J. Buchanan's Modern Atheism. The so- called Bridgewater Treatises are all very able works of their kind, although their science is a little antiquated. C. Babbage, Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, F. Wharton, Theism and Skepticism, W. Whewell, Indications of a 334 Books and Reading. [Chap. XX. Creator, McCosh and • Dickie, Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation, W. Paley, Natural Thcologij, Lord Brougliam, Discourses on Natural Theology, G. Berkeley, The Minute Philosopher, F. Bo wen, Loioell Lectures, I. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, T. Chalmers, Natural Theology, B. Pascal, Thoughts on Religion, F. Burr, Ecce Orlum, J. Butler, Analogy of Natural and Revealed Reli- gion, N. W. Taylor, On the Moral Government of God, J. McCosh, On the Method of the Divine Government, H. L. Mansel, The Limits of Religious Thought, F. D. Maurice, What is Revelation, Goldwin Smith, Rational Religion, H. Calderwood, Philosophy of the Infinite, A. T. Bledsoe, Theodicy, J. Young, Evil not from God, A. S. Farrar, Science and Theology, The Duke of Argyll, The Reign of Law, J. D. Morell, The Philosophy of Religion, S. T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, are all worth reading. Upon the evidences of Christianity may be named "W. Paley, The Evidences of Christianity, T. Chalmers, Chris' tianify, from the Ed. Encyclo])edia, W. L. Alexander, tChrist and Christianity, " Ecce Homo," J. R. Beard, Voices of the Church in reply to D. F. Strauss, G. Uhlhorn, Modern Representations of the Life of Jesus, T. Erskine, Remarks on the Internal Evidence of Revealed Religion, (very good), G. P. Fisher, Essays upon Supernatural Chris- tianity, (good on modern critical objections,) J. Young, The Christ of History, (very good), C. Tis(;hendorf, When were our Gospels writteni R. Whately, Historic Douhts^ J. B. Walker, Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation ; Phil- osophy of Skepticism, A. Norton, The Genuineness of the Gospels, (clear and solid),\V. E. Channing, The Evidences of Christianity, A. P. Peabody, Christianity the Religion of Nature, J. Freeman Clarke, Steps of Belief, J. B. Moz- ley, Lectures on Miracles, R. C. Trench, Notes on Mira- cles, Aids to Faith, Tracts for Priests and People,};!. Bush^ nell, Nature apd the Supernatural, (eloquent and eleva- Chap. XX J Religious Books and Sunday Reading. 335 ting), B. F. Westcott, The Gospel of the Resurrection, O. Gregory, Evidences of Revealed Religion, D. Wilson, Evidences of the Christian Religion, M. Hopkins, Evi- dences of Christianity, W, Palcy, Horce Paulinm, J. J. Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences, H. Rogers, Eclijjse of Faith; Defence of do. (against F. W. Newman), Albert Barnes, Evidences of Christianity in the VMh Century, E. Dodge, Evidences of Christianity, Isaac Taylor, The Re- storation of Belief, R. Vaughan, The Way of Rest, C. Wal- worth, The G-entle ■ Skeptic, N. Wiseman, Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, J, Leland, Deistical Wri- ters, A. S. Farrar, Critical History of Free Thought, The Boston Lectures on Christianity and Skepticism. Christian believers of all sects and all shades of opinion agree in recommending the critical and historical study of the Scriptures as of the highest interest and importance. Indeed many, not to say most of those even who reject the claims of the Scriptures to a supernatural origin and authority, do not hesitate to accord the highest significance to these books as literature and as movers of opinion and feeling in all ages. Whatever in books or reading promises to cast any light upon the history and antiquities, the sen- timents and opinions, the facts and characters which we find in these books, is generally acknowledged to be of the highest siarnificance and interest. This estimate is neither vague nor superficial, nor is it held as a tradition or a truism. It is not the result of a blind or fond preference, but of enlightened and rational judgment. The attacks of unbelief upon the Christian history, the movements of a negative jmti-supernaturalism against the positive acceptance of the Bupernatural and the miraculous, have involved the sharp- est historical criticism of every point pertaining to the Scrip- ture narratives and have invested with deep interest every discussion and every treatise that relate to subjects of this Bort. Who was Moses? Whence came the Jewish 33o Books and Reading. [Chap. x>^ economy? Who was David? How did it happen that he wrote such wonderful poetry and anticipated so great a successor in his own lineage ? Who were the Prophets ? Whence came their insight into the moral and religious im- port of passing events and their capacity to exhort and rebuke with such penetrating truth and startling energy ? Whence their foresight into the future and their rapt anticipations of the emergence and the triumphs of a spirit- ual kingdom of God ? Again, who was Jesus ? What were His estimates and His assertions concerning Himself? How did He justify and enforce these claims ? At what points did He touch, and how did He adapt Himself to the great movements that preceded His own times ? By what means did He lay hold of the thought and feeling of all succeeding generations? Tliese questions are not to be set aside by the intelligent reader as the hackneyed themes of pulpit harangues, nor as truisms that are become familiar to every Sunday-school child, nor as convenient topics for shallow platitudes, or the croaking jeremiads of morbid or one-sided devotees, but they are inquiries which are fitted to arouse the curiosity and to hold the attention of every manly thinker and reader. " 'Tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis, 'tis true" that multitudes who read intelligently and thoughtfully upon other subjects, thrust aside these ques- tions with conteni])tuous disdain, or accept with a grateful and silly confidence the oracular dicta of extemporizing dogmatists. It is also true that many who believe in a supernatural Christ do not appreciate the intellectual reacli and import of their faith. The Scriptures are perused by multitudes in a negligent, mechanical and traditional spirit which involves little intelHocence and less curiositv. Even the great mass of those who aspire to interj^ret them to others have limited conceptions of the historical and intel- lectual wealth of the wonderful writings which they at- tempt to expound. Of books relating tf) the Scriptures Chap, xx."" Religious Books and Sunday Reading. 337 it is emphatically true that there are a fevf which are books, and multitudes which are no books, but mere copies and dilutions of those which are books indeed. Of the best of them it may be said that they require a more awakened intellio-ence and a more vivid imagination than often accompany their use, however diligent and well intended this may be. The following may be named as useful aids for the Eng- lish reader in the general study of the Scriptures. We omit the notice of commentaries of every kind for the rea- sons already given. W. Smith's Bible Dictionary, 4 Yols., is a work which stands foremost as an encyclopedia of biblical history and criticism. The edition by H. B. Hackett and E. A. Abbot is the best. S. W. Barnum's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Bible is an extensive and excellent dictionary founded on Smith with many valua- ble additions. Either of these works may take the place of many separate treatises on the separate books of the Scriptures, as well as upon Scriptural Geography, Hisiory and Antiquities. J. McClintock and J. Strong's Encyclo- pedia of Biblical Literature, when complete will be an ex- cellent book of reference, P. Fairbairn's Imperial Bible Dictionary, and J. Kitto's Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature (edited by W. L. Alexander) are of the highest authority. We have named already the histories by Ewald and Stanley, also Helori's Pilgrimage, and Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, all of which are as relevant to the student of the Scriptures as to the reader of history. Robinson's Biblical Geography, Stanley's Kinai and Palestine, and Thomson's The Land and the Booh should be named also in this connection. H. C. Conant's History of the English Bible, and B. F. Westcott's History of the English Bible, are books of authority. G. F. Townsend's The Bible in Chronological order, H. Alford's Hoio to Study the Neio Testament, B. F. Westcott's Study of the Gospels, S. J. 22 338 Books and Heading. [Chap. xx. Andrews' Life of our Lord, A. Neander's Life of Christ and Flantin mat ism of most of the sophists of our time who so freely, 60 confidently and apparently so learnedly, dispose of the old philosophies, the old religions, the old laws, the old educations, the old manners, and even the old decencies of life, linds its readiest converts in the litterateurs who have been inflated with conceit or paled with skepticism from feeding exclusively on the second-hand literature which the modern review has engendered. Tiie influence of the style and diction which the modern review has required and cultivated, should not be passed over. This diction is shaped too exclusively for immedi- ate effectiveness to be altogether salutary in its influence. The pungent and pithy antitheses, the slashing and un- qualified assertions, the biting satire, and the caustic humor, no less than the laudatory panegyrics, the ambitious rhe- toric and the studied periods, which many very successful reviewers have employed, are all bad examples of style, even if they are not positively offensive to any one who seeks to retain his intellectual inte^ritr or a candid and truth-loving spirit. Any community or generation of readers must be in a bad way which gives itself up too ex- clusively to a school of writers who value effectiveness more higldy than truth. It would not be difficult to show tliat no little demoralization of thought has come in as the indirect result of the demoralization of style which the re- view has effected, — that it has infected books of history, philosopliy and physics with a vicious rhetoric, that is es- sentially superficial and sophistical, glazing not merely the forms of expression with a false brilliancy, but making the matter rotten to the core. If it is not wise to allow our grave reading to be given exclusively or in large proportion to the reviews, it follows that too much of our lighter reading should not be devoted to the less solid magazines. AVith all the ability by which ,Chap. xxi.l Newspapers and Periodicals. 349 they are distinguished and the variety of excellence which they have achieved, they cannot be the staple of one's reading: without serious evil. Brilliant and various as they are, often profound and sagacious, abounding as they do with the choicest productions of the most gifted writers, they are too desultory, their subjects are treated too briefly and superficially, their tone is often too flippant and sensa- tional, their judgments are too uncertain and unsound, to furnish the principal reading of any person ; least of all, of any young person. The young man or the young lady whose solid reading is limited to the very best of these magazines will doubtless find in them much intellectual ex- citement and no little good, but not without attendant evil. The knowledge and education may be varied and useful, but the school remains superficial and narrow. If on the other hand they find their best reading in the magazine of a lower grade their reading must be poor indeed; li.ttle bet- ter than a showy flippancy can come of it, if nothing worse. But what shall he said of the newspapers ? First, that they vary widely, from the very good down to those which are contemptibly poor. Among these various grades there is ample room for selection, from the leading metropolitan or provincial newspaper which is characterized by more or less of ability and principle, down to the sheet — whether in city or country — which reflects the vulgar illiteracy of a low or uncultured community, as well as flatters its self-conceit and pan- ders to its interests ; from the high-toned religious or lite- rary journal down to one that is desperately partisan in either of these spheres. Second, newspapers are not only a gre^t convenience but an absolute necessity of modern life and civilization. The overwrought and jaded brain may compel its posses- sor to escape from the news and their excitements by a voy- .'350 Books and Reading. [Chap. xxl age that parts him from the mail and the carrier, or lie may plunge into the wild retreat into which neither pene- trate, but the call for the last newspaper is the first symp- tom that the brain is slightly refreshed by its rest. The i.'omi)rohensive survey which tlie morning news gives us of what happened yesterday in every part of the world en- lar<2;es immenselv our intellectual vision; training us to the habit of thinking habitually of the concerns of all the world besides — and not only to the habit of thinking of them but of comparing and adjusting one with another. It sends the imagination round the world " in less than forty minutes," bringing before it Englishman and Arab, French and Tartar, Prussian and Chinese with their varie- ties of interests and civilization. Tliis frequent and com- prehensive review of the whole world stimulates the intelli- gence to discriminate and compare, as well as to search for principles and laws. It induces tolerance for the principles and Avays that differ from our own, charity towards tlie whole family of man, despite of intellectual difterences, conflicting interests and hostile passions. Third, the newspaper wherever it is free, is at present very largely the edu(;ator and controller of public senti- ment, and hence has become a most potent instrument antH depositary of power. The editor is at this moment ap parently more influential than preachers, judges or legisla- tors. He is miglitier than all these united. The confi- ning reader of a favorite newspaper often tests the sermons of Sunday by the chapter and verse of the leading articles of tlie week. He tries his elected rulers and judges be- fore the bar of the newspapers. He accepts and rejects his lawmakers and the laws which they make according to the revision of the editorial court of aj^peals. The news- pa[)cr press makes war and peace, writes up and down the value of property and destroys or defends reputation. It may be said indeed that this power is not unliiuitod, Chap, xxi.] Newspapers and Periodicals. 351 because the press can regulate public opinion only so far as it reflects it and adapts itself to it. It may be urged that the editor controls and directs the great agencies of" modern life only as he skillfully anticipates and interprets them, that he can command these only as man commands the laws of nature, by first understanding and then obeying them. This to a certain extent is true, but it is also true that the press can inflame and excite agencies which but for its influence would have slumbered forever, that it can unite and concentrate forces which would have been feeble so long as they were scattered, that it can give courage and boldness to men and to causes which but for its inspiriting influence, would have been perpetually cowed and re- pressed. It may also be said that whenever the press is free it cannot mislead, for falsehood can be met by truth, sophistry can be refuted by sound reasoning, party tricks can be exposed, dishonesty can be made public, and in the long run the truth and the right will prevail. This may be true in the long run, but the time required may be too long for the public good. Meanwhile, so far as the individ- ual and a single generation are concerned the press has am- ple room to delude, to degrade and to destroy. It can delib- erately and persistently flatter the vile, and hoodwink honest men. It can act the part of the demagogue and the seducer and the venal advocate. It can suppress the truth by con- scious villainy and it can set off error in false colors and with factitious rhetoric. It can lower education and de- bauch public and private morals. It can dishonor the noblest characters among the dead and the living. It can induce skepticism in whatever is sacred or venerable, by sneering and sophistry, and can adroitly conceal both. In the name of science and taste and progress it can vulgarize and degrade and put back all these for a century. Fourth, many newspapers whose influence is not incon- siderable are low in their intellectual tone. While there 352 Books and Beading. [Chap. XXL is room in the editorial profession for the exercise of the most consummate power and the most varied qualifications, it is possible to be what is called a successful editor with scanty know'ledge and limited abilities. Application is necessary and a certain energy of endurance in small work. If to this be added tlie tact at knowing what will please, and w'liat is called the knack of writing an editorial, success is certain under circumstances ordinarily favorable. That a muhitude of newspapers do not exhibit any considerable intellectual power or knowledge is too obvious to require proof Their readers recognize the indications of dullness and incompetency. Feebleness of judgment and the want of discrimination and intellectual force betray themselves in every column. Silliness and bad taste sometimes break out in oppressiv^e manifestations, and general iinpotency are everywhere exhil)ited. And yet for all these weaknesses, in- dustry, business talent, and tact in understanding the de- mands of the public and skill in supplying these demands may so far compensate for these ghiring defects as to gain for the paper an extensive circulation and no little influence. Fii'th, many newspapers are animated by a spirit that is more or less insincere. Their editors and leading writers have few convictions, i. e., few opinions which they hold with earnestness and regard as of pre-eminent importance. They profess to hold the princriples of their party whether political or religious. But all they mean by this is that their paper is pledged as the organ of the party or its plat- form, and is thereby comniitted to the duty of publishing those facts and arguments which favor these opinions, and of suppressing or skillfully managing those which make against them. Public opinion is to a large extent regarded as an effect which can be moulded and manipulated. The influence of a ])aper is cast in favor of a particular move- ment or is thrown against it, by arts which are perfectly well understood in the editor's claset. The habit of thus mani- Chap, xxi.] Newspapers and Periodicals. 353 pulating public opinion, if it never leads to trading in it, — the consciousness of laying plans and of executing them to arouse public sentiment in a given direction or to give it a dexterous turn in favor of a measure or a man — is not over friendly to that solidity and ardor of sentiment which usually characterizes strong convictions or earnest princi- ples. The necessity of writing upon many subjects in w:hich the writer cannot feel a special interest induces the habits and temper of the advocate with his factitious simu- lations and artificial excitements. The discerning reader finds only now and then a "leader" which bespeaks the solid convictions of a high-toned and earnest man, which is written because these cannot be repressed, and which seizes hold of the mind with that power which earnestness always excites. In other articles there may be ability, research and strength ; the subjects may be fairly treated and ex- haustively presented, but the impression is not of a strono- nature thoroughly aroused. This insincerity is manifested in its extremest form when it produces the modern Bohemian, or the soldier of fortune in the service of the newspaper press, who is ready for an engagement whenever it oifers, provided the pay is sure auvl good, and sometimes when it is neither, provided the "provant" — as the famous Dugald Dalgetty, an illustrious member of the fraternity termed it — is ample and well- moistened. He is a person of no mean qualifications, but smart rather than solid and apt rather than trustworthy. He has received an education more or less accomplished from the finished classical culture of the English university do^m to the scanty but stimulating curriculum of the printing and editorial room. He has a facile command of the pen, a good memory, a ready wn't and infinite volubility. His assurance is unbounded and his principles and his sense of consistency never stand in the way of any engagement. He does not hesitate to write leaders at the same time in 23 354 Books and Readiifig. [Chap. xxl the organs of two opposing parties — for and against protec- tion or national banking, or wliatever doctrine divides the parties of the day. He is ready to apphiud and to defame any man for hire and to extol and depress the same man in two successive weeks according to his engagement. He is a regular Swashbuckler ; the instrument of his power ia •what is called a trenchant style, with ready command pf images, allusions and historic parallels, and a capacity for blatherskite which is inexhaustible. He is, of course, thorouglily insincere. He has no convictions except upon a single j)oint, and that is that those who pretend to have anv, are eitiicr weaklv self-deceived or self-conscious knaves. And yet no class of writers use the vocabulary of earnest- ness and honesty more fervently and in\pressively than he. The Bohemian whom we have described is one of the ex- tremest type. There may be few examples of one who is so thoroughly consistent, but so far as the modern news- paper is insincere, so far is it animated by his spirit. We do not assert that all newspapers are insincere. On the contrary, there are not a few in which earnest convictions and positive opinions are everywhere conspicuous. The tone of such journals is unmistakable. One feels the pre- sence of real, not pretended sincerity the moment he takes up such a sheet. Sincerity not only rings through the edi- torials but it controls the selection and is apparent in the very arrangement of its articles. Sixth, the modern newspaper so far as it is insincere is immoral and demoralizing. There are other reasons why it is exposed to this charge. It is confessed that newfs- papers are often unscrupulous in their statements of fact, that they suppress the truth wh(;n it makes against them and overstate that which would be in their favor. It is notorious that the partisan temper and partisan tactics very largely regulate the conduct of many so-called organs not only of political but of religious parties. The news- Chap. XXI.] Newspapers and Periodicals. 355 paper descends to inexcusable personalities, — both the pure and indecent and the trivial and belittling. It often delights in vituperation. It even makes this to be its duty. No sooner is a man conspicuous by holding a public posi- tion or is named as a candidate for it, than his private character and affairs are made matters of public comment, either to flatter his vanity or to gratify the insane passion for gossip which rules the public taste, or to excite the prejudice and contempt of his opponents. Vituperation of one's antagonist in politics or religion is esteemed one of the cardinal virtues, if we may judge from the practice of many journals. The more freely it is indulged the more satisfactorily is the writer thought to discharge his duty and the more completely is homage paid to public justice. If a newspaper is devoted to some public reform in the service of morality or freedom, or in vindication of the rights of some class which is thought to be oppressed, it takes the largest liberty of vituperation and discharges its energetic denunciations in the manner of a brawling pro- phet. .The end sanctifies the means. " Are not the enemies of the proposed reform, enemies of all truth and does not fidelity to our cause require us to denounce them as such ? " Of not a few of these self-asserted and conspicuous cham- pions of reform it is eminently true that their habit of deliberately and persistently denouncing their opponents in terms of unlicensed vituperation has become so much a se- cond nature as to vitiate all their other excellences, and to make the very organs of moral and political reform to be the instruments of private and public demoralization. Of many of these advocates and organs it is not easy to de- cide whether the devil has in fact taken orders among the reformers or whether the reformers have taken " to serving the Lord as if the devil were in them." It irt not an unheard of thing that a paper edited with consummate ability and that promised to be of high tone in 35G Books and Reading. [Chap, xxl respect of manners and morals, has with apparently cool and deliberate resolve given itself to the project of forcing itself into notoriety by a variety of sensational devices, and pre-eminently by dragging before the public scandalous rumors and more scandalous transactions, as well as by grossly assailing the characters of public men, and follow- ing them and their friends with persistent slander. The influence of a newspaper cannot but be demoraliz- ing, however able its correspondence, or prompt and trust- worthy its news, if the presiding genius of its editorial sanctum be a- grinning, sneering llephistojjheles, and the tone of the articles composed under this ins})iration be that r>f persistent banter of everything ■which honest men reverence and brave men are ready to die for; the auda- cious drollery of which moves the whole community to laughter, even when it moves honest men to virtuous wrath. A harlequin may be allowed in his place, but we cannot welcouie him in our churches or our oratories, to sneer when we desire to worship ; or find him congenial to those sober moments when life at least is real and earnest, even if conscience and God are not. Seventh, that some newspapers conspicuously rejoice in bad examples of English style need hardly be added. This might be inferred if it were not so notorious. Where there is insincerity, untruth and defect of principle there must be more or less of bad English. While a few are mwlels of clear, unpretending, direct and nervous Eng- li.>^h, not a few are representatives of every description of excess and over-doing, of carelessness and pretension, of extravagance and "l)lathcrskite," which are an offence to the lovers of a pure and simple diction. From these facts, the following may be derived as rules in respect to the use of newspapers. First. It is worse than unwise to allow newspapers to be Dne's sole reading. The temptation to do this is very Chap. XXI.] Newspapers and Periodicals. 357 strong, and many yield to it. Men immersed in business seem often shut up to this by necessity. Even professional men who read or consult not a few books in the way of duty allow the newspapers to take the place of other reading. The merchant reads the money articles of the newspaper, but rarely if ever a book upon banking or political econo- my. The farmer reads his agricultural journal, but never a treatise. As to the politicians, both small and great, it is enough for them to consult the current histories of domes- tic campaigns and foreign entanglements which the papers furnish, without looking into^books for the history of the remoter past which has prepared the way for the present and alone can explain it. Even if the leader is more in- structive and more to the point than any book could be, the book may be better because it opens a wider range of considerations and so tends to enlarge the mind. The newspaper is written more in the spirit of an advocate than even a very one-sided book. The writer for the newspa- per usually dogmatizes more and is more positive than the author. The standard of manners and of temper is usually far lower in the one than in the other. The style of the book is ordinarily better. The best newspaper style suffers under the necessity of compression or it abuses the liberty of indefinite expansion and verbiage. The newspaper deals with the present, and is hurried, narrow, confident and bust- ling. The book has to do with all times — the past, the pre- sent and the future, — and is in so far more calm, elevated and sagacious. For these and other reasons it is observed that the reader of nesvspapers only is more usually positive, con- ceited and flippant than the man who is also a reader of books. Second. One should read good newspapers in preference. We mean not only those which are able in thought and pure in style, but those whose principles are pronounced and whose manners are elevating. Many say and think : " It is only a newspaper; of what consequence is it? We only 358 Booh<^ mid Beading. [Chap. xxi. glance at it for a moment or run through it for an hour and theu lay it aside. If its bad logic^ its unsound doc- trines, its vile insinuations and its profane banter were in a book, we would not tolerate the book for a moment, but I and my children know, it is only the so or so, and we let its unwisdom and its foulness pass for what they are worth." Mr. A. would not tolerate slander or mean personalities for a moment in conversation at his table, and yet Mr. A. takes a paper for himself and his children which distribute both as freely and as maliciously as an audacioas villain ejects vitriol into the eyes or u])on the ap- j)arel of passers by. He would not allow his family to read a book that should gravely attack or sneeringly scoif at his faith lest it should leave some unfavorable impres- sions, but he allows the daily slime of an insinuating newspaper to hold their thoughts and to possess their ima- gination by a daily lesson and for a much longer time than the les&ons of Scriptures which are allotted to the morning and evening devotions of his household. Third. One should use the newspaper as a servant and not as a master. Many confiding souls believe all that the newspaper tells them and think it their duty to justify and defend all its statements, because forsooth it is the pa- per which they subscribe for or which is the organ of their party. In like manner some go so far as to feel bound to read every paper through. Neither is wise nor even safe. No obligation rests upon any man to read or to believe the whole of what any, even the best of newspapers may con- Uiin. The haste with which its news is gathered and its opinions are expressed, the very great extent to which the most hojiost and best fpialified managers are dependent upon the fidelity of others, t^) say nothing of the force of the passions and prcjudic^es of the hour and the demands of the party or the public whose good will the paper is de- sirous to secure, all these constitute it an unsafe guide to Chap. XXI.] Newspapers and Periodicals. 359 be implicitly believed or followed. If it is often wise to regard our books with a kind of suspicion and to guard against their excessive influence, much more should we do the same with respect to our newspapers, even if they are the best. We have questioned whether the saying were altogether true that, " No man is the wiser for his boohs until he is above them." We cannot question that it is true of news- papers. Fourth. Every one should remember that he is to s(Mne degree responsible for the character of the issues from the newspaper press. The newspapers of a country it should never be forgotten are no worse or better than the people would have them to be. They are a reflex of the know- ledge and tastes of the majority of their readers. We can- not resist this inference however humiliating at times it may be. More than one intelligent defender of our country in Europe has been arrested and disturbed in his argument by the question, " How do you explain the fact that such and such a newspaper has so extensive a circula- tion among your people?" It would be well if every man who buys or reads a newspaper would think of this ques- tion and of the lessons of duty and honor which it suggests. CHAPTER XXII. THE LIBRARY. Readers of books desire to become the owners of bocks. The pleasure and advantage M'hich are derived from the use of a vokime, prompt to the wish that it may be constantly within reach. Hence, books like everything else which is desirable come to be sought for and valued as property. The child is uot satisfied with using a picture-book, he must call the book his own. The persistent litterateur and the veteran scholar value no purchase or gift so highly as a rare or elegant volume. The enthusiastic and devoted reader, if he has the means and the spirit of independence, usually becomes the buyer and owner of books. Every reader gathers about himself something of a library. Every community so soon as it rises above the most pressing and immediate wants, feels the need of a collection of books w'hich may supply its higher necessities. We cannot there- fore proi)erly dismiss our theme of Books and Reading without also considering The Library. We begin with the personal or private Library. The thought which first suggests itself is the very obvious one, that the size of a library when collected by a single person for his private use depends on his means, his liberality, his feeling of independence, his duties and relations to others, and the comparative estimate which he places upon books; not upon any one of these, but upon all united. A man comparatively poor, may contrive to acquire a larger collec- tion of books than a man who is rich, simply because he cares more for them, and in order that he may possess them is 300 Chap. XXII.] The Library. 361 willing to forego many other possessions and enjoyments. On the other hand a man of ample means and of decided literary tastes may deny himself the convenience and lux- ury of a library for such reasons of duty as would lead him to forego other conveniences or luxuries. It is the quality not the size of the private library in which we are most nearly interested. Some persons buy books chiefly for use, and the library which they collect is conspicuously professional. The physician must at least have his treatises on physiology, surgery and the materia medica; the lawyer cannot dispense with a copy of the Statutes or with a book of legal forms; the clergyman, pro- vided he can read, must own a Bible, a commentary and a concordance. These indispensables naturally expand into those formidable libraries which are strictly professional ; libraries which are "caviare to the general;" but which to the individual worker with the brain, are literally his "tools of trade." However unintelligible and uninteresting sach a library is to a layman, it is full of interest and import- ance to the artist, the mechanic, or any other professional worker. Often persons collect books for enjoyment. It is to tbem a luxury and delight to read history and biography, fiction and poetry, eloquence and criticism. To have a large col- lection of books of all these descriptions constantly within their reach, is to have at hand treasures and luxuries with which nothing else deserves to be compared. They say with another, " I no sooner come into the library but I bolt the door to me, excluding lust, ambition, avarice, and melan- choly herself, and in the very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I take my seat with so lofty a spirit and sweet content that I pity all our great ones, and rich men that know not this happiness." Still other persons buy books for show. They like the Bight of elegant books in substantial and costly bindings. 362 Boolcs and Readbig. [Chap, xxil The show itself is pretty to the eye and the associations are grateful to tlie mind that knows enough of the use and value of books to be flattered by the company with which the possession of books connects the owner. It is gratify- ing- to gaze upon tlic stately folios as they support the elegant yet substantial octavos, and these the compact and genteel duodecimos, and these the daintier sizes — to behold some iji polished calf, skilfully tooled in figures of arabesque; others in levautine turkey, rich with its deeply grained col- ors; others in the gayer lines of the French cAa^/rm, bright with red and green and blue; and others still in the many ■varieties of German finish; and others distinguished by the lloman vellum, delicately set off with its tracery of gilt. It ivi a proud -act for the owner of such an expensive collection t\) introduce a friend or a guest to his treasures with their appropriate accessories of illustrated works, choice engrav- ings, illuminated missals, etc., and to count up his expendi- tvires in honor of letters and art. Others still, buy fo7^ curiosity and for rareness. Learned and sharp-cut Elzevirs, elegant Aldincs, much sought In- cunabula, Editiones principes, books with autograjjhs or an- notations of former owners famous in literature, books made up by mosaic handicraft of illustrations collected far and near, tall paper copies, survivors of scanty or exhausted editions, all these are bought with princely liberality and arc exhilMted with natural pride to the select few who can judge and estimate them as only diamond fanciers esti- mate diamonds. Others buy a library for the convenience of their fami- lies or friends; being themselves too busy to have much to do with books or having no decided taste for books, but desiring to cultivate their tastes or enlarge their know- ledge and usefulness. The personal library is often in a sense the embodiment of the spirit of its collector and owner. It certainly is a Chap. XXII.] The Library. 363 striking manifestation of his tast&s, habits, character and pursuits. This is always true if the library is collect- ed with any special zeal, and the owner is free to indulge his special proclivities. We can usually interpret the tastes and principles of a man, — often we can discover his crotchets and prejudices by simply inspecting his library. The mass of his collection may be such books as " no gentleman's library should be without ; " but the discern- ing eye will spy out here and there a volume or a series — perhaps in some private corner — which reveal his peculiar tastes and his inmost feelings. Very often the indications are so obvious as to need no special sagacity for their in- lerpretation. Even if the library is not prevailingly pro- fessional, it will reveal to the hasty observer of its shelves, whether its owner is mathematician, physicist or linguist, and in what specialty of each ; and this whether he is a proficient or amateur. If he is devoted to history, his library will show it, and will also make known the kind of history in which he delights. The lover of poetry, or fiction or literary criticism, and the man of many-sided and universal tastes will be as distinctly revealed. The domi- nant tastes, the ruling aims, the controlling principles can often be gathered from the presence or absence of certain classes of teooks. With equal distinctness the fact is pro- claimed whether he is a believer in God or in Nature, in Christ or in Humanity. If he is a C^hristian believer, his theological creed and his religious earnestness may be con- jectured with similar confidence. By the same rule the growth of a libraiy when it is un- constrained by hindrances or influences from without, is a record and memorial of the growth and changes of the owner's intellect and tastes, and perhaps of sudden or gradu- al transformations in his aims and principles. If he has re- tained his early school books and with them the tales and lives which delighted his childhood, these well thumbed 364 Books and Readhig. [Thap. xxii and tattered volumes will tell to him at least, a story of the delight with which he read and re-read Robinson Crusoe, tlie Arabian Xigiits, the adventures of Philip Quarles or the memoirs of Baron Trenck ; or perhaps of the ardent zeal for knowledge which led him to labor with his own hands that he might buy his first Greek Grammar or a better Greek Lexicon. It is often a wonder to the fastidious observer or the careful housekeeper, who look at books with the bod- ily eye, why in an expensive and luxurious library there is often carefully preserved some shelf of these worthless and battered volumes which they would consign to the paper maker or the flames. They little know what precious mem- ories are stored upon that shelf and gather about each of those soiled and damaged books. But the books which most vividly bring back to the owner his youthful self will be those few favorite authors, which he longed so ear- nestly to possess when he first conceived the idea of form- ing a library of his own. How often did he ponder the questions, What book or books did he care most to possess? or Which could he afford to buy? How often did he go into the book-shop and gaze upon and handle the much coveted volume! It may have been some work of a poet like Byron or Scott, who had first waked in his soul the feeling for poetr}', or an old philosoj^her like Sutler or Berkeley, or a new philosopher like Coleridge, or a newer sage like Carlyle or Emerson. What fresh and fervid as- sociations arc wakened within himas the identical volumes are taken in hand which twenty or forty years before he carried home without weariness and installed upon his emp- ty shelves with such positive delight. Upon these shelves they still remain. Though they have been almost crowded out by other favorites they never can be tiirust wholly aside, for they hold their place as witnesses and memorials of ta.stes and moods which can never be forgotten, though they may have been long outgrown. Other shelves testify Chap. XXII.] The Library. 365 to later passages in his life's progress ; one to an awakened passion for history, another to a newly kindled zeal for literary criticism. In one division stand the s()[)liists who weakened the faith of the owner in the fixed principles and the severe moralities of his childhood's faith. In another the wise teachers who recovered him from these sophistries and bewilderments. The field of the intellectual activities and the objects of the prevailing tastes of one decade of his life are here. Those of another are there. One group of books was purchased in the excitement of a zeal and of ardent purposes which were soon dissipated into irresolu- tion and sloth. As the eye of the industrious reader runs along the shelves of his library in an hour of musing, it can read upon them the successive passages that make up the history of his life. In view of facts like these it is not in the least surprising that so many have cleaved to their libraries with so fond an affection, and have learned to con- ceive of them as parts of themselves, as in a sense visible and tangible embodiments of their own being ; or that they part from their beloved books with especial tenderness when they part from their lives. Many a student will understand and appreciate the desire of Prescott the his- torian that when arrayed for the grave he might be Jefl alone .in the library which had been so long the scene of his labors and the object of his zealous care. The transmission of a library to another generation, espe- cially if it was carefully selected or was the object of its owner's special affection, is to many a matter of no little im- portance — with no less reason surely than the preservation of silver or other heirlooms which belonged to a parent or near relative. The latter witness to the taste of the ownei as to material form or workmanship, or perhaps are inter- esting memorials of the arts of another generation. Thf other is a memorial of the intellectual and moral tastes of the spirit as well as an image of the culture and the pro 366 Boohs and Reading. [Chap. xxil ducts of the generation in which he lived. The haste and apparent lieartlessness with which the libraries of students and literary men are* often broken up after their death is something surprising and offensive. To know that the library of Scott still stands in Abbotsford, that the library of Daniel Webster remains unsold in Marshfield, that the library of Theodore Parker is kept intact and unbroken in the Boston city collection, that the library of Charles Julius Hare stands by itself in the library of Trinity Col- lege at Cambridge, is far more satisfactory to our feelings than it is to hear that* the libraries of Thackeray and Dickens were sold and distributed within a few months after the death of each. The extravagant prices at which many of their books were sold must have been more satisfactory to their heirs than the fact that they were willing to sell the books at all, is pleasing to the admirers of their former owners. It would seem, at least, that the disintegration of a beloved library which has been the outgrowth of a read-' ing life and is itself a transcript of its history might some- times be delayed a few months longer, out of decent respect to the associations with which it is hallowed. It not unfre- quently happens that it passes unbroken into the library of some public institution, and remain as an honored memo- rial of the individual and his times ; of his own liberality or that of his family. The library of a reading clergyman, which has been consecrated alike by his love of books and his love of his people, if he dies among them, should never be disposed of except to become the permanent possession of the parish. Thouglits of the personal library suggest those of its natural enemies, the book-borrower, who delays or forgets to return the books which lie borrows — and the book-stealer, who never intends to restore the books which have come into his possession by accident or design. Wide lanmoe gaping for months or years testify to the carelessness of the Chap. XXII.] The Library. 367 book-borrower, and the impatient and sometimes indignant reflections of the owner as these unfilled places and broken sets meet his eye, testify to his sense of abused kindness and confidence. May the shadow of the book-borrower very soon be less or may his habits speedily be reformed ! May the succession speedily be broken and his lineage l)e altogether cut off! As to the book-stealer; the enormity of his offense cannot be expressed in language. Words would fail altogether to set forth his ill-desert and infamy. The Book-collector and the B Iblio-maniac have been too often commemorated to receive more than a passing tribute of lespect. We honor their zeal and admire their eccentri- cities, for we see in their excesses only the luxuriance of noble impulses and worthy aspirations. They are the anchorets of literature, the devotees whose very excesses re- proves and puts to shame the coldness and negligence of prdinary worshipers. From the library of the individual we pass to the library of the household; from the private to the home Uhrary. Every home should have its library even if it does not comprise a score of volumes. " A house without books," says H. W. Beecher, " is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without sur- rounding them with books if he has the means to buy them. A library is not a luxury but one of the necessaries of life. * * ^ book is better for weariness than sleep ; — better for cheerfulness than wine ; — * * * it is often a better physician than the doctor, a better preacher than the minister, a better sanctuary than the drowsy church," The presence of good books in any house is a sign of elevation and a perpetual reminder of the wants and aspirations of the higher nature. Books lay hold of the intellect and character in ways that can neither be anticipated nor traced. The child that grows up in the presence of books will feel their power almost before he is allov/ed to open them. If 368 Booh and Beading. [Chap. xxii books are provided in a house, some one, at least, of the family will develop a taste for reading them. The entire household will bv dco;rees form the habit of consultinjr books, and of answering from books the many questions suggested by convei"sation or the newspapers. The irre- pressible zeal for reading manifested by a single member of the family will excite the envy or the emulation of the remainder. Leisure hours which might have been wasted in indolence or worse than wasted in sin will be beguiled by the tale or instructed by the history. The conversation of the household will concern more profitable thcmas than the gossip of the hour. Higher aims and ideals will be proposed. Contentment, industry and frugality may be learned from books. The lessons of duty are tauglit and the aspirations of piety evoked by a good home library. Such a library will stimulate and direct the desire to em- bellish the house and decorate the grounds. It will en- courage intelligent skill in the management of one's trade or profession and even in regulating the economies of Ihe household. By its presence and influence the family will rise to a higher plane of true culture and the realization of a more intelligent moral and Christian life. There is no good economy in dispensing with a library. It is almost better to dispense with a carpet. It is certainly cheaper to do without a new set of" fashionable furniture. " I should like of all things to spend from three to five hundred dol- lars in a library," said a gentleman in active business, with some thousands of capital at his command, " but I cannot afford the interest of the investment." He did not reflect that the house, the furniture and the equipage which he could not forego, were all an investment of capital, return- ing no rents in money, but manifold in comfort and civili- zation. It may not be wise to spend a large amount of money at oncAi upon a library, but it is wise to regard books among the necessaries of life and to allow the library to CiiAP. XXII.] The Library. 369 come in for its share of the outfit of the househohl, as Avel] as for its portion of the yearly expenses. A few boolcs, at least, should be found in every home, and be kept constantly within reach, however ample the facilities furnished by the public library. These books no family should be con- tent to be without for a day. They are so to speak the foundation stones of the library. An English dictionary, a good atlas, an encyclopedia of some sort are among these books. We assume that the house will have a Bible and some kind of a commentary or Bible dictionary. Beyond these no directions can be given in respect to the home li- brary which cannot be gathered from the discussions of the several topics of which we have treated. Brief Suggestions for Household Libraries is the title of a useful tract issued in 1867 by G. P. Putnam & Son, to which are appended specimen catalogues of libraries of different sizes, the first of 350 volumes, the second of 500 additional volumes, and the third of 450 more ; to which are appended the titles of "a collection of 50 volumes of useful and desirable books in economical and compact editions for a young man's book shelves." This tract was a useful guide for the time when it was issued, and with additions from books since pub- lished, may do good service. The Home Library should have a place for its contents, even if it no more than fills a candle-box or occupies only a single shelf. The light of the house should stand upon a candlestick. The household Penates should be honored with a shrine, whether the home be hired apartments, a rude cabin or a contracted cottage. The fountain of intelligence and refinement should be found in a place that is convenient, neat and tasteful, whether this place is a tidy corner of the kitchen, a tasteful recess in the sitting room or a separate apartment. If the library has a room by itself, this should be suitably furnished and decorated, not too daintily for common and comfortable use, but cheerfully and attrac 24 370 Books and Reading. [Chap. xxii, tively to the eye and the mind. It should at times be the resort of the children and the gathering-place of chosen friends, that books and the use of books may be associated ■with innocent pleasures and common duties. The books of the Home I^ibrary should be choice books and in general select and standard volumes. The books of one house, whether there is a score or a thousand, often reveal the fact that they have been picked up by chance, either at the solicitations of the persistent book agent or the sug- gestions of a vagrant fancy. Those of another indicate at a glance that they were chosen with definite purposes and by a discriminating judgment. If the home remains to the second or third generation, let not the library be scattered, but let the books of the preceding generation testify to the intelligence and the refinement of those whose spirits are gathered with the dead. With the portraits of the persons of parents and relatives, there should always be connected the books which represent their inner life. Manifold are the thoughts and instructive the musings which are suggested by the family library in the few homes in which it is re- tained in the ownership of successive generations. The Home Library suggests the library of the com- munity, whether this community be a neigliborhood, a school, a jiarish, a village, a city, a college or a State. The establishment of a neighborhood or a village library is as natural and almost as necessary as the setting up of a grist mill or a town pump. When individuals and families sensibly feel the want of books and cannot supply them from their separate resources, they proceed to provide a common sup[)ly. The social library indicates an advance in civilization in respect to the development of wants and the ciipacity to supply them. It was an epoch in the history of c-crtain of the older States when such libraries began to bo common. This was not far from that awakening into life which terminated in the war of independence. The Chap. XXII.] The Library. 371 new communities that went out from those of the older stateg which had school-houses and social libraries, established both, long before their log houses disappeared. Daniel Web- ster's intellectual growth was nourished from the little li- brary which his father started in the beginnings of a pioneer settlement, when books were few and costly. Dr. Franklin contributed largely to the establishment of these social libra- ries. In 1731 he and some few of his friends in Philadel- phia procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each as cap- ital, and ten shillings a year for forty years. In 1742 a charter was obtained, and the number of subscribers was increased to one hundred. "This was the mother of all the North American subscription libraries now so numerous." "These libraries," Franklin adds, "have improved the gen- eral conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen in other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some de- gree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defence of their privileges." In 1786 Dr. Franklin made a present of 116 volumes to the town of Franklin in Massa- chusetts which took his name ; on occasion of which gift, the Pastor preached a sermon upon the text " Show thyself a man." Eighty years ago it was observed by a traveler, of the people of this country, " It is scarcely possible to con- ceive the number of readers with which every little town abounds. The common people are on a footing in point of literature with the middle ranks of Europe." Subscrip- tion or share-holders' libraries existed in almost all the towns of New England at the beginning of the present cen- tury. The consequences were that there was no little activity of thought, especially in regard to history, politics and theology. The curiosity of the youth of both sexes was stimulated as well as their taste for imaginative litera- ture. Those wlio were especially fond of reading had ample leisure. The books in these libraries were solid and sub' .S72 Books and Reading. [Chap. xxir. ptantial. Though their number was not great and theil contents not over exciting, yet they awakened such a mea- sure of solid and thoughtful intelligence as has been known in but few other communities in the world's history. One of these village libraries the writer has abundant occasion to remember. It was founded in 1795, and still survives, num- bering with all its losses by use and sale and distribution nearly two thousand, among which are several of the orig- inal well-worn volumes. At the time referred to it consisted of some seven hundred books all bound in leather and care fully protected by an additional cover of brown sheepskin. The books were kept in substantial and locked cases, in the front and rear halls of an old-fashioned square dwelling- house. The meetings for drawing and returning books were held on the first Sunday evening of every month. The share-holders or their representatives assembled in tha ample kitchen which was always made tidy and cheerful for this grave assembly of the chief personages of the viL- lage. As one and another dropped in, each with his months ly load of books (three was the quota) and saw them credited, he took his place in the circle which speedily numbered some twenty or thirty. Conversation had already started in knots or in common, upon the tojiics of fresh interest at home or abroad, in which the freest interchange of opinion was indulged. This exchange was immeasurably superior to that of the modern newspaj)er for the vividness and interest of the impression. To boyish ears and minds, the revelations of character and the utterances of novel thoughts were most instructive and exciting. When the hour for receiving books arrived, the names were drawn by lot, and the person whose name was first had the choice from the library. The newest books were naturally preferred. Every book as it was drawn was set up for a bid, which rarely in tho.^e frugal times exceeded or reached aightorten cents, after the diarpest competition even for the last of the Waverly Chap. XXII.] The Library. 373 fieries. But all this has gone by. The library now stands in the office of the Town Clerk, is open at all hours, and the excitements of the ''library meeting" have vanished forev^er. In many of the cities, these subscription libraries have grown to very expensive and valuable collections. The Boston Athenaeum, and the Society Library of New York, are of this character. Some of these have been opened (o the public on payment of annual subscriptions. More recently, public libraries in cities and large villages have been founded by public-spirited individuals who have sub- scribed liberally for a building and the purchase of books, which have been made accessible to any one by the pay- ment of an annual fee. Young Men's Institutes and simi- lar Associations, have formed libraries substantially upon this plan, with the addition of courses of lectures, at first for instruction and improvement, more recently for amuse- ment and pecuniary gain. Circulating or lending libra- ries have usually been-individual enterprises. Free Public Libraries : Suggestions on their Foundation and Manage- ment, is a valuable pamphlet issued by the American Social Science Association. Book clubs are often a good substitute for a social li- brary where none exists, or a supplement to it when a few neighbors wish to read a special class of books which the library cannot furnish or cannot furnish readily. It is easy to organize a book club with no more than five persons if they will agree "to pay in an annual subscription and buy a few books. Attach to the fly leaf of each the following directions, with the names of the subscribers arranged in the order of their residence, with blank columns for enter- ing the date when the book was received and when it was sent to the next neighbor. *' Books to be forwarded on Saturday. Books may he retained 1 4 days for the first reading, 28 days for the second reading. Five cents fine for each day's detention over 14." When the book has 374 Book^ and Reading. [Chap. XXII. gone the round it should be sent to the librarian, and when the company please to order it, the books can be disposed of by lot or by sale. The volume from which these regula- tions were copied is numbered 1481, and the club has ex- isted for some thirty years. An important impulse has been given to the establish- ment of libraries in connection with the increased interest awakened in our Public Schools. In some of the states the effort has been made to provide every school district with a library which should not only be adapted to the wants of those attending upon the schools but to the necessities of the whole community. In the State of New York par- ticularly, considerable appropriations have been made by the legislature with the dcsiii^n of establishing: libraries " not so much for the benefit of children attending school, as for those who have completed their common school edu- cation. The main design was to throw into school dis- tricts, and to place wnthin reach of all the inhabitants, a collection of good works on subjects calculated to enlarge their understandings and store their minds with useful knowledge." The suggestion was very natural that the school system which furnished elementary instruction for the young might properly continue to minister light and knowledge with the advancing years of successive school generations. It was also believed that the money and organ- ization required for the sustcntation of a school might be advantageously used for the support of a public library. The plan has been tried with varying success. The ob- jections are obvious. School teachers and school com- miltees are not necessarily the most suitable trustees fnr the management of a library for all classes of readers. They would naturally be tempted to devote too large a share of the library to books required by teachers and adapted to young persons. In ordinary school distri(!t3 says a competent witness, " Experience proves that it \» Cba»». xxil] The Library. 375 impracticable to maintain libraries for general reading. Tliey are usually too feeble to awaken popular interest, or claim proper care or protection. By uniting the interesta and resources of a whole town, suitable cases, room ot building, and a responsible librarian are secured. Among a dozen districts, each library grows diminutive, and af length the books are scattered beyond recall." (Rev. B. G. Northrop, School Report for Conn. 1868.) An experi- ment made to establish public libraries in the State of E-hode Island as an auxiliary to, but not as a part of the public school system, was successful in every town except four. It was backed by the liberal contributions of in- dividuals, but its success was owing to the untiring zeal for four years, 1846-1849, of the then school commissioner, Hon. Henry Barnard. Out of this movement for school libraries another has grown into form, the establishment of free Town Libraries by the action of the towns themselves. Its history is not uninteresting. In 1847, Rev. Francis Wayland, doubtless excited by the movement then in progress in Rhode Island, tendered five hundred dollars to the town in INIassachusetts which bore his name, " on condition that its citizens should secure an equal amount for a town library." More than the sum required was raised by subscription. But as doubts were raised about the right of a town to tax its inhabitants for a library building, Rev. John B. Wight, a representative from the town in 1851, procured the enact- ment of a law authorizing cities and towns to establish and maintain public libraries. This has led to the forma- tion and enlargement of many libraries, some of which have been generously endowed by private munificence as well as by public taxation. In not a few cities and villages of several states the library is established in the affec- tions of the community. Not only is it generously sup- ported, but the books which it contains are extensively 376 Books and Reading. [Chap. xxil, used bv a lar2:e number of the inhabitants. In Boston the Public Library is pointed out to the visitor as the pride of the city. In Springfield a handsome bulging has been erected containing a valuable libi-ary, which is maintained by the city and is free to all. In Stockbridge and Lenox, buildings appropriate and substantial contain the village libraries which private generosity and public taxation have provided and sustained. In not a few of the cities and large towns the name of some public-spirited citizen or former resident is remembered by the library which is called after his name. The name of Logan is thus honored in Philadelphia, the name of Astor in New York, the name of Watkinson in Hartford, of Branson in Waterbury, of Otis in Norwich and of Cheney in South Manchester, the names of Jackson and Goodrich in Stockbridge, and the name of Peabody in Danvers and Baltimore. There is scarcely a village in the older settlements from which some citizen has not gone forth who has acquired a fortune more or less ample. If he would be honorably remembered among the scenes of his cliildhood and youth he can ac- complish his desire in no way so usefully as by erecting a simple fire-proof building, and founding a village library. We have already observed how hard it is for the student to part from his books — and how painful the thought that his library must be scattered. This can be avoided by giv- ing one's library to the collection of the parish or the town, or by depositing it in the care of some public institution. The learned library of the Mathers still remains in the Antiquarian Hall at Worcester to testify tx) the learning of its co]leotf)rs and the lore of their times. The library which Rev, Thomas Prince gathered with such pains and expense for fifty years, was kept by the church of which he was past^>r for more than three quarters of a century, and is now committed to the public library of Boston. A choice library carefully collected by a country clergyman in New Chap, xxil] The Library. 377 England was given by his widow to an infant university in Oregon. It will be thought, perhaps, that we ought not to over- look the Sunday-School Library. We had designed to speak of this and of juvenile literature in general, but the subjects are too important to be disposed of in a chapter. That children are over-stimulated with reading we do not doubt. That the quality is often as objectionable as the quantity of their books is no less clear to our minds. We are equally well satisfied that the Sunday-School and juvenile library' too often take the place of the home and the public library ; and indeed, that children are pampered to so great an excess that their appetite xbr good reading is not infrequently ruined. It becomes of less con- sequence that the supply of wholesome books for such adults is often cut short by the expenditure required to still the imperious cries of the young Olivers for " more." The college and university library must not be left with- out notice. We offer no argument for their utility. It is self-evident that without a complete library no institution of learning can attain the highest rank, or continue to at- tract or educate scholars of finished culture. We began these papers by introducing a savnge to a public library. We cannot more appropriately conclude them than by imagining a thoughtful scholar *o take his place. The same objects meet the bodily eye, but very different are the thoughts which the books awaken in the soul that has been refined and enriched by the culture which books impart. They recall the histor}' and achieve- ments of the forgotten past. Every volume suggests a living author who thought and toiled in history, or spec- ulation, or experiment ; in eloquence, or poetry, or fiction. At the reading of the titles the scholar thinks of these 578 Books and Reading. [Chap. xxit men as still living, then of the generation of men among whom they labored, then of their honorable fame or their deserved infiimy, of their pure aspirations or their de- basing passions, of their greatness or their meanness, of their precious legacy of solid truth and quickening emo- tions or of pernicious sophistry and vile suggestions. The topic has been often treated of, but by no writer more briefly and eifectively than by Southey in the lines which a house filled with books and a life devoted to reading were fitted to inspire. My days among the dead are past; Around mo I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old. My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day. With them I take delight in weal, And seek relief in woe ; And while I understand and feel How much to them I owe, My cheeks have often been bcdew'd With tears of thoughtful gratitude. My thoughts arc with the dead ; with them I live in long-past years; Their virtues love, their faults condemn. Partake their hopes and fears; And from their lessons seek and find Instruction with an humble mind. My hopes are with the dead : anon My place with them will be. And I with them shall travel on Through all Futurity: Yet leaving here a name, I trust. That will not perish in the dusU APPENDIX. At the time when this volume loas first given to the public, Pycroffs " Course of Reading " was the only work of the kind which was readily accessible. Several works have since been published, which cover more or less of the ground which this work was designed to occupy. Some of these contain a more or less complete catalogue of desirable books in the several departments of science and literature. It was not originally intended, for reasons already stated, to furnish such a cata- logue i?i this volume. But the desire for it has been so often expressed, that Mr. James M. Hubbard, late of the Boston Public Library, has consented to prepare the one which fol- lows. While it professes to be select rather than complete, it is hoped that it will meet the wishes of many readers, and thereby increase the usefulness of the volume which has already been so favorably received by many thoughtful and earliest readers. N,P. Yale College, July, 188L AFRICA. Johnston, K. Africa. Africa. Physical, Historical, Political, and Descriptive Geography. Northern and Central. Baker, Sir S. W. Nile Tributaries (18G1-63). Albert N'yanza (1861-65). Ismailia : Expedition to Central Africa (1870-T3). Barth, H. Travels in North and Central Africa (1849-55). MacKenzie, D. The Great Desert of Sahara. Rae, E. Country of the Moors (Tunis and Tripoli, 1877). 380 Ajppendix. Tristram, H. B. The Great Sahara (185-). Chaillu, P. B. Journey to Ashango Land (18&-). Adventures in Equatorial Africa (1855 60). SchwcinfurtU, G. Heart of Africa (18U8-71). Burton, U. F. Lake Regions of Central Africa (1858). Spcke, J. H. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1856). Gordon, C. G. Colonel Gordon in Central Africa (1874-7'J). Livingstone, D. Missionary Travels (1840-5G). Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi (1858-64). Last Journals (1SG5-73). Stanley, H. M. How I Found Livingstone (1871-72). Through the Dark Continent (1874-77). Cameron, V. L.. Across Africa (1873-76). Serpa Pinto, A. de. How I Crossed Africa (1877-79). TUomson, J. To the Central African Lakes and Back (1878-80). Verne, J. Five Weeks in a Balloon (adventures in Central Africa). Mayo, W. S. Kaloolah (a story of Central Africa). Stanley, U. M. Kalulu (adventures in Central Africa). Southern. re Vaillant, F. Travels into the Interior (1780-85). ( unningliamc. Sir A. T. My Command in South Africa (1874-78). Holub. E. Seven Years in South Africa (1872-79). Trollopc, .\. South Africa (1877). Barker, Lady. Year's Housekeeping in South Africa (1875-76). Grout, L. Zulu-land ; or, Life Among the Zulu Kafirs. Ellis, AV. Madagascar Revisited (1862-65). Gumming, Gordon. Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Interior of South Africa. Marryatt, Capt. F. The Mission (scenes in South Africa). See also Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco. AGRICULTURE, etc. Rogers, J. E. T. History of Agriculture in England. Johnson, S. W. How Crops Grow. How (^rops Feed. Waring, G. E., Jr. Draining for Profit. Thomas, J. J. Farm Implements. Gray, A. Field, Garden, and Forest Botany. Darlington, W. American Weeds and Useful Plants. Flint, C. L. Grasses and Forage Plants. Burr, I". Field and flardcn Vegetables of America. IIcndrrHon, P. f;ardening for Profit. Thomas, J. J. Fruit Culturist. lliiHinann, ii. Grapoa and Wine Making. Fuller, A. 8. Small Fruit Culturist. Appendix. 381 Hoopes, J. Forest-Tree Culturist. Book of Evergreens. Parkman, F. Book of Roses. Band, E. S., Jr. Bulbs. Seventy-Five Flowers. Tenney, 9. Natural History. Allen, K. 1.. Domestic Animals. Flint, C. L. Milch-Cows and Dairy-Farming, Herbert, H. W. Hints to Horse-Keepers. Yonatt, W. The Horse. Harris, J. On the Pig. Kandall, H. S. The Practical Shepherd. Harris, T. W. Insects of Massachusetts. Do^vning, A. J. Landscape Gardening. Langstroth, L,. L,. The Hive and Honey Bee. Mitchell, D. G. My Farm at Edgewood. . Wet Days at Edgewood. Copeland, K. M. Country Life. £merson, G. B. Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts. Mechi, J. J. How to Farm Profitably. Roe, E. P. Success with Small Fruits. ■Warner, C. D. My Summer in a Garden. Virgil. GeorgicB. ALGERIA. Edwards, M. B. Winter with the Swallows (1S6-). Segnin, li. G. Walks in Algiers (1S7-). Herbert, Lady. Search after Sunshine (1871). AMERICA. See British, Central, South America, Mexico, the United States, and Wett Indies. ARABIA. Bnrckhardt, J. t. Travels in Arabia (1814). Stephens, J. L,. Incidents of Travel (1851). Burton, R. F. Pilgrimage to Mecca (185G). Palgrave, W. G. Year's Journey Through Arabia (180^-63). Taylor, Bayard. Travels in Arabia (1872). Blunt, Lady Anne. Bedouin Tribes (1877-78). A Pilgrimage to Nejd (1879). Palgrave, W. G. Herrmann Agha (a tale of moderji Arabia). Keane, T. F. Six Months in Meccah. 382 Ajpjpendix. ARCHITECTURE. Fcrgnsson, J. History of Architecture. Scott, Sir G. G. Examples of Modern Architecture. Lectures on the Rise of Mediaeval Architecture. Street, G. E. Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages. Viollet-Le-I>«c, E. C. Discourses on Architecture. Story of a House. Annals of a Fortress. . Habitations of Man. Beckett, Sir E. Book on Building. Ruskin, J. Stones of Venice. Seven Lamps of Architecture. Lectures on Architecture. Rosengarten, A. Handbook of Architectural Styles. Woods, J. Letters of an Architect from France, Italy, and Greece. See also England, France, etc., Literature and Art. ARCTIC REGIONS. Hartwlg, G. The Polar World. Parry, Sir W. E. Attempt to Reach the North Pole in Boats (1827). Van Campen, S. R. The Dutch in the Arctic Seas. Kane, E. K. Arctic Explorations (1853-55). MacCllntock, Sir F. L. Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir J Franklin. Hayes, I. I. Arctic Boat Journey (1854). The ( )pen Polar Sea ( 1800-Gl ). DuflTerin, Lord. Letters from High Latitudes (1856). Hall, C. P. Arctic Researches (1800-62). MacGahan, J. A. Under the Northern Lights (1875). Payer, J. New Lands within the Arctic Circle (1872-74). Markliam, C. R. Threshold of the Unknov^n Region. MoxH, K. L. Shores of the Polar Sea (187.5-70). Markham, A. H. Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay (1874). Great Frozen Sea (1875-76). A Polar Reconnaisance (1879.) Nordcnakiold, A. E. Arctic Voyages (1858-79). ART. L.dbkr, W. History of Art. AVinrkclmann, .J. History of Ancient Art. W'oltmanii, A. History of Painting. Leasing, G. E. Laocoon. Ajpjpendix. 383 Jameson, Mrs. A. 91. Sacred and Legendary Art. ■ Legends of the Madonna. • Life of Our Lord. • Monastic Orders. Ruskin, J. Modern Painters. Lectures on Art (and other works). Hamerton, P. G. A Painter's Camp. Burckbardt, J. The Cicerone ; or, Ai-t Guide to Painting in Italy. Taine, H. A. Lectures. Poynter, E. J. Ten Lectures on Art. TyrwUitt, R. St. J. Greek and Gothic Progress and Decay in Architeo* ture, Sculpture and Painting. Jones, O. Grammar of Ornament. Racinet, A. Polychromatic Ornament. Eastlake, C. L. Hints on Household Taste. Vasari, G. Lives of the Painters. Blanc, C. History of Painters of all Nations. Dohme, R. Early Teutonic, Italian, and French Masters. Falke, J. v. Art in the House. Cook, C. The House Beautiful Art at Home Series. See also England, France, etc., Literature and Art. ASIA. See Arabia, Asia Minor, Central Asia, China, East Indies, India, Japan^ Palestine, Persia, and liussia. ASIA MINOR. Leake, W. M. Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor (182-). Newton, C. T. Travels in the Levant (1853-59). Van Lennep, H. J. Travels in Little Knovt^n Parts of Asia Minor (1864). Freslifield, D. W. Travels in the Central Caucasus (1868). Bryce, J. ■ Transcaucasia and Ararat (1876). Schliemann, H. Troy and its Remains. Tozer, H. F. Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor (1879). AUSTRALIA. Wallace, A. R. Australasia. Ho-witt, W. Land, Labor, and Gold. Beau voir. Marquis de. Voyage Round the World, Vol. I. Millet, Mrs. E. An Australian Parsonage (186-). Inglis, J. Our Australian Cousins. Trollope, A. Australia and New Zealand (187-). 384 Appendix. Kln^sley, H. Geoffry Hamlyn (life in the Interior). Rcadc, C. Never too Late to Mend (gold hunting adventurea). Grant, A. C. Bush Life in Queensland (sheep raising). BELGIUM. See Holland and Belgium. BIBLE. Home, T. H. Introduction to the Scriptures. Andt-rsou, C. Annals of the English Bible. Tlioinson, \V. Land and the Book. Kitto, J. Daily Bible Readings. AV'cstcott, B. F. Introduction to the Study of the Gospels. . The Bible in the Church. Aids to Bible Students by Cheyne, Green, Sayce, etc. See also Christ, Jews, and Palestine. BRITISH AMERICA, Including Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Parkinan, F. France and England in North America. Haliburton, T. C. Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia (1497-1828). Simpson, Sir G. Journey Round the World, Vol L (1841). Moodie, Mrs. S. Roughing it in the Bush. Cozzens, F. S. Acadia ; or, A Month among the Blue Noses (1857 ?). Sonthesk, Earl of. Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains (1859-60). Butler, W. F. The Great Lone Land (1870). Kac, AV. F. Columbia and Canada (1876). Marryatt, Capt. Settlers in Canada. Longfellow, H. VV. Evangeline (the French in Nova Scotia). Lowell, K. T. S. New Priest in Conception Bay (Newfoundland life). CENTRAL AMERICA. Helps, .Sir A. Spanish Conquest in America. Stephens, J. L. Incidents of Travel in Central America (1839-40). Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (184-). Squier, E. G. Notes on Central America. States of Central America. Nicaragua, its People, Scenery (1849-.51). Morelet, A. Travels in Central America (184-). >V«11)), W. V. Explorations and Adventures in Honduras (1854). Bojrle, F. Ride Across a Continent (1865-66). Appendix. 385 Trollope, A. The West Indies and the Spanish Main (1859). Boddam-IVlietliain, J. IV. Across Central America (1878). CENTRAL ASIA. Vamb^ry, A. Travels in Central Asia (1863). Sketches in Central Asia. History of Bokhara. Schuyler, E. Turkistan (1873). Taylor, Bayard. Central Asia. Wood, J. Journey to the Source of the Oxus (1837). Gordon, T. E. The Roof of the World (1873-74). MacGahan, J. A. Campaigning on the Oxus (1873). Burnaby, F. Ride to Khiva (1875-76). Markham, C. K. Tibet. Bonlger, D. C. England and Russia in Central Asia. Central Asian Portraits. Life of Yakoob Bey. CHINA. Bonlger, D. C. History of China. Williams, S. W. The Middle Kingdom. Medburst, W. H. Foreigner in Far Cathay. Gray, J. H. China, History of the Laws, Manners, and Customi. Doollttle, J. Social Life of the Chinese. Polo, Marco. Book of the Kingdoms of the East (1271-98). Hue, E. R. Travels in Tartary and China (1844-46). Journey through the Chinese Empire. Pumpelly, R. Across America and Asia (1861). Cooper, T. T. Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce (1868-69). Tbomson, J. Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China (186^72). Margary, A. R. Journey from Shanghai to Bhamo (1874-75). Gill, W. W. River of Golden Sand (1876-77). Gray, Mrs. J. H. Fourteen Months in Canton (1877-78). L.egge, K. Religions in China. Hue, £. R. Christianity in China. CHRIST. Andrews, S. J. Life of Our Lord. Ellicott, C. J. Lectures on the Life of Christ. Farrar, F. XV. Life of Christ. Jameson, Mrs. History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art. Lange, J. P. Life of Christ. Geikie, C. Life and Words of Christ. Seeley, J. R. Ecce Homo. 25 SS6 Appendix. Yonn^, J. The Christ of History. Llddou, H. P. The Divinity of Christ. CHRISTIANITY. Hatch, E. Organization of the Early Christian Chnrches. £usel>iu.«. History of the Church. Presscnsc, E. dc. Early Years of Christianity. Milmau, H. H. History of Christianity. History of Latin Christianity. Bryce, J. Holy Roman Empire. Nt-andcr, A. History of the Christian Religion (to the Reformation). DoUinger, J. J. I. History to the Reformation. D'Aubigne, J. M. History of the Reformation. Fisher, G. P. Beginnings of Christianity. The Reformation. Hagenbach, K. K. History in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Stanley, A. P. History of the Eastern Church. RanUc, L. von. History of the Popes. Montalcnibcrt, C. F. de. Monks of the West. Gillett, E. H. History of the Presbyterian Church in the United Statea Stevens, A. History of Methodism. Bampton Lectures, 1782-1881. Coleridge, S. T. Aids to Reflection. Erskine, Thomas. Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion. Rogers, A. Eclipse of Faith. Shairp, J. C. Culture and Religion. Stanley, A. P. Christian Institutions. Ifarflwick, C. Christ and Other Masters. Row, C. A. Christian Evidences Viewed in Relation to Modem Thought. Christlicb, T. Modern Doubt and Christian Belief. CRUSADES. Chronicles of the Crusades. Miehaud, .J. F. History of the Crusades. <'oi, t;. AV. The Crusades. Scott, Sir W. Count Robert of Paris (a tale of the First Crusade). Talisman (a tale of the Third Crusade). Tasso. Jerusalem Delivered (a poem on the First Crusade). EAST. See Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, Palestine, and Turkey. EAST INDIES. Wallace, A. R. The Malay Archipelago (18.')4-«2). B«aavoir, Oomt« de. Voyage Round the World, Vol. II. (1866). Ajpjpendix. 387 Forbes, Sir C J. British Burmah and Its People (1878). Bowring, Sir J. Kingdom and People of Siam (1855). Vincent, F. Land of the White Elephant (1871-72). Judson, A. Life by F. Wayland. Bacon, G. B. Siam as It Was and Is. Leonowens, A. H. English Governess at the Siamese Court (1863-67), Mouliot, H. Travels ia Indo-China (1858-(50). Carn^, L. de. Travels in Indo-China (1866-68). Broolce, Sir J. Narrative of Events in Borneo (1838-47). Life by G. L. Jacob. St. John, S. Life in the Forests of the Far East (Borneo, 1858). Bnrbidgc, F. W. Gardens of the Sun (Borneo, 1878). Moresby, J. New Guinea and Polynesia (187-). Albertis, L. M. d'. New Guinea (1871-77). Bowring, Sir J. Visit to the Philippine Islands (1858). Mai Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (a Btory of life in Java). EDUCATION. Farrar, F. W., Editor.' Essays on a Liberal Education. Moleswortb, M. W. Prize Essay on an Improved System of Education. Busbnell, H. Christian Nurture. TUonipson, D'A. W. Day Dreams of a Schoolmaster. Tonnnans, E. L,., Editor. Modern Culture ; Claims of Scientific Educa- tion. Taylor, S. H., Editor. Classical Education. Arnold, M. Schools and Universities on the Continent Calderwood, H. On Teaching. ClarKe, E. H. Sex in Education. Hamilton, Sir yv. Discussions on Education. Spencer, H. On Education. Barnard, H. National Education. Nortbrop, B. G. Education Abroad. Adams, C. F., Jr. New Departure in the Common Schools of Quincy. Payne, J. Lectures on the Science and Art of Teaching. Fitcb, J. O. Lectures on Teaching Delivered in the University of Cam- bridge, England. Porter, N. American Colleges and the American Public. Fraser, Bisbop J. Report on the Common School System of the United States and Canada. EGYPT. Bawlinson, G. History of Ancient Egypt (to 527 B.C.). Herodotus. History. Birch, S. Egvpt from the Earliest Times to B.C. 300. Sharpe, S. History Till the Conquest by the Arabs, A.D. 640. Brngsch-Bey, H. H. History Under the Pharaohs. 388 Ap'pendix, McCoan, J. C. Egypt as It Is. AVilkiiison, Sir J. G. The Ancient Egyptians. Modern Egypt and Thebes. Handbook for Egypt. Lane, E. W. Manners and Customs of the Modem Egyptians. Curzon, K. Visit to the Monasteries of the Levant (1833-38). ■\Varburton, E. Crescent and the Cross (IS'IS). Martineau, H. Eastern Life (1840-47). Curtis, G. 'Vi. Nile Notes of a Howadji (184-). Bryant, W. C. Letters from the East (1853). Gordon, Lady Duff. Letters from Egypt (1863-05). Macgrcgor, J. The Rob Roy on the Jordan, NUe, etc. (1868-69). \%'arner, C. D. My Winter on the Nile (1876). Field, H. M. From Egypt to Japan (1876). Dc Leon, E. Khedive's Egypt. Edwards, A. B. A Thousand Miles up the Nile (187-). Ebers, G. Egypt. The Daughter of a King. • Uarda (life in Eg>'pt under the Pharaohs). • The Sisters (Egypt under Cleopatra). Kingsley, C. Hypatia (Egypt in the fifth century). Aboat, £. The Fellah (modern Egypt). ENGLAND, Including Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. HISTORIES. Green, J. R. History of the English People. Hamc, D. History (to 1688). Knight, C. Popular History (to 1849). Ilallam, H. Constitutional History (1485-1760). StabbH, W. Constitutional History. Freeman, E. A. History of the Norman Conquest. Thierry, A. History of the Conquest. FroiHHart, .J. Chronicles (1300-1400). Galrdner, J. Houses of Lancaster and York (1377-148.5). Froude, .J. A. History (l.''.29-1.58«). Maraulay, T. B. History (lCGO-1702). Mahon, Lord, Earl .Stanhope. Reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). History (171 4-S8). Lccky, W. E. H. History in the Eighteenth Century. Walpole, S. History from 181.5. Murlineau, H. History (1816-40). Molenworth, W. N. Hi.story (18.30-70). Mrfarthy, J. History of Onr Own Times (1837-70). Barton, J. U. History of Scotland to 1683. Ajppendix. 389 Robertson, W. History of Scotland (1543-1603). Scott, Sir W. Tales of a Grandfather. McGee, F. D'Arcy. Popular History of Ireland (to 1829), Froucle, J. A. Tlie English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century. Lecky, \V. E. H. Leaders of Public Opinion in Iieland. Duffy, Sir C. G. Young Ireland (1840-50). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Escott, H. S. England ; Her People, Polity, and Pursuits. Thornbury, W. Shakespeare's England. HoTt-itt, W. Rural Life of England. Mitford, Miss. Our Village. Ha'ivtborne, N. Our Old Home. Emerson, R. W. English Traits. Hoppin, J. M. Old England. Miller, Hugb. First Impressions of England. Jennings, L. J. Field Paths and Green Lanes in Surrey and Sussex. Rambles among the Hills. Jefferies, R. Wild Life in a Southern County (Wilts). The Gamekeeper at Home. Heatb, F. G. Peasant Life in the West of England. White, R. G. England Without and Within. London. Old and New, by Thornbury and Walford, Black, \V. The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. Jobnson, Dr. S. Tour to the Hebrides (1773). Wordsworth, Miss D. Recollections of a Tour in Scotland (1803). Miller, Hugh. Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland. Buchanan, R. The Land of Lome. Hamertan, P. G. Painter's Camp in the Highlands. Black, W. Princess of Thule. Hall, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Ireland. Thackeray, W. M. Irish Sketch Book. Trench, W. S. Realities of Irish Life. LITERATURE AND ART. Craik, G. li. Compendious History of English Literature. Morley, H. English Writers. Reed, H. Lectures on English Literature. Taine, H. A. History of English Literature. Nichols, J. Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century. Brooke, S. English Literature. AVarton, T. History of English Poetry. Ward, T. H. English Poets. Ward, A. W. English Dramatic Literature (to 17141. Stephen, L,. History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. \%'alpole, H. Anecdotes of Painting in England. Waagen, G. F. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. 390 Appendix. Wedmore, T. Studies in English Art. Kaskiu, J. "Works. Murray's Handbooks to the English Cathedrals. Parker, J. U. Domestic Architecture in England. BIOGRAPHY. Jolinson, Dr. S. Lives of the Poets. EnglisUmcn of Letters. A Series edited by J. Morley and including Lives of Dr. Johnson, Sir W. Scott, Gibbon, Shelley, Hume, Goldsmith, Defoe, Burns, Spenser, Thackeray, Burke, Milton, Southey, Bunyan, Chaucer, Cowper, Pope, Byron, Swift, Wordsworth, Adam Smith, Bent- ley, and Lander. Albert, Prince. Life by Sir T. Martia. Alfred the Great. By T. Hughes. Arnold, Dr. T. By A. P. Stanley. Baxter, R. Life and Times. Baxton, Sir T. F. Memoirs. Campbell, Lord. Lives of the Lord Chanoellora. Lives of the Chief Justices. Cowper, W. Life and Letters. Cromwell, O. Life by T. Carlyle. Dickens, Charles. By J. Forster. Dutr, Alexander. By G. Smith. Edward, Thomas. A Scotch Naturalist, by S. Smiles. Pox, C. J. By G. O. Trevelyan. Greville, C. C. F. Journal of the Reigns of George IV. and William IV. Hare Family. Memorials of a Quiet Life. Johnson, Dr. S. By J. Boswell. Livingstone, D. By G. W. Blackie. Macaulay, T. It. Biographical Essays. Life by G. O. Trevelyan. Blartincau, H. Biographical Sketches. Martyn, Henry. Journal and Letters. Blilton, 3. Life and Times, by D. Masson. NclHon, I^rd. By R Southey. Pattcson, Bishop. By Miss Yonge. Pcpys, .S. Diary, lO.V.t-G'J. Pitt, \V., the Younger. By Lord Mahon. Kohcrtxon, F. W. By S. A. Brooke. Robinnnn, H. C. Diary and Reminiscences (1775-1867). Scott, Sir \V. By J. G. Lockhart. ShakcMpeare. By E. Dowden. Smilcw, S. Biographical Works. Sterling, .T. By T. Carlyle. Striclfland, Miss. Lives of the Queens. WeHley, .J. Hy L. Tyerman. Walton, Isaac. Lives of Donne, George Herbert, eto. Appendix. 391 HISTORICAL FICTION. Bulwer. Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings. Kingsley. Hereward the Wake. Scott. Ivanhoe. Bul^ver. The Last of the Barons. Manning, Mrs. Fairc Gospeller (time of Henry VIII.). Kingsley. Westward Ho ! (time of Queen Elizabeth). Scott. Monastery. Abbot. Kenilworth. Woodstock. Rob Roy. Waverley. Ttiackeray. Henry Esmond. • The Virginians. Dickens. Barnaby Rudge (the Gordon riots). Kingsley. Alton Locke. ESSAYS. The Essays of the following writers are of the highest rank : Addison, Mat- thew Arnold, Lord Bacon, Bagehot, Bayne, Dr. John Brown, Sir Thomas Browne, Carlyle, Coleridge, De Quincey, Emerson, J. Foster, E. A. B'ree- man, Hazlitt, Helps, Leigh Hunt, R. H. Hutton, W. Irving, Lamb, Lan- dor, Lowell, Macaulay, Maginn, J. Martineau, J. S. Mill, Montaigne, Max MiiUer, H. Rogers, J. C. Shairp, Sydney Smith, R. Southey, H. Spencer, Sir J. Stephen, Leslie Stephen, Sir T. N. Talfourd, and J. Wilson (Chris- topher North). ETHICS. Mackintosh, Sir J. Progress of Ethical Philosophy. AVliewell, "W. History of Moral Philosophy in England. Blake y, R. History of Moral Science. Jouffroy, T. Introduction to Ethics. Hobbes, T. The Leviathan. CudwortU, R. Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality. Cumberland, R. De Legibus Naturae. Hutclieson, F. Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. Moral Philosophy. Hame, D. Inquiry into the Principles of Morality. Eel-wards, J A Treatise on the Nature of True Virtue. Price, R. Review of the Principal Questions in Morals. Smith, A. Theory of Moral Sentiments. Paley, W. Manual of Moral and Political Philosophy. Bentham, J. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Deontology. 392 Appendix. :»Iin, J. S. Essay on Utilitarianism. Smith, Alexander. Tiie Philosophy of Morals. Kant, I. Metaphysics of Ethics. Cobbc, F. P. Essay on Intuitive Morals. Adams, AV. Elements of Christian Science. Laurie, .*». .S. The Philosophy of Ethics. Notes on British Theories of Morals. Hopkins, M. Lowell Lectures on Moral Science. Law of Love and Love as Law. Metralf, D. Xature, Foundation, and Extent of Moral Obligation- Bain, A. Compendium of Ethics. IVhewell, W. Elements of Morality Including Polity. Fleming, AV. Manual of Moral Philosophy. W'ayland, F. Moral Philosophy. Hickock, L. P. System of Moral Science. Sidg>vick, H. Methods of Ethics. Spencer, H. Data of Ethics. Haven, J. Moral Philosophy. Fairchild, J. H. Moral Philosophy, or the Science of Obligation. Alexander, A. Moral Philosoph}-. Calder^vood, H. Handbook of Moral Philosophy. 44 Wace, H. Christianity and Morality. Barratt, A. Physical Ethics. See also Philosophy. ETHNOLOGY. Brace, C. L. Races of the Old World. Latham, R. G. Descriptive Ethnology. Qnatrefages, A. de. Natural History of Man. Clodd, E. Childhood of the World. Flgnicr, L. Primitive Man. Wilson, D. Prehistoric Man. Mitchell, A. The Past in the Present. Liubboek, Sir J. Prehistoric Times, Morgan, L. H. Ancient Society. Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture. EUROPE. Gnizot, F. History of Civilization (475-1789). Hallam, H. View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages. European History, Narrated in a Series of Historical Selections (1003- 12-«), Edited by Mi^s E. M. Sewell and Miss Yonge. Dyer, T. H. History of Modern Europe (1453-1871). Schlosser, F. C. History of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (to 1815). Appendix. 393 Alison, Sir A. History (1789-1853). Sybel, von. History of Europe During the French Revolution (178y-95). Fyffe, C. A. History of Modern Europe (1792-1814). Castelar, E. Republican Movement in Europe. May, Sir T. E. Democracy in Europe. Freeman, E. A. Historical Geography of Europe. Lecky, "W. E. H. History of European Morals (to 800). Hallam, H. Introduction to the Literature of Europe. Draper, J. W. History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. DnflT, Grant. Studies in European Politics. Senior, N. W. Conversations with Thiers, etc. Stockman, Baron. Memoirs (1814-63). Kossuth, L, Memories of my Exile. Metternich, Prince. Memoirs (1773-1829). Talleyrand, Prince. Correspondence with Louis XVIII. During the Con« gress of Vienna. FRANCE. HISTORIES. Gnizot, F. P. G. Popular History to 1789. Bonnechose, £. de. History to 1848. Chambers, W. France : Its History and Revolutions. Menzies, S. History of France. Stephen, Sir J, Lectures on the History of France. Froissart, J. Chronicles (1300-1400). Yonge, C. D. History Under the Bourbons (1589-1830). Martin, Henri. History. Age of Louis XIV. Decline of the French Monarchy. Taine, H. A. Origins of Contemporary France. Thiers, A. History of the French Revolution (to 1799) Carlyle, T. The French Revolution, Mignet, F. A. The French Revolution. Thiers, A. History of the Consulate and Empire (1799-1821). Lamartine, A. de. Restoration of Monarchy in France (1813-30). Macdonnell, J. France Since the First Empire. Simon, J. Government of M. Thiers (1871-73). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS KM) TRAVELS. Young, A. Travels (1787-89). Dumas, A. Pictures of Travel in the South of Prance (1834). Collins, C. A. Cruise Upon Wheels (1860). Marshall, F. French Home-Life. Craik, D. M. Fair France. Hamerton, P. G. Round my House : Rural Life in France. • An Unknown River. 39-1 Appendix. Ed^vards, M. B. Holidays in France. Palliser, Mrs. Bury. Brittany and Its Bywaya Marquoid, K. S. Through Normandy (1S74). Taine, H. A. Tour Through the Pyreneea. Notes on Paris. LITERATURE AND AKT. Saintsbnry, G. Primer of French Literature. Vail Laun, H. History of French Literature. Besant, W. French Humorists from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Cen- tury. Vinet, A. History of French Literature in the Eighteenth Century. James, H., Jr. French Poets and Novelists. Ilamerton, P. G. Contemporary French Painters. Painting in France after the Decline of Classicism. Pattison, Mrs. Renaissance of Art in France. BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS. Henry rV'. History of his Reign, by M. W. Freer. Francis I. Court and Reign, by Miss Pardee. Gnizot, F. P. G. Great Christians of France (lives of Saint Looia and Calvin). Babelais, F. Life by Besant. Moliere. Life by Mrs. Oliphant. S^vlgn^, Madame de. Letters (1646-1711). Voltaire. Life by J. Morley. St. Simon. Memoirs (1692-1722). Rousseau, J. .J. Life by J. Morley. Napoleon Bonaparte. Life by P. Lanfrey. Abrantes, Uncbess d'. Memoirs. Kemusat, Madame de. Memoirs. Talleyrand, Prince. Correspondence with Louis XViil. Tocqueville, A. de. Memoir. Sainte-Beuve, C. A. Portraits. Gnerin, Maurice and Eugenie. Journals and Letters. Craven, Mrs. A Sister's Story. Cnlzot, F. P. G. Memoirs to Illustrate the History of my Time (1807-40). HISTORICAL FICTION. Hugo, Victor. Hunchback of Notre Dame (time of Louis XI.). Scott, .Sir W. Quentin Durward (time of Louis XI.). James, G. P. K. Richelieu. Vigny, A. de. Cinq Mars (time of Richelieu). liumas. Three Guardsmen, etc. (times of Richelieu — Mazarin). Bungener, L. The Preacher [Bourdaloue] and the King [Louis XIV.]. The Priest and the Huguenot (time of Louis XV.). Uamas. Memoirs of a Physician, etc. (time of Louis XVI.). X>ickens. Tale of Two Cities (French Revolution). Ajypendix. 395 Erckmann-Cliatrlan. Madame Therfese, etc. (French Revolution to Franco-Prussian War). GERMANY. HISTORIES. Bryce, J. Holy Roman Empire (B.C. 48— A. d. 1806). Koltlrausch, F, History of Germany (B.C. 113 — A.D. 1814). Meiizel, W. History (B.C. 100— A. D. 1813). Coxe, W. House of Austria (1218-1792). Robertson, W. History of Charles V. (1519-55). Schiller. Thirty Years' War (1618-48). Gardiner, S. K. Thirty Years' War. Kanke, L. von. Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg (1600-1800). Carlyle, T. History of Frederick the Great (1712-86). Seelye, J. R. Life of Stein (1751-1830). Metternich, Prince. Memoirs (1773-1815). Klaczko, J. Two Chancellors (Gortchakof and Bismarck). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS AND TRAVELS. Taeitns. Germany (100). Freytag, G. Pictures of German Life (1400-1848). Stael, Mad. de. Germany (1800). Howitt, W. Rural and Domestic Life (1840). German Home Life (187-). Longfellow, H. \V. Hyperion (183-). Gould, S. Baring. Germany Past and Present (1879). Howitt, A. M. (Mrs. ^Vatts.) Art Student in Munich (185-). Grolimann, W. A. B. Gaddings with a Primitive People (Sketches of Tyrol). Arnold, M. Higher Schools and Universities in Germany. LITERATURE AND ART. Carlyle, T. German Romance. Hedge, F. H. German Prose Writers. Gost>vick, J. Outlines of German Literature. Hosmer, J. R. Short History of German Literature. Hillebrand, K. History of German Thought. Taylor, Bayard. Studies in German Literature. Grinim, Hermann. Lectures on Goethe. Heine, Heinricli. Letters on the Polite Literature of Germany. Kugler, F. Handbook of Painting, German and Flemish Schools. Liiibke, W. Ecclesiastical Art in Germany during the Middle Ages. Atkinson, J. B. SchooLs of Modern Art in Germany. BIOGRAPHIES. Japp, A. H. German Life and Literature. Winkworth, C, Christian Singers of Germany. 396 A'ppendix. Baur, W. Religious Life in Germany during the Wars of Independence. Strauss, G. L. M. Men who have made the New German Empire. Luther, Martin. Life by Michclet. Diircr, -Vlbert. Life by Mrs. Heaton. Leasing, G. E. Life by H. Zimmern. Stilling, Jung. Autobiography. Schiller. Life by E. Palleske. Goethe. Life by G. H. Lewes. Schleiermacher, F. D. E. Life. Perthes, F. C. Memoirs. Humboldt, A. von. Life by Bruhns. HISTORICAL FICTION. Freytag, G. Ingo and Ingraban (the first of a series of six stories, givinjl the life of a German family from 357 to the present time). Scheffel, J. von. Ekkehard (a story of the invasion of the Huns in the tenth century). Spindler, C. The Jew (relates to the council of Constance, 1414-18). Reade, C. The Cloister and the Hearth (life in the fifteenth century). Scott, Sir W. Anne of Geierstein (relates to the fifteenth century and the famous secret tribunal of Westphalia). Charles, Mrs. Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family (a story of the Reformation). Paaizo-vv, H. J. A Citizen of Prague (time of Maria Theresa, 174-). Manning, Mrs. A. Year Nine (relates to Andrew Hofer and the war in the Tyrol, 1809). Samaro^v, G. For Sceptre and Crown (a story of the seven weeks' war be- tween Austria and Prussia, 1866). GOVERNMENT. Plato. The Republic. Cicero. The Republic. Montesquieu. Spirit of Laws. Toc-qucville, A. de. Democracy in America. Coleridge, .S. T. Statesman's Manual. Lewis, Sir G. C. Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics. Llcber, F. Civil Liberty and Self-Government. Manual of Political Ethics. Mill, J. S. Considerations on Republican Government. On Liberty. Helps, Sir A. Thoughts upon Government. Hare, T. Election of Representatives. MuLford, E. The Nation. GREAT BRITAIN. See England. Ajppendix. 397 GREECE. Cnrtias, E. History (to B.C. 338). Cox, Sir G. "W. History to the End of the Persian War. General History of Greece. Grotc, G. History (to li.C. oOO). Smitli, W. History to the Roman Conquest (B.C. 146). TUucydidcs. History of the Peloponuesian War. XenopUon. Hellenics («. C. 411-36:i). Finlay, G. History (B.C. 146— A. D. 1821). Smitli, W. History continued by C. C. Felton (to 1855). Felton, C. C. Ancient and Modern Greece. Jebb, R. C. Modern Greece. Bulwer. Athens, its Rise and Fall (to B.C. 43!)). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS AND TRAVELS. Tozer, H. F. Lectures on the Geography of Greece. Wordsworth, C. Greece : Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical. Leake, W. M. Travels in Greece (1804-09). About, E. Greece and the Greeks. Alaliaffy, J. P. Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander. Rambles and Studies in Greece. Rangabe, A. R. Greece : her Progress and Present Position, Sergeant, L. New Greece. Dyer, T. H. Ancient Athena LITERATURE AND ART. Miiller, K. O. History of the Literature of Ancient Greece. Mnre, W. Critical History of the Language and Literature. Synionds, J. A. Studies of the Greek Poets. Mahaflfy, J. P. History of Classijal Greek Literature. Jebb, R. C. The Attic Orators. Murray, A. S. History of Greek Sculpture. Woods, J. Letters of an Architect, Vol. IL Taine, H. A. Art in Greece. See also the general works on Architecture, Art, and Homer. BIOGRAPHIES. -- Plutarch. Lives. Xeiioplion. Memoirs of Socrates. FICTION, HISTORICAL. !Landor, W. S. Pericles and Aspasia (an imaginary conversation). Becker, W. A. Charicles (pictures of life in the second century before Christ). Cox, G. W. Tales of Ancient Greece. About, E. King of the Mountains (brigandage in modern Greece). 39S Apj^eiidix. HISTORY. ANCIENT, Puiicker, M. History of Antiquity. Herodotus. History Edited by Rawlinson. Freeman, E. A. General Sketch of History. Kawliiisou, G. Manual of Ancient History. Aiiciciiit History from the Monuments (a series of works on Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greek cities and islands of Asia Minor, Persia, and Sinai). Smith, P. History of the World. isicbutir, 1$. G. Lectures on Ancient History. Kawlinson, G. Five [Seven] Great Monarchies : Chaldaea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Persia, Parthia, and Sassanian. Epnclis of Ancient History (a series of works). Kollin, C. Ancient History (untrustworthy but very readable). MODERN. Arnold, T. Lectures on Modern HistorJ^ Sclilegcl, F. von. Lectures on Modern History. Guizot, G. History of Civilization. "White, J. Eighteen Christian Centuries. Schlosser, F. C. History of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Smyth, W. Lectures on Modern History. Lord, J. Modem History. Fpochs of Modern History (a series of works). - Mackenzie, K. The Nineteenth Century : A History. HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. Motley, J. L. Rise of the Dutch Republic (l.'5.55-S4). History of the United Netherlands (1584-1609). • Life of John of Barneveld (1009-:23). Schiller, J. C. von. Revolt of the Netherlands (1566). Liefde, J. B. de. The Great Dutch Admirals. DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Havard, H. Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee. ■ Picturesque Holland (187.5). The Heart of Holland (1879). Amsterdam and Venice. Amlcta, E. dc. Holland and Its People (187-). StevenKon, R. I>. An Inland Voyage (187-). Macquoid, K. S. In the Ardennes (187-). ART. Cro-we and CavalcaHclle. The Early Flemish Painters. Ku^Icr, F. Handbook of Painting, German and Flemish Schools. Talnc, U. A. Philosophy of Art in the Netherlands. Appendix. 399 HISTORICAL FICTION. Liefde, J. B. de. The Beggars (a tale of the revolt of the Netherlands). Conscience, H. Novels. Bieruatski, J- C. Hallig; or, Sheepfold in the Waters (description of life on the Islands). HOLY LAND. See Palestine. HOMER. Among the best translations into English are those of Chapman, Pope, Cowper, Bryant, and J. S. Blackie. Arnold, M. On Translating Homer. Gladstone, W. E. Juventus Mundi ; the Gods and Men of the Heroic Age. Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. Schlieniann, H. Troy and its Remains. Ilios. The City and Country of the Trojans. Church, A. J. Stories from Homer. HUGUENOTS. Baird, H. M. Hi-story of the Rise of the Huguenots. Blackburn, W. M. Admiral Coligny. Weiss, C. History of the French Protestant Refugees. Agnew, D. C. A. Protestant E.xiles from France in the Days of Louis XIV. Smiles, S. Huguenots in France. — Huguenots in England and Ireland. Poole, R. L,. History of the Huguenots of the Dispersion. •James, G. P. R. The Huguenot. Tytler, Miss S. Huguenot Family (life of the Refugees in England). HYMNS. Miller, J. Our Hymns, their Authors and Origin. Singers and Songs of the Church. Christophers, S. W. Poets of Methodism. AVinkworth, C. Christian Singers of Germany. Neale, J. M. Hymns of the Eastern Church. — • ICELAND. Conybearc, C. A. V. The Place of Iceland in the History of European Institutions. Henderson, E. Journal of Residence in Iceland (1814-15), Preiffer, I. Journey to Iceland (1845). DuflTerin, Lord. Letters from High Latitudes (1856). Burton, R. F. Ultima Thule (1872). 400 Appendix. Tiiylor, Bayard. Eg>'pt and Iceland (1874). AVatts, ^V. L. Across the Vatna YcikuU (1875). Lock, C. G. W. The Home of the Eddas (1875-76). Gould, S. Baring. Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas. Story of Burnt Djal. Translated by G. W. Dasent (life in Iceland in the tenth century). INDIA. HISTORIES. Wheeler, J. T. History from the Earliest Ages. Taylor, M. Student\s Manual (to 1870). Elliot, Sir II. >I. History of India, as Told by its Own Historians (851- lo'.tl ). Keene, U. G. The Turks in India (1497-1760). Malleson, G. B. History of the French in India. Maraulay, Lord. Essays on Clive and Warren Hastings. Kaye, J. AV. History of the Sepoy War (18.57-58). Malleson, G. B. History of the Indian Mutiny. Russell, W. H. My Diary in India (during the mutiny). Sherring, M. A. History of Protestant Missions in India (1706-1871). Duff, A. Life, by George Smith. DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Heber, Blsliop R. Journey and Letters (1823-26). £dcii, E. L'p the Country. Letters from Upper India (1837-40). Letters from India (1835-42). Hooker, J. D. Himalayan Journals (1848-51). Butler, W. The Land of the Veda (18.56-58). Trevclyan, G. O. Competition Wallah (1863). Rousaclet, F. L. India and its Native Princes (1863-68). Indian Alps (187-). AMlMon, A. The Abode of Snow (Himalayas, 1873). AVilliaina, M. Modem India (187.5-77). Temple, .Sir R. India in 1880. Hunter, W. M. Orissa. ForHyth, J. Highlands of Central India* Robintton, P. In My Indian Garden. Tenncnt, Sir E. Ceylon. • INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA. Bancroft, H. H. Native Races of the Pacific States. C'atlin, G. Manners, Customs, etc., of the North American Indians. Hubbard, AV. History of the Indian Wars in New England to 1677. Schoolcraft, H. R. Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the Indians. B. H. (Mrs. Jack*on). A Century of Dishonor. Apjpendix. 401 Parkman, F. Conspiracy of Pontiac (1763-69). Brinton, D. G. Myths of the New World Walker, F. A. The Indian Question. filorgan, L.. H. League of the Iroquois. Gootlricli, S. G. Lives of Celebrated Indians. Drake, S. G. Biography and History of the Indiana. Stone, W. Ii. Life of Brant. Life of Red Jacket. Browne, Ross. The Apache Country. Custer, G. A. My Life on the Plains. Cooper, J. F. The Leatherstocldng Tales. Deerslayer. Last of the Mo- hicans. Pathfinder. Pioneers. Prairie. Irving, "W. Capt. Bonneville's Adventures. Parkman, F. California and Oregon Trail. ITALY. HISTORIES. Hodgkin, T. Italy and Her Invaders (376-476). Hunt, IV. History of Italy (476-1870). Sismondi, S. de. History of the Italian Republics (476-1805). Syinonds, J. A. Renaissance in Italy (1300-1.500). Machiavelli, N. History of Florence (446-1492). Trollope, T. A. History of Florence (1107-1531). Hazlitt, W. C. History of the Venetian Republic (337-1289). Bent, J. T. Genoa : How the Republic Rose and Fell. Malleson, G. B. Studies from Genoese History. Renmont, A. von. Naples under Spanish Dominion. Horner, S. A Century of Despotism in Naples (17.59-18.59). Gladstone, W. E. Letters on the State Prosecutions of the Neapolitaiv Government. Examination of the Official Reply. Gailenga, A. Italy in 1848. Italy Revisited (1874-75). Castelar, E. Old Rome and New Ita.y. Kossuth, L,. Memoirs of My Exile (1859). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Goetke. Sketches of Travel in Italy (1786-87). Stael, Mad. de. Corinna ; or, Italy (17t>4-96). Mendelssohn, F. Letters from Italy (1830-32). Trollope, F. Visit to Italy (1841-42). Dickens, C. Pictures from Italy (1844). Billard, G. S. Six Months in Italy (1847). Hawthorne, X. Passages from [his] Italian Note Books (185S-59). Bennet, J. H. Winter and Spring on the Shores of the Mediterranean (1859-69). 26 402 Appendix. Talnr, II. A. Italy (1863-65). Howclls, W. D. Italian Journeys (1864). Venetian Life. Yriarte, C. J. Venice, its History, Art, Industries, and Modern Life. Iluvard, H. Amsterdam and Venice. Warner, S. and J. Walks in Florence. Hare, .V. J. C. Cities of Northern and Central Italy. Yriarte, C. J. Florence. Kavanagli, J. Summer and Winter in the Two Sicilies (185-). LITERATURE AND ART. Synionds, 3. A. Renaissance in Italy. Roscoe, T. Italian Novelists. CliurcU, H. W. Dante. Burckliardt, J. The Civilization of the Period of the Renaissance. Olipliant, >Irs. The Makers of Florence: Dante, Giotto, Savonarola. tee, V. Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy. Jameson, Mrs. Diary of an Ennuyee. Kugler, F. T. Schools of Painting in Italy. Crowe and C'avalcasclle. History of Painting in Italy. Hurekhardt, J. The Cicerone ; or. Art Guide to Painting in Italy. Freeman, E. A. Historical and Architectural Sketches. Taine, H. A. Philosophy of Art in Italy. Kuskin, J. Stones of Venice. Mornings in Florence. Street, G. E. Gothic Architecture in Italy. BIOGRAPHY. Vaiiari, G. Lives of the Painters. Miehclangelo. Life by Grimm. Lorenzo dc Medici. Life by Roscoe. Benvcnuto Cellini. Autobiography. Victor Emmanuel. Life by G. S. Godkin. Cavour. Life by C. de Mazade. ]Mazzini. Life and Writings. Garibaldi. Autobiography. HISTORICAL FICTION. Eliot, George. Romola (time of Savonarola). From Dawn to Dark in Italy (time of the Reformation). Manzoni, A. The Betrothed (Plague in Milan, 1028). ICufnni, G. Dr. Antonio (Revolution of 1848). See also Home. JAPAN. Adamx, F. O. History of Japan. Becd, Sir E. J. Japan : Its History, Traditions, and Religions. With Nar- rative of a Visit in 1879. Appendix. 403 Mossman, S. New Japan; its Annals and Progress During the Past Twenty Years. Mounscy, A. H. The Satsuma Rebellion (1868-77). Alcock, Sir R. Capital of the Tycoon ; Three Years' Residence in Japan (18.TO-G2). Humbert, A. Japan and the Japanese (1863-68). Bird, Miss I. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (1878). Griffis, AV. E. The Mikado's Empire. Alcock, Sir R. Art and Art Industries. Audsley and Bowes. Keramic Art of Japan. Cutter, T. W. Grammar of Japanese Ornament and Design. Mitford, A. B. Tales of Old Japan. Chiuslxingura ; or, the Loyal League. JESUITS. Taylor, I. Loyola and Jesuitism in its Rudiments. Cartwright, W. C. The Jesuits : their Constitution and Teaching. Foley, H. Records of the English Province of the Society. Parknian, F. The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century. Pascal, B. The Provmcial Letters. Xavier. Life by Coleridge. JEWS. Joseplias. Works. Milman, H. H. History of the Jews (to 1830). Ewald, H. History of Israel to the Time of Christ. Stanley, A. P. Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church. Rapliall, M. J. Post-biblical History (420 B.C. to 70 A.D.). Deutscli, E. The Talmud. Ware, W. Julian (tale of the time of Christ). Croly, G. Salathiel (the Wandering Jew). Strauss, F. A. The Glory of the House of Israel (Judaism before Christ). Elizabeth, Cbarlotte. Judah's Lion (life of a modern Jew). Eliot, George. Daniel Deronda (a Jew of to-day). See also Palestine. LETTERS. Knight, C. Half-hours with the Best Letter-writera Scoones, W. Four Centuries of English Letters. Also the Letters of Cicero, Cowper, Walpole, Lamb, Dickens, Pascal, Mad. de Sevigne, and E. de Guerin. LITERATURE. Schlegel, F. von. Lectures on the History of Literature. D'Israeli, I. Curiosities of Literature. See also England, Europe, France, etc. 404 Appendix. MEXICO. Prcscott, W. H. Conquest of Mexico. Ilclits, Sir A. Spanish Conquest in America. Saliu-Salui, P. My Diary in Mexico in 1807, including the Last Days of the Emperor Maximilian. Tj-lor, E. IJ. Anahuac ; or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modem. Calderoii de la Barca, Mad. Life in Mexico (1839-42). Haven, G. Our Next Door Neighbor (1874). Cortez. Life by Sir A. Helps. MIDDLE AGES. Sihmitz, L. History of the Middle Ages, 476-1096. Church, R. W. Beginning of the Middle Ages (406-999). Digby, N. H. Mores Catholici; or. Ages of Faith "Wright, T. The Literature, Superstitions, and History of the Middle Ages. HncfTcr, F. The Troubadours, History of Provencal Life and Literature. Lacroix, P. Science and Literature in the Middle Ages. Manners, Customs, and Dress. Military and Religious Life. The Arts in the Middle Ages. Dante. The Divine Comedy. Oould, S. Baring. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. Cox, Sir G. W. Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. See also Eur 02^ e. MISSIONS. Grant, A. Past and Prospective Extension of the Gospel by Missions. Anderson, R. History of the Missions of the American Board. Seelyc, J. H. Christian Missions. IMiillcr, Max. On Missions. Vonge, C. M. Pioneers and Founders. Frere, .Sir Bartle. India Missions. MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. Gibbon, E. Life of Mahomet. Muir, Sir W. Life of Mahomet. Irving, W. Mahomet and His Successors. Smith, R. B. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. Well, G. The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud. MONASTICISM. Montalrmbcrt, C. F. The Monks of the West, from St. Benedict to St I}<;rnar'l. Jameson, Mrs. Legends of the Monastic Orders. Appendix. 405 Cnrzon, R. Monasteries of the Levant. Ebers, G. Homo Sum (tale of the early Anchorites). Scott, Sir W. The Monastery (time of Mary Queen of Scots). MOROCCO. Hay, Sir J. D. Morocco and the Moors. • Western Barbary : Its Wild Tribes and Savage Animals. Rohlfs, G. Adventures in Morocco (ISW). Hooker, Sir W'. Journal of a Tour in Morocco (1871). Colville, H. E. Ride in Petticoat and Slippers (1879). Amicis, E. de. Morocco. MUSIC. Chappell, W. History of Music. Hullalt, J. History of Modern Music. Moscheles, I. Recent Music and Musicians. Cliorley, H. F. Thirty Years' Musical Recollections. Schumann, R. Music and Musicians : Essays and Criticisms. Crowest, F. The Great Tone Poets. Wagner, R. Art, Life, and Theories. Havveis, H. R. Music and Morals. Stainer, J. The Music of the Bible. Gardiner, W. The Music of Nature. Haeffer, F., editor. The Great Musicians. (A Series of Biographies of Wagner, Weber, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Rossini, Marcello, Purcell, Ber- lioz, Gliick, Handel, Haj'dn, Mozart, Palestrina, Schumann, and others.) Sheppard, Miss. Charles Anchester (a story relating to Mefldelssohn). See also Hymits. NETHERLANDS. See Holland and Belgium. NEW ENGLAND. See United States. NEW ZEALAND. Trollope, A. New Zealand. Hochstetter, F. New Zealand, Its Physical Geography, Geology, and Natural History. Senior, W. Travel and Trout in the Antipodes. Bnller, Rev. Jas. Forty Years in New Zealand. Selwyn, Bistiop. Life. Barker, Lady. Station Life in New Zealand (1 865). ' Station Amusements. 406 Apx>endix. NORWAY AND SWEDEN. Ott^, E. C. Scandinavian Historj'. Carlj-le, T. Early Kings of Norway (8()0-1397). ■Westminster, Marchioness of. Diary of a Tour in Sweden, Norway, and Russia in IS'JT. Willinius, AV. 31. Through Norway with a Knapsack (1855). Pritcliett, K. T. Gamle Norge ; Rambles and Scrambles in Norway (18T'.»). Taylor, Bayard. Northern Travel ; Summer and Winter Pictures in Sweden (1856). Andersen, Hans. Pictures of Travel in Sweden (1837, 1865). Lloyd, li. Peasant Life in Sweden. Ilovi-itt, W. and M. Literature and Romance of Northern Europe. Gosse, E. AV. Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe. Anderson, K. B. Norse Mythology. Gustavas Adolphas. Life, by B. Chapman. Charles XII. Life, by Voltaire. Bremer, E. Tales. Martineau, Miss. Feats on the Fiord (life in Norway). Miigge, T. Afraja (life in Lapland). ■• Lie, J. The PUot and His Wife ; a Norse Love Story. BJornson, B. Life by the Fells and the Fiords. PALESTINE AND SYRLA.. Ritter, C. Geography of Palestine. Wright, T., editor. Early Travels in Palestine (700-1697). Thomson, W. M. The Land and the Book (1S32-.57). Robinson, E. Biblical Researches (1838-.52). Kinglake, A. W. Eothen (18.')4-.3")). "Warburton, E. The Crescent and the Cross (1843). ^lartineau. Miss. Eastern Life (1846-47). Stanley, A. P. Sinai and Palestine (18.52-.53). Curtis, G. W. Howadji in Syria (18.")2). I'orter, J. 1.. Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine (1858). Tristram, H. B. Land of Israel (186:3-64). Van I.ennrp, II. J. Bible Lands Ktanhop* , Lady Hester. Travels (1810-16). Burton, Mrs. K. F. Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land. Besant and Palmer. Jerusalem : the City of Herod and Saladin. Bartlrtt, \V. II. Walks About the City of Jerusalem. Wilson and AVarren. Recovery of Jerusalem; Exploration and Dis- covrry m the City and the Holy Land (1864-65). Burton, K. P. Unexplored Syria (1869-71). Porter, J. L. Five Years in Damascus. Giant Cities of Baahan. Appe7idix. 407 Barker, E. B. B. Syria and Egypt Under the Last Five Sultans of Turkey. Tristram, H. B. Land of Moab (1872). Burton, K. F. Land of Midian (1877-78). Falmer, E. H. Desert of the Exodus (1864-65). PERSLA. AND MESOPOTAMIA. Vaiix, W. S. W. Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab Conquest (B.C. 558— A. D. 641). Malcolm, Sir J. History of Persia (to ISIO). Watson, R. G. History of Persia (1800-58). Ba-wlinson, G. History, Geography, and ^-^tiquities of Persia (B.C. 558- 485). Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy ; or, the Geography, History, and Antiquities of the Safisanian or New Persian Empire. Goldsmid, Sir P. J. Telegraph and Travel (1865-72). Mounsey, A. H. Journey Through the Caucasus and the Interior of Persia (18GG). Arnold, A. Through Persia by Caravan (1875). Smith, G. Assyria from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh (B.C. 1850-607). Ra^vlinson, G. Five Great Monarchies. Layard, A. H. Nineveh and its Remains (184.5-47). Discoveries in the Ruins (jf Nineveh and Babylon (1849-51). Chesney, F. K. Narrative of the Euphrates E.xpedition (1835-37). Ellis, T. 3. On a Raft and Through the Desert. PHILOSOPHY. Maurice, F. D. History of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. Scliwegler, A. History of Philosophy. Henry, C. S. Epitome of the History of Philosophy. Le-ives, G. H. History of Philosophy. Ucber-weg, F. History of Philosophy. Morell, J. D. Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the Nineteenth Century. Clialyb^us, H. M. Historical Survey of Speculative Philosophy, from Kant to Hegel. Butler, W. A. Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy. Grote, G. Plato and the Other Companions of Socrates. Lewes, G. H. Aristotle : A Chapter of Science, including Analyses of Aris- totle's Scientific Writings. Cocker, B. F. Christianity and Greek Philosophy. Stewart, D. General View of the Progress of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy. Mackintosli, Sir J. General View of the Progress of Ethical Philosophy. ■\Vliewell, AV. Select Platonic Dialogues. Browne, B. W. Aristotle's Nichomachean EthicB, 408 Apjpaidix. Hobbes, T. Rhetoric, Cicero. Offices, Letters, Tuscuian Disputations, and De Finibus. Seneca. Works. Epictcttis. Works. Antoninus. Works. Lucretius. Works. Dc:«carte8, R. Meditations and Essay on Method. Locke, J. Essay on the Human Understanding. Cousin, V. Lectures on Locke (or Psychology). AVebb, T. E, The Intcllectualism of Locke. Hume, D. Philosophical Treatises. Berkeley, Itisliop. The Minute Philosopher. The Principles of Hui'iian Knowledge. Re id, T. Inquiry into the Human Mind. Essays. Urown, T. Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind. Stewart, D. Philosophical Works. Kaut, I. Critique of Pure Reason. Cuircl, K. A Critical Account of the Philosophy of Kant. Fie lite, J. G. The Science of Knowledge. The Destination of Man. Hamilton, Sir \V. Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic. . Discussions on Philosophy and Literature. Caldcrwood, H. Philosophy of the Infinite, Mansrl, H. L. Limits of Religious Thought. The Philosophy of the Conditioned. Prolegomena Logica. Smith, GoUlwin, Letter to H. L. Mansel. Stirling, J. H. The Secret of Hegel. Hartley, D. Observations on Man. Mill, 3. Analysis of the Human Mind. 3Iill, J. S. A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive. Examination of Sir W. Hamilton's Philosophy. McCosli, J. Examination of Mr. J. S. Mill's Philosophy, being a Defence of Fundamental Truth. The Intuitions of the Human Mind. Ferrier, .J. F. Institutes of Metaphysics. Spencer, II. First Principles. Principles of Psychology. Bain, A. The Senses and the Intellect. The Emotions and the Will. Mental and Moral Science. Comjiendium of Psychology and Ethics. . Logic, Inductive, and Deductive. Maason, D. Recent British Philosophy. I{o\v«n, \\ Essays. ^Nlnriineau, J. Essays, Philosophical and Theological. Porter, N. The Human Intellect. Ajppendix. 400 POETRY. Aristotle. Commentary on the Poetic. Horace. The Art of Poetry. Sidney, Sir P. Defence of Poesy. I.es8ing, G. E. Laokoon : the Limits of Painting and Poetry. Robertson, F. AV. On the Influence of Poetry on the Working Classes. Shairp, J. C. On the Poetic Interpretation of Nature. Arnold, M. Introduction to Ward's English Poets. PORTUGAL. See Spain and Poi-tugal. RELIGIONS. Hardwick, C. Christ and 'Other Masters. Maurice, F. D. Religions of the World and their Relations to Christianity Clodd, E. The Childhood of Religions. Miiller, Max. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as Illus- trated by Those of India. Tlele, C. P. Outlines of the History of Religion to the Spread of the Uni- versal Religious. Calrd, J. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. See also Christianity, Jews, Mohammed, and Palestine. ROME. HISTORIES. Nicbahr, B. G. History of Rome (to B.C. 8.5). Lectures on the History of Rome (to a.d. 476). Arnold, T. History of Rome (to B.C. 341). Mommscn, T. History of Rome (to B.C. 29). Merivale, C. General History of Rome from B.C. 753 to A.D. 470. Ihne, W. History of Rome (to B.C. 133). Dyer, T. H. History of the Kings of Rome (to B.C. 500). Arnold, T. Hi-story of the Roman Commonwealth (B.C. 201— A.D. 117). Long, G. Decline of the Roman Republic (b.c. l5i-44). Merivale, C. History of the Romans under the Empire (B.C. 52 — A.D. 180). Gibbon, E. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (A.n 98-1.590). Dyer, T. H. History of the City of Rome (to 1.536). Sbcppard, J. G. Fall of Rome and Rise of New Nationalities (864-1861). DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Hemans, C. I. Historic and Monumental Rome. Story, W. W. Roba di Roma (18.57). About, E. Rome of To-day (1861). 4l0 Appendix. Tainr, H. A. Rome and Naples (1863-64). Hare, A. J. C. Walks in Rome. Burn, R. Rome and the Campagna (1871). "Wcy, F. Rome. Korthcotc, Jf. S. Roma Sotteranea ; Account of the Roman Catacombs. LITERATURE AND ART. Crntf*rell, C. T. History of Roman Literature from the Earliest Period to the Times of the Antonines. gcllar, AV. Y. The Roman Poets of the Republic. The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age. Virgil. BIOGRAPHIES. Platarch. Lives. Ncpos. Lives. Cicero. Life by W. Forsyth. Life by A. Trollope. Julius Cucsar. Life by J. A. Froude. Cirsars, The. By De Quincey. Farrar, 1'. W. Seekers after God : Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aure- lius. HISTORICAL FICTION. Becker, W. Gallus : Roman Scenes in the Time of Augustus. Bulwcr. The Last Days of Pompeii (a.D. 79). ■\Vhyte-3Iclville. Gladiators. Ebers, G. The Emperor (Hadrian). M'iscman, Cardinal. Fabiola ; or, The Church of the Catacombs, Bnlwcr. Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes (13.54). Andersen, Hans. The Improvisatore. Haivthornc, N. The Marble Faun (Roman life in 18.5-). Mademoiselle Mori. A Tale of Modern Rome. ISee also Architecture, Art, Christianity, and Italy. RUSSIA. Rambaud, A. History of Russia from the Earliest Times to 1877. RalKton, W. K. S. Early Russian History. Krhuylir, K. Life of Peter the Great. Kinglake, .\. W. The Invasion of the Crimea. Kckardt, J. Modem Russia. Rii««iia Before and After the War (of 1877). -V^'allacc, D. M. Russia. An Account of the Political, Social, and Domes- tic Life of the Russian People. EdwardH, II. H. The Russians at Home and the Russians Abroad. Sketch«g of Russian Life under Alexander IL Appendix. 411 Klaczko, J. The Two Chancellors (Bismarck and Gortschakoflf). Stanley, A. P. History of the Eastern Church. Von Moltlce. Letters from Russia (1850). Sala, G. A. Journey Due North (1850). Dixon, W. H. Free Russia (1809). Gautier, T. A Winter in Russia (18G-). Barry, H. Russia in 1870. Ivan at Home. Mnnro-Butler Johnstone, H. A. M. Trip up the Volga to the Fair of Nijni-Novgorod (1874). Tclfcr, J. H. Journey in the Crimea and Transcaucasia (187-). Greene, K. V. Sketches of Army Life in Russia. Swetchine, Mad. Life and Letters (Russia in the times of Alexander L aud Nicholas). Simpson, Sir G. Journey Round the World Vol. II. (1842). Atkinson, T. W. Oriental and Western Siberia (185-). Kcnnan, G. Tent Life in Siberia (1865-G'i). Puinpelly, R. Across America and Asia (1801). Seebohm, H. Siberia in Europe ; a Naturalist's Visit to the Valley of the Petchora (1875). DostoyefsUy, F. Buried Alive ; or, Ten Years of Penal Servitude in Siberia. Cottin, S. Elizabeth ; or, the Exiles of Siberia. Turgeneff, N. Fathers and Sons. Xolstoy, \i. The Cossacks ; a Tale of the Caucasus in 1852. See also Central Asia. SANDWICH ISLANDS AND POLYNESIA. Cook, Capt. Jas. Voyages (1768-79). £llis, W. Polynesian Researche-s. Lang, J. D. Polynesian Nation ; Origin and Migrations. Anderson, R. History of the Sandwich Islands Mission. Bingham, H. Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands. Bird, Miss I. Hawaiian Archipelago ; or, Six Mouths Among the Sandwich Islands (1874). Melville, H. Marquesas and the South Sea Islands. Belcher, Lady D. The Mutineers of the Bounty and their Descendants in Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands. Camming, C. F. G. At Home in Fiji (187.5-78). Cooper, H. S. Coral Lands (Fiji and Samoan Islands, 1877-78). Patteson, Bishop. Life, by Miss Yonge. Wallace, A. R. Island Life. Dana, J. D. Corals and Coral Islands. See also East Indies, atid New Zealand. 412 Appendix. SHAKESPEARE. Among the best editions of Shakespeares works are those by A. Dyce, C. Knight (pictorial edition), H. Staunton and the "Leopold" Shakspere. Dowtlen, E. Shakspere : a Critical Study of His Mind and Art. Hudson, H. >'. Lectures on Shakspeare. Reed, H. Lectures on English History and Tragic Poetrj", as illustrated by Shakspeare. Jameson, Mrs. Characteristics of Women. Thornbury, G. AV. Shakspere's England ; or, Sketches of our Social History in the Reign of Elizabeth. Landor, "W. S. Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare . . . before the Worshipful Sir Thomas Lucy, Kjiight, touching Deer-stealing. Clarke, M. C. Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines. SOUTH AMERICA. Helps, Sir A. Spanish Conquest in America (to IS.oG). Humboldt, A. von. Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Re- gions of America (179^-1804). W'aterton, C. Wanderings in South America, the Northwest Coast of the United States, and the Antilles (1812-24). Brown, C. B. Canoe and Camp-life in British Guiana (1868-72). Boddam-AVlietliani, J. Roraima and British Guiana (1878). Palgrave, W. G. Dutch Guiana (1874 ?). Spence, J. M. The Land of Bolivar ; War, Peace, and Adventure in the Republic of Venezuela (1871-72). Flctehier, J. C. Brazil and the Brazilians. Wallaee, A. R. Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (1848-52). Agasslz, Prof. A Journey in Brazil (180.5). Burton, R. P. Explorations of the Highlands of Brazil (1867). Mareoy, P. Travels in South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean (1848-60). Prescott, W. H. History of t!ie Conqnest of Peru (to 15.50). Squier, K. G. Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas (1863-65). Gallen$;n, A. South America (1879?). Sarmicnto, D. F. Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of Tyrants. Watthburnc, C. A. History of Paraguay, with Notes of Personal Observa- tion r 1.520-186-8). Beerbohm, .J. Wanderings in Patagonia (1877). Dixie, Lady Florence. Across Patagonia (1878-79). SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. HI.STORIES. T>anham, S. A. TTistory of Spain and Portugal (to 176'^). Frescott, W. H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (1479-1516). Ap])endix. 413 Cond^, J. A. History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain (711-1492). Irving, "W. Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada. Prcscott, W. H. History of the Reign of Philip XL (1556-98). Napier, Sir AV. F. P. History of the War in the Peninsular (1807-14). MacC'rie, T. History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Spain in the Sixteenth Century. DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Ford, R. Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Spain (1S44-80). Borrow, G. The Bible in Spain (1835-43). Gautier, T. Wanderings in Spain (1840). Dore, Gustave. Spain Illustrated by Dore (1863). Baxley, H. W. Spain (1871-74). Thieblin, N. L,. Spain and the Spaniards, by Azamat Batuk (1873). Rose, H. J. Untrodden Spain and Her Black Country (1874). Among the Spanish People (1876). Campion, J. S. On Foot in Spain (1876-77). Jackson, Lady C. C. Fair Lusitania (1873). Latouclie, J. Travels in Portugal (187-). Crawford, O. Portugal, Old and New. LITERATURE AND ART. TicUnor, G. History of Spanish Literature. Lewes, G. H. The Spanish Drama : Lope de Vega and Calderon. Stirling-Max^vell, Sir W. Annals of the Artists of Spain. Head, Sir E. Handbook of the History of the Spanish and French Schools of Painting. Scott, W. B. Murillo and the Spanish School of Painting. Street, G. E. Gothic Architecture in Spain. FICTION. Southey, R. The Chronicle of the Cid (contest with the Moors). Irving, W. The Alhambra, Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards. Cervantes. Don Quixote (life at the close of the Middle Ages). L.e Sage. Gil Bias (life in Spam in the seventeenth century). Lever, C. Charles O'Matley, the Irish Dragoon (the Peninsular war). Fernan Caballero. La Gaviota (and other novels illustrative of Spanish life of the present day). SWITZERLAND AND TYROL. Zscliokke, H. History of Switzerland (B.C. 100 to a.d. 1848). Keller, F. Lake Dwellings of Switzerland. Alpine Journal (I8tU-80). Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers (excursions by the Alpine Club). 41-i Appendix, Tjrndall, J. Glaciers of the Alps. Mountaineering in 1861. Hours of Exercise iu the Alps. Dixon, W. H. The Switzers. "WUympcr, E. Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69. Ascent of the Matterhorn. Capper, S. J. Shores and Cities of the Boden See ; rambles in 1879-80. Ba.sk, Miss K. H. Valleys of the Tyrol ; their Traditions and Customs, and How to Visit Them. AVhite, W. Holidays in Tyrol (1869-75). Groliniann, Itaillie. Tyrol and the Tyrolese. Gaddings Among a Primitive People. Edwards, A. B. Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: Ramble in the Dolomites. ■Waring, G. E,, Jr. Tyrol and the Skirt of the Alps (187-). Manning, A. Year Nine (a tale of Andrew Hofer and the war in the Tyrol, 1809). TRAVELS AND VOYAGES. Galton, F. The Art of Travel. Herodotus. The Geography of Herodotus, Illustrated from Modern Re- searches and Discoveries. Marco Polo. Travels (1271-1295). Vcrnt', Jules. Exploration of the World ; Famous Travels and Travellers. Dar^vin, C. Journal of a Naturalist During a Voyage Round the World (18^1-36). What Mr. Darwin Saw in His Voyage Round the World in the Ship Beagle (1831-30). PfrilTcr, I. Journey Round the World (1840-.52). Gallon, F., Editor. Vacation Tourists and Notes of Travel (1860-63). Beauvoir, Marquis dc. Voyage Round the World (1866-67). Iliibncr, Itaron von. A Ramble Round the World (1871). Brasscy, Mrs. A Voyage in the Sunbeam (1870-77). Verne, J. Tour of the World in Eighty Days. See also the varioiis countries, Descriptive Works. TURKEY. Creasy, Sir E. S. History of the Ottoman Turks (12.50-1879). Freeman, K. A. History and Conquest of the Saracens (622-1761). The Ottoman Power in Europe. Farley, J. L. Turkey. Modern Turkey. Hamlin. C. Among the Turks (lR:37-72). Tozfr, II. F. Researches in the Highlands of Turkey (1853-63). Appendix. 415 Mackenzie and Irby, Misses. The Turks, the Greeks, and the Slavons : Travels (lS6;5-s8lng, B. J. Pictorial History of the Civil War. S^vinton, W. Twelve Decisive Battles of the War. Moore, F. Rebellion Record. Pollard, E. A. Southern History of the War. Strphens, A. H. A Constitutional View of the Late War between the States. Davis, Jefferson. Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Palfrey, J. G. History of New England (9S6-1780). Winthrop, J. Journal and History of New England (1630-44). Young, A. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth (1002-25). Bacon, I>. Genesis of the New England Churches. Irving, W. History of New York ; by Diedrich Knickerbocker (to 1682). Lamb, Mrs. M. J. History of the City of New York (1614-1880). Bancroft, H. Native Races of the Pacific States. DESCRIPTIVE WORKS. Dwight, Timothy. Travels in New England and New York (1796-1810). Hall. Capt. Basil. Travels in North America (1827-28). Trollope, 3Irs. Domestic Manners of the Americans (1827-31). Dickens, Charles. American Notes (1842). Bremer, F. The Homes of the New World ; Impressions of America (1849- .51). Bnssell, W, H. My Diary North and South (1861-63). Trollope, A. North America (1861). Bryant, W. C, editor. Picturesque America (187-). Vivian, H. H. Notes of a Tour in America (1877). Thoreau, H. D. A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers. Flagg, W. Woods and Byways of New England. DraUe, S. A. Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast (187-). King, T. Starr. The White Hills. Kollins, K. II. New England By-gones. LoHMing, B. J. The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea. Strother, D. H. Virginia Illustrated by Porte Crayon (185-). Kirke, K. Among the Pines (1861 ■")• Ktmble, F. A. Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation (1838-39). OlmHted, F. L. Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1853). Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom. King, K. The Great South (187-). Kirkland, Mrs. Our New Home in the West (185-). Mtlbarn, \V. H. Rifle, Axe, and Saddle Bags. RicliardHon, A. I>. Beyond the Mississippi (1857-67). Mark Twain. Roughing It. Pampj-lly, K. Across America and Af^ia (1860-61). Bowles, 8. AcroHB the Continent (1865). Ajppendix. . - 417 Rae, W. P. Westward by Rail (1870 ?). Letvis and Clarke. Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, Across the Rocky Mountains, etc. (1804-0). Burton, R. F. City of the Saints (1860). Browne, 3. K. Adventures in the Apache Country (1864). King, C. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (1864). Dana, R. H. Two Years before the Mast (1834-30). Nordlioff, C. California ; for Health, Pleasure, and Residence (187-). LITERATURE AND ART. Tyler, M. C History of American Literature (1607-1765). Duykinck's Cyclopedia of American Literature. Tuckernian, H. T. Book of the Artists ; American Art Life. Benjamin, S. \V. G. Art in America. Sheldon, G. AV. American Painters. Stuart, Gilbert. Life and Works by Mason. BIOGRAPHIES. Sparks, J., editor. Library of American Biography. Sprague, W. B. Annals of the American Pulpit. Adams, 3. Q. Life by C. P. Adams. Beecher, Lyman. Autobiography. Chanuing, "W. E. Life by W. H. Channing. Franklin, B. Autobiography. Grant, V. S. Life by Badeau. Hamilton, Alexander. Life by J. T. Morse, Jr. Lincoln, Abraham. Life by J. G. Holland. Prescott, W. H. Life by G. Ticknor. Sherman, Gen. W. T. Autobiography. Ticknor, G. Life and Letters. Washington, Geo. Life by W. Irving. HISTORICAL FICTION. Cooper, J. F. Last of the Mohicans (French and Indian war). Thackeray, W. M. The Virginians (Virginia in the days of Washington's youth). Cooper, J. F. Lionel Lincoln (battle of Bunker Hill). Thompson, D. P. The Green Mountain Boys (Vermont in the revolution). Cooper, J. F. The Spy (the neutral ground on the Hudson in the revolu- tion). Kennedy, J. P. Horse-shoe Robinson (Virginia in the revolution). Simms, W. G. The Partisan, and Other Stories (South Carolina in the revolution). Cooper, J. F. The Chainbearer ; Redskins ; and Satanstoe (New York in the Anti-Rent Troubles). Dickens, C. Martin Chuzzlewit (jjioneer Western life). 418 A;ppendix. Tucker, B. Partisan Leader (a States-Right story). Stow*-, ."Vlrs. Uucle Tom's Cabin (slavery). Tourgcc, A. W. A Fool's Errand (life at the South after the war). See also Indians of America. ■ WEST INDIES. Trollope, A. The West Indies and the Spanish Main (1859). Dana, K. H. To Cuba and Back (I85'J). Hazard, S. Cuba with Pen and Pencil (18GG). ^ Santo Domingo Past and Present, with a Glance at Hayti (187-). Kingslcy, CUarlcs. At Last : A Christmas in the West Indies (1869). Hoddaiu-WlietUam, .T. W. Roraima (1878). Columbus. Life by Irving. Toussaint li'OuYerture (Haytian Patriot). Life by J. R. Beard. Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative of )>is Shinwreck in the West Indies. Scott, .-VI. Cruise of the Mid«e: Tom Crintjle's Log (West Indian scenes). Jenkins, E. The Coolie ; His Rights and Wrouijc INDEX. A. Atibott, TTistory of Austria, 178 ; Histo- ry -jf Kusssia, ITS. Aduuvs, Samuel, life of, 200. AJams, \V.,on ethics, 315. AJilisoii, J., critical papers, 293. Advice respectiug books and reading, desired by many classes, 6, 7; value of, 7, 13, 14 ; how minutely can it be given? 8; ofteu deemed impertinent and unwelcome, 13. Agassiz, L., on classification and other works, 304, 303, 300, 307. Agriculture, etc., works on, 307, 308. Aidu to faith, 334. Alford, U., the Queen's English, 301, how to study the New Testament, 337. Alexander of Macedon, lifa of, 198. Alexander, A., Moral philosophy, 315. Alex.uider, \V. L., Christ and Christiani- ty, 334. Alison, history of Europe, 179 ; on taste, 29?. Allen, R. L., domestic animals, 308. Allston, life of, 2U4. American history, 189-192; political writers, 191-192 ; Revolution, history of, 192; poet3 of the Modern scliool, 2G3; critics, of the Old school and New, 298. Anacliarsis, Travels in Greece, 170. Analeetic magazine, 341. Ancient poets, singular purity of the best, 94; history, works on, 167 ; lite- rature, history of, 172, '3. Angus, hand-book and specimens of Eng- lish literature, 293. Andrews, 3. J., Life of our Lord, 338. Andrew Marvel, 44. Antichristian literature, extent of its in- fluence, 122, '3; its prospects, 124. Antoninus, M., 312. Aristophanes' representation of Socrates, 55 ; translation of, 172. Aristotle, translations from, 172. Arnold, Matthew, grand style in poetry, 242 ; definition of poetry, 245 ; on creative literary genius, 275; his cri- tical works, 297. ^rniiUi, Thomas, 24, 32 ; remarks on Christ's place in the mind of a Chris- tian critic, 122 ; history of Rome, cri- tical, 132 ; on the Christian miracles, and Strauss, 135 : a Christian historian, 140 ; his history of Rome, etc., charao. terized, 171 ; his lectures on modern history, 193; the life of, 208, '9, 213; sermons on the Christian life, 339. Arnold, T., 2d, manual of English litera- ture, 293. AUibone, Critical dictionary, etc., 292. AutiChristiau literature, 122, 123. Arber's reprints, 292. Arkwright, life of, 204. Argyll, duke of. The reign of law, 334. Art and architecture, works on, 299, 300. Ascham, R., the schoolmaster, etc., 320. Atheist, the ancient compared with the modern, 109, '10. Attention in reading, chapter on III., 28- 31) ; first and foremost rule, 31 ; should not be applied with uniform intensity, 32; great energy at times of, 32, 33; evils of neglecting, 33 ; rules for enforcing, 34; dependent on excited iuterest,30, 38. Augustine, Confessions of, 339. Auerbach, pictures of Germac ilfe, 235. Austin, J., on jurisprudence, 31G. Author, brought into communicp.tion with the reader, 20 ; in his bes t or worst condition, 21, '2; the spirit and* influence of, lives after death, 22; who writes to amuse, 20; his indirect influ- ence important to be considered, 27; relation of the reader to, chapter on V, 48—62. Autobiographies, 210 ; of du Barri, Cel- lini, Franklin, Gibbon, Lord Herbert, Hume, Vidocq, Voltaire, Wolf Tone, 211 ; a collection of, 212. B. Babbage, C, ninth Bridgewater treatise, 333. Bacon, Lord, on studies, 10 ; referred to, 20; his estimation of the imagination, 75 ; life of, 199 ; on poetrj', 259 ; essays (Whately's edition), 319 ; his estimata of Theology, 322. Bad scenes and characters must some- times be described, 95. Bagehot, W., English constitution, 367. Baillie, J., poetry, 203. Bain, A., phil. works, 313; psychology. 313 ; on ethics, 315. Balzac, pictures French li<^, 235. 419 41^0 Index. Bancroft, G., 24; hU Indirect influence, . OS; exiiggiTiitiug stylo of, lao ; purti- san habit of, 130; sometimes romHncee in history, 162 ; defects of his history, 190. Barntim. S. W., Bible Dictionary. 337. Barnes, K., Evidences of Christianity, etc., 335. Bascom, J., Psychology, 313. Bastiat, F., on pol. economy, 318. Barrow, 20. Baxter, R., 20; his life and times, 184; liis Siiint's rest, 339. Bayard series, the, 292. Buyne, 1'., essays, 321. Beadle's dime novels, 222. Beard, .1. R., Voices of the church. "Ai. Becker, W. A., Charicles, 170; Galliis, IVl. Beecher, II. W., .53; his life thoughts, etc., 521 ; on homo library, 307. Beecher, L., life of. 20S. Belial, Milton's, 78. Bell, Sir Charles, life of, 203, 204; writ- ings of, 3()5. Ben Jonson and Shakspeare, encounters betwi'i-n, ;i7S. Bemis, on International questions, 318. Benton, T. H., Thirty years' view, 191, 317 ; abridgement of debates, 192 ; life of, 201. Bcntham, J., on ethics, 315. Berkr-ley, G., phil. works, 313 ; his min- ute philosopher, 334. Bernard, M.. on British neutrality, 318. Bible, the study of, 336, 338. Bibliomaniac, the, 3C7. Biographical dictionaries, 217; Lip-'in- cutt's, 217; Hole's brief, 217; Wheeler, editor of, 217; Thomas's, 217. Biographia literaria, its influence, 295. Biographical value of works of Shak- speare, Milton, Cowpur, Wordsworth, llyron, Shelley, Tennyson, 2«4. Biographies of Knglishihen which are hiBtorical, 1^9. Biography, (and biographical reading), chapter on. XIV., rj.'>-il7; relations to history, l'J5 ; may be con.-ddercd in two relations. 195 ; is unattractive to many persons, 195 ; reasons why, 196; differ- ent cla-sses of, 196-204; biographies of incident and adventure, 19i;-19«; of great generals and captains 198; of historical penouages, 198-9 ; of great Statesmen, etc., 19J-201 ; of great re- formers, 201-2O2 ; of self-made men, 202-204; biography interesting to thosa who analyze the character, ZlJ-O; psychological, 206; interesting to a liniiteit claws of readers, 207; over- done sometimes, 207; made up of dia- ries and letters, 2^)8-9 ; of men of oci- ence and letters, 2(/J-210; autobiog- raphies, 210-212: B. attrictive, 212; ethically proflUble, 212 213; even of bail men, 214 ; should Ix; liberally read, 214; two rules for selection of, 215; Inmberiog and indiscriminate, 216, 217; lines on, 217. Blackstone'i Commentaries, 310. Plackwood's magazine dwicribed, 69; Ita infloeac* on the principles, 60; language on indecency of modem wri- ters, 92 ; referred to, iw>, 343. Blakey, K., Hist, of moral science, 314. Blacksmith, the learned, life of, 204. Bledsoe, A. T., Theodicy, 334. Blunt, J J., Undesigned coincidence8.335. Bu'ikh, A., Public economy of Athens, 171. Bohemian, the, not earnest, 26; of the' modern newspaper, 364-5. Bronte, C, life of, 208. Brougham, life of, 200. Polingbroke on the study of history, 193. Book, influence of one, 4, 6. liuok, what it is, cliai)ter on 11.18-27; definition of, IS; importance of defini- tion, 27; if sliipid wurse than a stupid man, 50 ; if difticiilt, none the leas valuable, 67 ; if bad religiously may be worse than a bad man, 103 ; though irreligious must often be read, 104. Book borrower, the, 306. Book clubs, see library. Book collector, the, 367. Book faiming, 307. Book stealer, the. 366. Books inexplicabletoasavage, 2, 3; mul- tiplication of, 5; fewness of in other times, 5 ; classes of. can be described, 9 ; carelessness concerning tin- quality of, 19; always written by men, 19; repre- sent the best or worst [arts of an au- thor, 21, 22 ; in every case, 23 ; should be read first which supply a want, 38; and relate to our business or profes- sion, 39; that aniuKp are often useful, 49; that give us nothing are worthless, 49 ; often are worse, 50 ; moral influ- ence of chai)ter on VII, 72-80; tested by Southey's rule, 72, 73. Books on the Knglish language, 301. Books on ethics, 314. Books on the Fine Arts, 2S9, 300. Boonter, W. B., Physiologies, 314. Castle of Otranto, 47. Catalogue of good books not easily gi ven, 8; furnished by Dr. Johnson, 9, 11 ; by two New England clergymen, 11, (2. Chalmeft, T., life of, 208, 334; Nat. :he. ology, 334; his Christianity an argu- ment, 334. Cesars, the lives of, 198. Chalybius, H. M., philosophy from .'vant to Hegel, 311. Chambers' Encyclopedia of English Ster- ature, 292. Channing, W. E., essays, 320; his 3vi- dences of Christianity, 334. Charlemagne, life of, 198. Charles, Mrs., EngUsh historical n< »el^ ISS. Charles I., life of, 199. Charles V., life of, 199. Charles XII., life of, 197. Chatham, life of, 200. Chaucer, the age of, characterized, 261, 285. Chevy Chase, sample of early history, 126. Children, their deference for books, 18. Christ has the right to regulate our read- ing, 104 ; has influenced the greatest of poets and novelists, 105 ; his commands liberal but uuconipromising, 106 ; posi- tive faith in his person not yet died out, 116; must be reverenced if the literature is Christian, 117 ; emphasis of his personality not ceased, 117; pictured in his words, 281 ; the imit* tion of, 339. Christus consolator and Christus re- demptor, illustrate Christ's place in literature. 118. Christian ethics should pervade Christian literature, 115: evidences, the books on, 331-5; historians, examples of, 141; literature misconceived, 16; anticl- 422 Index. pitted, 100; how conceived and defined, chiiptLT on X., 111-1-4; involves two questions. 111 ; wliat it is not, 111-114; not necessarily theological, but may bo. 111, ir2; does not inchnie all doc- trinal writing, 112; usually not secta- rian, 113, 114; need not be t'ornially ri'ligious, 114; what it should be, 114- 117; must be controlled by Christian ethics, 114, 115; must have faith in Christ's person, 11<>; must reverence Him, 117 ; these criteria reasonable, 118; historically just, 119 ; not intoler- ant, 120 ; not discourteous, 121 ; not proscriptive, 121 ; antichristianlit., the extent of its iiif\»iencc, 122, 123. Christianity not rwponsible for doggerel and drivelling, 113; more than an ethical system, lUi ; Histories of, 173-4. Church History for Sunday reading, 339. Cicero, letters of, 171 ; phil. works of, translated. 312. Civil war in America, works on, 192. Clay, speeches of, 192; life of, 201. Clarendon, history of the rebellion, 183. Clarke, J. F., Steps of belief, 334. Cleveland, C. U., Manuals of English literature, 298. Cobbe, F. P., on ethics, 31,5. Clinton, Dewitt, life of, 201. * Cobbett, W., miscellanies, 320. Clive, Lord, life of, 198. Cocker, B. F., Christianity and Greek philosophy, 312. Cobden, life of, 20O. Coleridge, Hartley, as critic, 296; his essays, 320. Coleridge, 8. T., criticisms, 10: cannot hide his feelings, 26, 63 ; his descrip- tion of novel reading, 238 ; his prose poetic, 244; on poetry, 260; a« critic, 295 ; essays, 320 ; aids to reflection, 334. Collier, earlier English literature, 292. Colton, C. C, essays, 320. Colman, H., European life and manners, 199. Commonplace, danger of, 9, 12, 13. Comus, Milton's, 79. Conant, H. C, History of the Eng. Bible, 337. Coningtou's Virgil, 173. Conybeare and Howson, Life, etc , of St. Paul, 338. Cooke, -J. P., Religion and chemistry, 3(j6. Cordelia, Shakspeare's. 79. Compromise between literary taste and Christian principle, 107. Country Pardon, the, miscellanies, 321. Course of reading, a, is a picture of the times, 11. Courses of reading, defects of, 10. Cousin, lectures on Locke, 312. Cowper, W., 77 ; effict of the reading of, 249 ; his poetry and his times, 2(j3. Cox, 0. W., mytliological treatises, 172. Coxe, History of the house of Austria, 178. Crabbe's poetry and his times, 203. Craik, History of English literature, 292. Creiwy, K. 8 , Knglish constitution, 307. Critical bfKiks on single writers, 265. Critical method in history shaped by Niebuhi, 131, '2; followed by Arnold and Orote, 132; judges wisely of the ancients, 133 ; defends the supernatu- ral, 134. Criticism of English literature, books on, 292 — 299; and history of litera- ture, chapter on XVll, 265—283; a special department, 265 ; the new — see New criticism ; of English litera- ture, chapter on XVIII, 285—302 ; has an admiralile field, 285 ; by the lan- guage and the life of the people, 285, '6; in the time of Chaucer, 286; in thijage of Shakspeare and the drama- tists, 287; in the age of Milton, etc ,288 ; ofDryden,288; of Pope, 289 ; of John- son, etc., 289; of the French revolu- tion, 289, '90 ; of Byron and the lakers, 291 ; appliances for the study of, 291 — 299; of art, 299—306. Critics, distinguished modern, 265 ; oi Shakspeare, 277 ; sometimes overdo, 277, '8 ; but always stimulating, 278. Croly, C, Salathicl, 174. Cromwell, life of, 199. Cudworth, R., Eternal Morality, 315. Cumberland, R., De legibus naturte, 316. Curtis, G. T., origin of the constitution, 191, :il6. Curtius, E., manual history of Greece, 170. D. Dalton, the chemist, life of, 204. Dalton, E. C, physiology, 314. Dallas, E. S., his (;ay science, 298. Dana's household-book of poetry. 257. Dana's, J. D., manuals in nat. history, 306. Dante, expresses his personal thoughts and feelings, 25. Dandy, Noah Webster's definition of, 24. Darlington, Am. weeds, etc., 307. Darwin, C, origin of species, 314. Dates of history, how instructive, 150. Davy, Sir H., life of, 204; Salmonia, etc., 320. Day, II. N., Introduction to English lite- rature, 293. D'Aubigne, history of the Reformation, 176. De Foe, D., political and other essays, 320. De Imitatione Christi, 112. D'Israeli's Critical and Miscellaneona works, 290. De Lolme, J. L., English constitution, 317. Dennie, J., essays, 320. DePre8sens6's. Jesus Christ, etc., 838. De Quincey, T., as critic, 296 ; essayi^ 320. Descartes, Tl., Meditations, etc., 312. De8d(^mona, Shakspeare's, 79. De Kef/., memoirs (jf, 179. De Statd. .Mad., French Revolution, 180. De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 316. De Vere, Scheie, Studies in English, 301. Devotional works, not always literature, 112; devotional books and reading, 338. '9. Index. 4i*.b Dickens, C, 21, 53; cannot hide his feel- ings, 25; ethical truth of, 88; influ- ence on his readers, 230 ; his novels picture English society, 234. Dictionary, a, represents the leelings of its author, 28 ; the English, uses of, 302. Doctrinal novels, 95, 225. Doctor, the, extract from, 72, '3. Dodsley's annual register, ISS, 29i. Doggerel, reiit;ious, not to \)0 imputed to Christianity, 113. Douglass, ij'red., life of, 197, Downing, A. J., landscape gardening, 308. Dublin afternoon lectures, 297. Duulap, arts of design in the U. S., 300. Dunuis, pictures Frencli life, 235. Dunlop, Uistory of Roman literature, 173. Dutch history, works on, 178. Duty, books on, 311. Duykinck, cyclopedia of American lite- rature, 292. Drake, N., critical works, 296. Dramatist, the, exinesses his own opin- ions and feeliaj^s, 24. Draper, \V., a )jhy.sioIogical historian, 140, '1 ; his philosophy of history, 193; his physiology, 311, Drivelling, religious, not chargeable to Christianity, 113. Dryasdust, Dr., astonishes a savage, 3 ; blessings on, 165. Dryden, J., 44; poetry of his time, 262, 268 ; as critic, 266. Dwight, B. W^ modern philologj', 301. Dwight, T., history of the Ilartfonl con- vention, 191 ; on Jefferson and the Hai'tford convention, 317. E. i!aBt1ake, C. L., on the Fine arts, 300. Ecce Homo, 334. Edinburgh Kssays, 298 ; Eeview, 341, 343, '4. Edwards, Jonathan, on ethics, 310. Egyptian history, works on, 167, '8. Eliot, George, 21, 53 ; cannot hide his feelings, 25 ; Dinah, 118, '19 ; K-omola, 177 ; influence on his readers, 230 ; novels pictuie English society, 234. Eliot, J., debates on the constitution, 316. Ellen, lady. Scoffs, 80. Elliot, Sir John, life of, 200. Ellis, (jr., as critic, 298. Ellis, Mrs., essays, 320. Elizabeth, Queen, life of, 199 ; age of, 287. Emerson, G. B., forests and shrubs of Ma,ss., 306. Emerson, R. W., on books, 10; his in- fluence on the opinions, 70; alleged pantheism compared with that of the ancients, 108 ; estimate of Christ's Personality, 117, '8, "9; Conduct of Life, and otlier works, 321. Emotion in religion, not always favor- able to thought, 323. England, its history and career deter- mined by its geographical position, 155, '6; histories of, 180-189. English history, importance and in- terest of, 180, '1; books on, 180— 189. poets of the modern school, 263 ; lan- guage ami its literature, 285; people and life, 285, '6 ; literature, books on, 292 — 299; humorists, Thackeray's, 296; language, the books on, 301 ; gram- mars, 301 ; use ol^ 302. Englishmen whose biographies are his- torical, 189. Epicureanism, modern, in literature, 123. Epictetus, 312. Erckmann Chatrian, novels, 162, 179. Errand boy at a book-stall, 34. Erskine, T., internal evidence, 334. Essayists, the Uritisb, 320. Essays, moral and social, etc^ 318 — 321 Essex, life of, 199. Ethics, books on, 314. Ethics, Christian, pervade and control Christian literature, 114, '5; are dis- tinguished from Pagan ethics, 115. p;thical value of biography, 212, Eugene, Prince, life of, 198. Eugene Sue, pictures French life, 235. Euler, L., letters on natural philosophy, 306. Eustace, J. C, cla-ssical tour in Italy, 171. Evelyn, diary of, 44, 164, 184. Everetts, tlie, as critics, 298. Evidences of Christianity, books on, 334, '5. Ewald, history of the people of Israel, 168. Excise, Johnson's, definition of^ 23. F. Fairbairn, P., Bible-dictionary, 337. Faiix'hild, J. 11., moral philosophy, 315. Faraday, M., life of, 204 ; writings of; 305, Falkland, Lord, Ufe of, 200. Farmer, the, his interest in hooka of agriculture, 40. Farrar, A. S., Science and Theology,334; critical history of Free Thought!, 336. Farrar, F. W-, on language, 301. Faith, religious, should be founded ou reason, 102, Ferrier, J. F,, Institutes of Metaphysics, 313. Fawcett, II., on political economy, 318. Federalist, the, 316. Feltham, O., Essays, 320. Felton, C. J., Greece, ancient and mod- ern, 170. Ferguson, life of, 204. Ferguson, J., history of architecture, 300. Fichte, J. G., phil. treatises, 313. Fiction, reading of proscribed by many 73; unwisely, 74; defended as inno. cent and j^sitively useful, 74 — 80; (prose) of recent origin, 219; new era, of. 219 ; rapid growth of, 219, '20. Figuier, the library of wonders, 307. Filthy novels, 226. Fine artji, books on. 299. 300. Finlay, G.. books on aucieiit and modern Greece, 171. 424 Index. Fisher, G. P., on supernataral Christian- ity, 334. Fivo centuries of English literature, 292. Fleming, W., Mnniml moral phil., 315. Flint. ('. L., gnisses and forage plants, 3u7 : milch cows, etc., 308. Forsyth, W., life of Cicero, 171. Foster, J., life of, WS ; ess;»ys, 320. Founders of libraries — see library. Forbes, Edward, life of. 204. Fowler, T., Inductive logic, 301. Fowkr, AV. C, English grammar, 301. fox, C. J., James II, 1S.5 ; life of, 200. Fox, lieorge, lile of, 202. Franklin, B., read with interest, 42 ; life of, 201, "3, '4 ; his essays, 320 ; liia in- terest in libraries, 371. Francis I., life of, I'j'.t. Frederick the Great, life of, 198, '9. Freeman, Norman conquest, 187. Frere, J. H., translation of Aristophanes, 172. French history, 179, '80. French revolution, histories and tracts, 17 U, SO. Freytag, pictures German life, 235. Frithiofs sjigii, 120. Froudc, A., 24 ; believes in human free- dom, 141 ; sometimes romances in history, 162 ; bistorj', merits of, 183; short studies, etc., 321. Fuller, A. S., small fruit culturist, 3/>8. Fuller, Thos., account of Shakspeare and BenJonson, 278; essays, 320. Fuller, Margaret, life of, 208. Fuseli, sculptors and architects, 299. Folton, Ule oi, 201. o. Qainsboronph, life of, 204. QaskelTs (Mrs.) novels, pictures English society. 2;i4. Oeijer, history of the Swedes, 178. Geography, ita importance to history, 163, ■•! ; to the philosophy of history, 154. Gentleman's magazine, etc., 294, German history, works on, 178. German critics, influence in England, 295 George IK., life of, 11*9. Gibbon, E.. 24, 32 ; his history charac- terized, 64, '5 ; it3 influence on the principhs, fi.'>, '6, '7; partisan, l.'iO; captain of Hants militia, l.^S ; decline and fall, etc., 174, '5; annotated edi- tions, 174 ; abridgement <•{, 174. Gladstone, W. E., Juventus Mundi, 172. Godwin, history of England, }^'.',. Goethe, exprcsHes his personHl thoughts and feelings, 2'); moral influence of, 81 ; Faust, the devil in, ^^5 : his confes- slons of a beautiful soul, 118 ; on Ham- let, 276; as critic, 296. Golden treanury, by Palgrave, 257. Ooldwin .Smith — see Smith. Bood books, how defined. .324; eigiis of, 3:J0— 333; individual, 3.'iO ; free from cant, .'i'il ; stimulating, 33'J. Goodlsh Ix/oks, h.w- defined, 325. Gowlricirs liritlsh elo.|uence, 188. Goodyear, life of, 204. Gould, E. S., Good English, 301. Gould, A. A., manual in nat. history, 306 Grammars, English, 301. Grammont, memoirs of, 184. Grandison. Charles, 219. Grant, Genl, life of, 198 Grattan, history of the Netherlands, 178. Gray, A., manuals in nat. history, 306; field, garden and forest botany, 307 ; how plants grow, 314. Gregory, O., Evidences of revealed reli- gion, 335. Greece and Greek history, works on, 169 —171. Greeks, the ancient, can be found only in their literature, 278, '9. Greeley, H., American conflict, 192 ; his autobiography, 204. Greene, G. W., Lectures on the middle ages, 17 ; lectures on the American Revolution, 192. Griffith Gaunt contrasted with Peg Woffiugton, 93. GriiKlon, H. L., plant-life, 314. Crossness of language in older writers exi)laiued by E. \V. Newman, 91, '2; in modern writers partially excused and explained, 9^i. Qrote, G., 32 ; history of Greece, how read by a lady, 45; history of Greece critical, V'yl ; characterized. 170 ; ana- lysis of i'lato's writings, 172 ; on S<>- crates and Plato, 311. Guesses at Truth, 298. Guslavus Adolphus, life of, 198. Guizot, Histoiy of civilization in Europe, 176 ; history of civilization in France, 179 ; Revolution of 1648; on Cromwell ; on Monk, 185 ; ou English revolutions, 317. Guyot, A., Earth and man, 157. H. Hallam, II., middle ages and liter ture of Europe, 17C; constitutional li isto- ry of England. 185 ; introductio.ii to literature of Europe. 293. Hamilton, A., life of, 201. Hamilton, Sir M'm., phil. works; psy- cliology, 313. IlBTOilton, J. A., reminiscfences, 317. Hamlet, Shakspeare's, 79; contrasted ■with Byron's Manfred, 85, '6; inten ]ir(,tid by Goethe, i;76. Hampden, John, life of, 200. Hansard, debates, 186. Hardwick, C, Christ and other masters, 338. Hare, C. J. (and A.), Guesses at Truth, 320; preservation of his library, 360. Harlcian miscellany, 186. Harris, T. W., insects of Mass., 306 — 308 ; on the pig, :i08. Hartley, D., on man, 313. Harvard biographies, 198. Havelock, Gen'l, life of, 198. Haven, J., psychology, 313; moral phii- OHOpliy, 315. Hawthorne, N., .53 ; his influence on the ojiiniona, 70 ; power over his readers. 230. Index. 425 Haydon, life of, 2(H. Uazlitt's critical cssai's, 10; a8 critic, 296; essays, SiO. Hickock, L. P., psychology, 313 ; moral philosophy, lild. Hildreth, R., 24; liis influence on the piiuciplcs, 69 ; more or less partisan, 130; his history eliaracterizeil, 190. Hired lad, reads with interest, 34. Historic sense, the, 138, '9 ; imagina- tion, the, 138, '39. Historical maps, 153; plays, poems and novels, 100 ; sometimes partisan, 101 ; dangers of, 161; reading a course of, chapter on XIII, 166-19i ; personages, lives of, 198, "9. Historii'S of special interest, as commerce, etc., 141. History and historical reading, chapter on XI, \ih — 1-12 ; taste for, early de- veloped, 215 ; II., the first form of writing, 126 ; at first imaginative and credulous, 127 ; narrative, 127 ; the so-called dignity of, 128; style of ancient writers, 128 ; imitated l>y the modern, 128 ; exaggerations of, 129 ; more or less partisan, 1.30; lias had two stages, 131; the uncritical, 131; the critical, shaped by Niebuhr, 131- 132; examples in Grote and Ar- nold, 132 ; formerly extolled the an- cients excessively, 133 ; is now more sober, 133 ; defends the supernatural, 134, '5 ; attaches less importance to great events, 136; is more imagina- tive, 136; attends to little things, 136; studies the thoughts and feel- ings of the past, 137, '8 ; more imagina- tive than fo.merly, 136 — 139; more philosophical, 139-140; the philoso- phy of, 140 ; varies with the philoso- phical system of the writer, 140; phy- siological, necessarian or Christian, 141. History, how to read, chapter on XII, 143 — 165 ; requires the study of years, 143 ; requires age to be understood and enjoyed, 144, '5 ; how to dispatch the study briefly, 145, '6 ; should be com- menced at the right starting-point, 147 ; should be reiid after the laws of the individual habits, 148 — 153; may be useful to the forgetful man, 149 ; how its dates and facts may be interest- ing, 150; sliould be studied with geo- graphy, 153 — 158 ; aided by the ima- gination, 158, '9; by novels, plays and poems, 100—162 ; incidental evils of, 161, '2; sometimes becomes romance, 162 ; supplemented by biography, 16;}. History, course of, chapter on XII, 166- 195 ; general works on, 166 ; ancient, 167 ; Egyptian, 167. 168 ; Jewish, 108, 109 ; Greek, 109, 171; Roman, 171, '2 ; of Greek and Roman literature, 172,' '3 ; of Christianity, 174, '5 ; modern his- tory compends, etc., of, 175, '6; of Italy, 177 ; of Spain, 177, '8 ; of Hol- land, 178 ; of Germany, 178 ; Russia, 178 ; Sweden, 178 ; of France, 179, '80 ; of England, 180 — 189; of America, 189 — 192 : works on the philosophy of, 193 ; of England, importance and in- 25 terest of, ISO, '1 ; of literature, 265 — 283 ; of philosophy, books c.i, 310, '11. Hebrew lite, pictured in the Scriptures, 280. Ileeren, A. II. L., politics, etc., of Asiatio nations, and of Carthaginian^^, etc., 167. Ueleua's household, an historical tale, 174. Helen's pilgrimage, 337i Helps, A., essays, 320. Henderson, 1'., Gardening for profit, 308. Ilengstinberg, Egypt, etc., 168. Henry IV, of France, life of, 198. Henry AIII, life of, 199. Henry, P., life of, 2(l0, 203. Henry, C. S., epitome of history of phi- losophy, 311. Herbert, U. W^ Hints to horse-keepers, 308. Herder, J. G., Spirit of Hebrew poetry, 168, 337. Herodotus, credulous and fanciful, 127 ; Rawlinson's, 167. Herschel, preliminary discourse on, 304. Hervej', memoirs of George II., 185. Hobbes and Buckley, translations of Arist. rhetoric and poetics, 312. Hobbes, T., the leviathan, 315. Hogarth, analysis of beauty, 299. Hogg's talcs, picture Scottish life, 234. Holland, J. (j., letters of T. Titcomb, etc., 321. Holmes, O. W., his Evangel, 70 ; com- pared with Lucian, 108 ; influence oa his readers, 230. Holy living and dying, the, 112. Home library — see libiury. Homer, translations from, 172. Hood, T., his earnestness, 20 ; his ea- saj's, 320. Hooper, .J. A^ forest-tree culturist ; book of evergreen, 308. Hope, A. IL, book about dominies, etc., 321. Hopkins, M-, on ethics, 315; Evidences of Christianity, 335. Hopkins, S., Lessons from the Crosa, 339. Hoppin, J. M., Old England, 189. Horner, F., life of, 200, 203 ; ou life of Sir Matthew Hale; on Coadorcct's Eloge of Haller, 213. Household book of poetry, 257. Howe, J., Blessedness of the Righteous, 339. Howitt, W., Rural life in England, 189; book of the seasons, 306. Hudibras, an aid to historv, 184. Hudson, 11. X., aa critic, 298, '9. Humboldt, Cosmos, Hume, D., 24; essays, 320; his history characterized, 67 ; influence on the principles, 68, 182. 193; a partisan, l:'.0; philosophical works, 313 ; ethics, 315. Humphrey Clinker, 219. Humphrey, Old (G. Mogridge) essays^ 321. Hunter, J., life of, 204. Husman, G., grapes and wine-raakinj, 308. Hutcheeon, F., ethical works, 315. 4-2t> Index. Hutchinson, Col., memoirs of, 44, 164, 1:3, 21x1. Uusley, T. U., physiology, 314 ; basis of life, 314. tlymas auJ hymn writers, 308, '9. I. Imaginative literature vindicated, 9; its ri presentations of moral evils, cliaptiron VIII., 80-100; its relations to purity and female reserve, 88, 94; imaginative literature necessarily ethi- cal, 97. Imagination the, characterized by Lord Bacon, '.">. Imitation of Christ, the, 339. Induction, writers on, 304. Inductive sciences, hi.'itory of, 304. Individualized characters iu fiction, ex- am])les of, 22S. Intematidnal law, books on. 318. Interest in reading is created by reading, Introductory chapter, 1-17. Italian lii.story, works on, 177. Irving, E., life of, 2iJ8. Irving', W., 53 ; life and voyage of Colnm- bus, 177 ; Essays, 320. J. Jahn, history of the Hebrew Common- wealth, it;8. Jack Slieppard, 222. James Ij., life of, 199. James, U. P. R., 53; the Huguenot, 179. Jameson, Mrs. as critic, 296 ; her works on art, 300. Jay, John, life of, 201. Jefferson, T., writings and life, 317. Jefferson. T.,life of, 2yl. Jeffrey as critic, 2j4. Jews ami Jewish history, works on, 168, lti9. Johnson, Dr., list of books prejiared by, 9; remarks on books and reading, 10: his definitions of excise, pension and oiits, 23. Johnson, Dr., life of, 208; as critic, 266, 294; with his imitators the standard, 269. Johnson, S. W. how crops grow. etc.. .'107. Jouffrov, T., ethirs, .314. Julius Cesar, life of, i98. K. Kane, F K., life of. 197. Kiiiit. I., critic of pure reason, 313, 3-34; on ethics, 31."). Keble, J., life of. 208. Kemble, works on Anglo Saxon history, 1«7. K<-nilworth, Scolfn. PO, Kent, J., commentaries on Am. law, 191, 216. Kinpsley, English historical noTela, 18"/) influence cm his readers, 2,%. Kitto, J., Cyc. of liib. literature, ,337. Knight, history of England, 182. Koch, revolutions of Kurope, 175. Kolilrausoh, history cf Gcrni.iny, ITS. Kugler, F.T., hund-book of painting, 304 Ladies desire and need advice In respect to reading, 7. Lady .Macbeth, Shakspeare's, 79. Laniartiue, histories, I80. Lamb, Charles, on books and reading, 10; his earnestness, 26, saying of, 50: life of, 208 ; essays, 320. I*ak<' school of jjoets, 263. Laud, life of, 199. Laudor, imaginary conversations, 296i. Langstroth. L. L., the honey bee, 308. Lanzi, history of painting, 299. Latham, R. G., grammatical works, 301. Lauri(^ S. S., on ethics, 315. l.,aw. W., serious call, 339. Layard, A. H., discoveriesat Nineveh and N. and its remains, 167. Leggett, W., papers. 321. Leicester, life of, 199. Leigh Hunt, essays, 320 ; as critic, 296 Leland, J., Deistical writers, 335. Lenormant and Chevalier's history of Oriental nations, 1G7. Lever's novels picture Irish life, 234. Lewes, G. H , history of philosophy, 311 ; Aristotle, 312. Lewis, G. C, on the credibility of early Roman history, 193. Library the, chapter on XXII., 300-378 : naturally connected with books and reading, 360; the private and personal, 360, 367 ; for use and for enjoyment, 361 ; for show, 361, 362; for curiosity, 362 ; for friends, 362 ; represents the owner, 362, 363; records his prog -ess, 363, 365; its preservation, 366; its natural enemies, 366, 367. the hi me library, 367,370; U. W. Reecher on, 367 ; economy and cultivating inJu- ence of, 308; should have books of refen'nce, 369 ; suygestians for, 369 ; should have a place, 369, 370 ; should be select and be preserved, 370; social libraries, 370, 373 ; history of in the U. S.. 371; the writer's recollections of, 37'2; city libraries, 373; bo(>k clubs, 373; school libraries, 374, 375 ; free town libraries, 375, 376; founders of, 376; Sunday school L., 377 ; thoughts in a liliniry, 379. Liddell," II., abridged Roman history, 171. Lieber, F., civil liberty, etc., 316. Lii'big, J., letters on chemistry, 306. Lincoln, A., lives of, 192. I,indsay, A. W., sketches of Christian art, :i')0. Lingard, 24; partisan, 130; history of England iliaraclerized, IS3. List of books prepared in 1792, 11; do prepared a few years later, 12. Literary history and criticism, 265, 283 Index. 42; Literature must be imaginative, 97; cheap L. 97, 100; moral evil of, 98, 99; attracts readers, 98 ; not brilliant, 99; contrasted with a better and Christian literature, 9'.), 100. Literature should bo catholic and liberal- izing even in matters of religion, 105 ; has been of the greatest service to reli- gious thinking, 105, 106 ; furnishes a neutral and delectable ground for all parties, 106; can be mischievously unchristian, 107 ; should not be exempt from religious restraints, 107 ; a Chris- tian, how conceived and defined, chap- ter on X., Ill— r21; importance of Ibis subject. 111; involves two questions, 111 ; what it is not, 111, 111 ; not neces- sarily theological, but may be. 111, 112; does not include every devotional ■work, 112 ; does not include religious doggerel or drivelling, 113; not usually sectarian, 113 ; need not be formally re- ligious, 111 ; what it should be, 114, 117 ; should be pervaded by Christian ethical faiths and feelings, 114, 115 ; must reverence Christ's person, 117 ; positive criteria of, reasonable, 118 ; historically just, 119; not intolerant, 120; not discourteous, 121 ; not proscriptive, 121 ; anti-christian L., extent of, 122, 123 ; Paganism in modem, 123, 124. Literature, history and criticism of, 265 — 284 ; how conceived formerly, 267 ; how at present, 268. Literature, the, of the Greeks depicts their life, 278, 9. Literature of the Hebrews, 280, '1 ; of the Romans, 281, '2 ; of the moderns, 282, '3. Literature interprets modern history, 282, "3. Lives of great criminals, why attractive, 197. Lives of great generals, 198. Lives of great historical personages, 198, '9. Lives of incident and adventure, 196— 198. Lives of statesmen, 199 — 201. Livy, style of, 128 ; some of his narratives rejected, 132. LUbke, history of the arts, 300. Lucifer in Byron's Cain, 84 ; contrasted with Milton's Satan, 84. • Lucretius, 312. Luther, M., life of, 202. Local histories, important and numerous, 190, '1. Locke, J., on reading, 10 ; his essay, 312 ; on government, 316. Lockhart, J. G., Valerius, 174; life of Burns, 208. London Quarterly Review, 341, '3, '4. Longfellow, H. W., 53. Loomis, K , progress of astronomy, 306. Lossing, Field-book of the Revolution, 192 ; Pictorial history of the civil war in .America, 192. Lover's novels, picture Irish life, 234. Lowell, J. R., 53 ; as critic, 298, '9. Lowth on Hebrew poetry, 168. Loval league association, papers of, 317. Loyola, I.; life of, 202. M. Macaulay, T. B. 24 ; sometimes romance! in history, 162 ; History of Kngland, 182; on writing history, 193; life of, 200: as critic, ^94. Macdouald's novels picture Scottish life, •2.-6i. Mackintosh Vindicite Gallicre, 179, 317 ; History of England, 182; Revolution of 1688, 185 ; life of, 200 ; as critic. 294; history of ethical philosophy, 312; His- tory of ethics, 314; law of nature and nations, 316. Madison papers, the, 191, 316. Mahon, Lord, as historian, 183. Maine, J. S., History of ancient law, 316. Mahan, A., psychology, 313. Manfred, contrasted with Hamlet, 85; F. D. Maurice's estimate of, 87. Mansel, H. L., phil. works, 313 ; limits of religious thought, 334. Mann, H., life of, 208. Manuals of reading often unsatisfactory, 9. Manzoni, pictures of Italian life, 235. Marcet, J., veg. physiology, 314. Marlborough, life of, 198. Marion, life of, 197. Marsh, G. P., works on the English lan- guage, 301 ; his man and nature, 306. Marshall, J., decisions, 317. Martin, History of France, 119 ; History of the Colonies, 177. Martineau, History of England, 187. Martincau, J., essays, 313. Masson, on novels, 220 ; as critic, 297 ; his British philosophy, 313. Maurice, F. D., on Byron's Manfred, 87 ; his history of moral and metaphysical philosophy, 310 ; his work on revela- tion, 334. Mazarin, Cardinal, life of, 200. May, continuation of Hallam, 185. McClintock, and Strung, eye. of Bib. li terature, 337. McCosh, J., phil. works, 313; moral gov- ernment, 334. M'Cosh and Dickie, special types, etc, 33^. McCulloch, J. R., on pol. economy, 318. McFingal, lines from, 70 ; historical value of, 192. Mechanic, his interest in books concern- ing his trade, 40. Memory bad for history, remarks on, 148-151. Mental and moral science near to all men, 309, '10. Menzel, History of Germany and the Germans, 178. Merivale, C, 32 ; Rome under the Empe- rors', 171 ; Conversion of the Roman Empire, 173. Metcalf, D., on ethics, 315. Michaud, History of the crusades, 176. Michelet, History of France, 179 ; The Bird, 30li. Mignet, French Revolution, 179. Miller, H.,niy schools and schoolmasters, 204 ; writings of, 305. Mill, C., History of the crusades, 177. Mill, J., Analysis of the human min^ 313. 428 Index. Mill, J. S., system of logic, and abridg- iiiuiiU of. Mi; pliil. works, 313; on ethics, 315; political writings, 316; political oconomv, 318. Mill, A.. IJritish India, 187. Mill, literature, etc., of Great Britain, •lil. Milnian, H. H., History of the Jews, 168; History of Christianity in the first three centuries, 173; of Latin Christianity, 175. Milton, J., deliuition and opinion of a hook, 21, 22 ; expresses his personal feelings, 25, 32. 41, 77 ; lines aliout the reader and his author, 62 ; his crea- tions of living beings, 78 ; I'aradise lost and reg.iincd, 78 ; lines on Athens, 78 ; Satan — how represented, 83, '4 ; con trasted with the Lucifer of Byron's Cain, 84; and the devil in Goethe's Faust, 85 ; freedom of language, 88, '9, 90; his prose poetic, 243; his poetry and his time, 262. Minstre'lsy of the Scottish bards, 126. Minor morals, works on, 318. miscellanies, 319-321. JUitford, \V., a partisan historian, 130; his History of Greece, 170. Mitchell, D. G., Edgewood books, 308; Reveries, etc., etc., 321. llodern critics, distinguished, 265. Jlodern history, compeuds of, 175, '6. Moloch, Milton's, 78. Ji'.ontaigne, M., on books, 10; essays, 320. Moon, C. W., Had English, etc., 301. Moore, F., American eloquence, 192. Wioore, T., 53; freedom of allusions in, 89. Moral Evil in books does not flow from the representation of evil characters,82, but from the manner in which it is done, 82 , moral influence of books and reading, etc., chapter on VII., 72 -81. Moral lessons not always to be obtruded, 95. Moral philosophy, books in, 314. Moral standard for books and reading, 14. Moral truth, importance of, to the high- est acliievements in literature, 15; of Scott, Thack'-ray, and Dickens, K8. Morell.J. D., liistorical and critical view of modern philosophy, 311; his phil- osophy of religion, 3:J4 More, Sir Thomas, life of, 199. Morgan, L. 11., The American Beaver, 3% 365. Price, R., on ethics, 315. Price on the picturesque, 299. Prideaux's Connections not the best book to begin with, 146. Priestly on the study of history, 193. Principles influenced by books and read- ing, 72 ; chapter on VI.. 02-71. Prosfi writing, somftimes poetic, 243. Psalms chronoliigicallv arranged, 338. Psychological biography, 206. Psychology, manuals of, 313. Pulilic librarj', see library. Purity, relations of imaginative litera- ture to, 88-94; of the best ancient po'^ts, 91 ; of Scott, 92. Putnam, 0. P.. suggestions lor house- hold libniri»:f, 309. Pjm, William, life of, 200. Quarterly Rerlcws, see Newspapers and p'Tiodlc-als ; their influence, 294 ; their pr'-w^nt character, 295. Queen Anne, writer* under, formerly the itandard, 260. R. Haaz, taap tif Palestine, 169. Kobinsou, U. C, saying of, 18; life of, 208. Railway libraries noticed, 6. Raleigh, Sir W., life of, 199. Rand, E. 8., Bulbs ; Seventv-five flowers, 308. Elandall, H. S., the practical shepherd, 307. Randall's life of Jefferson, 317. Randolph, J., life of, :i01. Ranke, History of the Popes and History of the Reformation, 176. Raphall, Post-biblical history of the Jews, 168. Rasselas, 219. Raumer, von. History- of Italy, etc., 177. Rawlinson, ancient monarchies, 167 ; Herodotus, 172. Reynolds' discourses, 299. Read, what it is to, chapter on, 18 ; is to communicate with an author, 20; with the author in his best or worst condition, 21, '2; how to read, chapter on III., 28-30 ; a great thing for a child to learn to. 28; is to converse with a man, 29 ; should be accompanied with attention, 31 ; how to road with inter- est, chapter on IV., 37-47 ; should be- gin with what we need or care to kt..">w about, 38 ; with whatever respects our calling, 39; with definite aims, 41; with a book always on hand, 42; is best done upon definite topics, 43; impossible and unwise to read every- thing that is published, 60, '1. Reader, the relations of, to his authors, chapter on \., 48-Gl ; should difer to his author, 51 ; and yet be independ- ent of him, 52; but not entirely, 52; should be able to understand him, 54; should not falsi ly pretend to, 55 ; should ho in a state to appreciate him, 56 ; author, the relations of a reader to, 48-61 ; should be one who can give something, 49; should be respected by his reader, 51; and yet not entirely control him, 52; influence of a favor- ite, 53; should bo understood by his reader, 54, '5 ; should be suitable to the present state of a reader, 56. Readers, class of, contemplated in this volume, 16; many have an indefinite sense of what they need, 38. Reading, time devoted to at present, 5; one method bettor than another, 29 ; neglect of the manner or matter of, 30 ; good or evil influences from, 30 ; ought never to be aimless, 31 ; of two persons should not bo the same, 31 ; why it is ever dull, 31; passive reading, 33; concerning our calling elevates our conceptions of it, 41 ; should be prose- cuted with definite aims, 41; should always be kept in hand, 42; should be given to definite topics, 43; how re- tained, 45; religious, neglected by op- Vosito classes, 322, '.3; sectarian with many, 323 ; a duty, 323, '4 ; of devotional books, 338, '9 ; on Sunday, 3.39, 340. Relv-llion, tht great ic England, under- Index. A?\ stood by novelB, diaries and pampiilets, U. Rebfllion Record, 192. KecoUections of a busy life, H. Greeley, 204. Reed, Henry, on English History, 193 ;aB critic, 298. Reference, books of, 369. Reid, T., phil. works, al3. Religion offensive to soiue persons, 322; neglected as a subject for reading by others, C22, "3. Religious influence of books and reading general maxim, 101 ; applies to faith and feeling, 102; is very general, 102 ; rule for affirmed, 103 ; faith and feeling affected more by a bad book than by a bad man, 103 ; duty does not forbid the reading of an irreligious book. 104, Religious books and Sunday reading, chapter on XX., 322-340 ; delicacy of the topic, 322 ; its dignity and interest, 322; neglected by two classes, 322-3 ; narrow with others, 323; the duty of all, 324 ; R. books of four classes, 324 ; the good, 324 ; the goodish, 325 ; the good- for-nothing, 32t); the worse than noth- ing, 326; two questions about religious books, 327 ; reasons why they arg so numerous, 327 ; why treated with es- pecial forbearance, 327-330 ; signs of good books, 330-333; B. on Theism and eridences of Christianity, and the Christian history, 333-335 ; B. on the Scriptures, 33>-;i:i8 ; interest, of, 335-6; B. of devotion, 3;!8, 'J. Retention in reading, difference with different persons, 4.5-6; no special rules can be given for. 46-7. Retrospective Review, its inflxience, 295. Retz, Cardinal de, memoirs of, 179. Revolution in England of 1648 and '88, works on, 185-6. Revolution, American histories of works on, 192. Reynolds, life of, 204. Ricardo, J., on political economy, 318. Richelieu, life of, 200. Ripley, G., as cnitic, 29S, '9, Ritter, Carl, bis services in geography, 157. Robertson, History of Charles T., 177. Robertson, F. W., life of, 268-9, 213. Robinson, E., Biblical researches, 108; Geography of Palestine, 169; maps of Palestine, 169 : Bib. geography, 3;i7. Robinson Cruso*-, 222. Robinson, H. Cralib, storv of his respect for books as true, 18; life of, 208. Roderick Uhu, Scott's, 80. Roget, P. W., An. and Veg. philosophy, 314. Rogers, H., eclipse of faith, etc., 335. Rollin, C, 34; style of, 128 ; his history of the arts andsciences of the ancients, 173. Roman old life, oivly pictured in its literature, 231, '2. Roman History, works on, 171, '2. Bomilly, S., life of, 200, 203, 208. Roscoe, H. F., .'Spectrum analysis, 306. Roscoe, H., Historical works, 177. Rufflnl, pictures Italian life, 235. Rules for reading with interest, 37-47. Rules for selecting biographies, 215. Russell, Lord John, life of, 200; on ths English constitution, .307. Russell, W., Modern Europe, 175. Russian History, 178. Ruskin, J., modern painters and othel works, 3U0 ; his essays, 320. s. Sainte Beuvo, as critic, 297. Sampson, E,, The brief remarker, 320.' Samson, G. W., Art-criticism, 300. Samuel, birds of New England, 306. Sand, G., i)icture8 of French life, 235. Satan, Milton's, 78. Savonarola, life of, 202. Saunders, F., Salad for the solitary, etc, 321. Scheffer, Ary, Christus Consolator and Chr. Redemptor, 118. Schiller, F. C, expresses his personal thoughts and feelings, 25 ; his thirty years' war, 178. Schlegel, A. W., philosophy of history, 193. Schlegel, F., on modem history, 193. Schlegels, the, as critics, 295. Schleiden, J. M., The plant, 313-4. Schonberg Cotta series, 162. School libraries, see library. Schools, my, and schoolmasters, by Hugh Miller, 204. Schwegler, A., history of philosophy, 311. Science, books of, 303. Science, superficial books on, 305 ; stand- ard works on, 306. Scott, \V., 21; expresses his own thoughts, 25, 32, 63, 77; his creations, living beings 79-80; moral influence of, 81, 87, 88; ethi- cal and religious truth of, 88 ; singular purity of, 92 ; historical novels of, 161 ; Ivanhoe, 177 ; novels illustrative of English History, 187; life of, 208; novels pictures of Scottish life, 234 , poetry and his times, 290 ; as a critic, 294; preservation of his 'library, 366. Scriptures the, freedom of language in, 89,90, Scriptures, picture the Hebrew life, 280 ; study of and books on, 335-338. Self-culture, this volume an aid to, 9. Self-educated men read with interest, 42. Self-formation, etc., 320. Self-help by Smiles, 202. Seneca, 312. Senior, N. W., on political economy. 318. Seward, W. H.. speeches, 192; life of, 201. Shaksptare expresses his personal feel- ings, 25, 32, 77 ; his creations living beings, 79; moral influence of, 81, 88- 90 ; Hamlet, and Byron's Manfred, 85, '6; freedom of language of, 88, '9, 90; The family, design of, 89; 8. novels, 187 ; and tl>e poets of his time, 261 ; crit- ics of, 277 ; sometimes overdo, 277, '8; but stimulating, 278 ; and Ben Jon- son, controversy between, 278. Shaftesbury, A. A., essays, 320. Shairp, J. C.^ a« critic, 298. 432 Index. Bhaw, tnanual of English literature, 293. Shelley ; his atheism compared with that of Lucretius, 108 ; his relation to Byron, 263. Sherman. Genl., life of, 197, '8. fehuck ford's connection not the best book to begin with, 146. Sidney, Algernon, life of, 200. Sidney, P., defence of J-oeaie, 293. Sismondi, decline and fall of Roman empire, 174; history of the Italinn republics, and the literature of the south of Europe, 177. Small books on great subjects, 320. Smedley, history of the Keformed Church in France, 179. Smith. Sydney, as critic, 294. Sociiil relations, works on, 318-321. Socrates, in a basket, 65, '6. Pomers' tracts, 186. Somers Lord, life of, 200. Somerville, Mary, works of, 306. Sophocles, translations of, 172. South, R., 20. South-sea islander introduced to a pnblio library, 2; hia interpretation of a ca- thedral, 2 ; of a military parade, 2 ; of a festive gathering, 2; of a gallery of paintings, 2; incapable of understand- ing a librarj-, 2; or its fnmates, 3; posed by Dr. Dryasdust, a scientific reader, a poet, a reader of fiction, 3 ; bewildered by attempts to explain the nature of a book, 3. Southey, R., cannot hide his opinions and feelings, 26, 53; his test of the moral influence of a book, 72 ; life of, 2U8; as critic, 294; lines on his libra- ry, 378. Spalding, history of English literature, 293. Spanish history, writers on, 177, '8. Spencer, H., Phil, works, 313. Spenser, E., 20 ; times of, 287 ; charac- terized, 261. Bpielh.agen, pictures Qcrman life, 235. Spiritual wives, 94. Spooner, 8., art dictionary, 300. Sprfiner's historical atlas, 154. Smiles' Huguenota, 179 ; self-help, 202. Smith, Adam, on ethics, 315 ; wealth of nations, 318. Smith, Alex., on ethics, 315. Smith, Ooldwin, a Christian historian, 141 ; on the study of history, 193 ; Ire- land, the Empire, three English states- men, 186; letter to Mansel, 313; ra- tional religion, 334. Smith, H. B., chronological tables, 151. Smith, Philip, History of the world, 166—175. Smith, W., abridgment of Orote's his- tory, 170; dirtjonarjes of antiquities, etc., 173; Bible diriif,nary, 337. Smith, William, Thorndale, etc., 321. Smyth, W., on the French revolution, Ibt): on the study of history, 193. Snow Bound, cflects of the reading of, 2»9. Sagden, Sir Edward, habits of reading, ■.'A Sullivan. W., lettTS on public cbarao- ten, 191, 317 ; Pol. cla«s boolL, 316. Sully, Duke of, memoirs of, 179. 200. Sunday School Library, see library. Sunday school librarie-i, books in, 239. Sunday library, MacMillan's, 339. Sunday reading, 339, 340. Swedish History, 178. Swinburne, A., his offences against pw rity, 92. Swinton's Rambles among words, 301. Stanhope, Earl, Histor.v of, 183. Stanley, A. P., Sinai and Palestine, etc., 169, 337. State Trials, 186. Statesmen, lives of. 199-201. Stebbing, W., analysis of Mill's logic, 304. Stephens, Jas., Lectures on the history of France, 179 ; as a critic, 294. Stephenson, life of, 204. Sterling, John, life of, 208. Sterling, J. II., the secret of Hegel, 313 ; as regards protoplasm, 314. Stewart, DugaUl, progress of philosophy, 312; Phil, works, 313; psychology, 313. Stoddart, J., Glossology. :}Ul. Stoicism in professedly Christian writers, 116; in modern literature, 123. Stonewall Jackson, life of, 197. Story's Commentaries, 191. Stowe, Mi-s., 53; her historical novels, 101 ; hir influenceon her readers, 230, Strafford, life of, 193. Stniuss, F., Helon's pilgrimage, 168, Students at school and college desir'^ ad- vice respecting reading. 7. Students' History of Fnince, 179. Style, the, of a writer, 57 ; different j adg- mentsof, 58; the barbaric, the (ivil- ized, as in manners, 58; not of the highest consequence, not to be c isre- garded, 59 ; current faults of, 60. T. Tacitus, force of his epithets, 24 Taiiie. H., a.s critic, 297. Taiitphoeus, pictures German life, 2."\ TaHSO, Jerusalem delivered, 177. Taste for poetry product of culture, 247; of children, 247, '8; how a better taste Is awakened, 248, '9 ; needs to be ma- tured, 2r,0. Tavlor, Henry, aa critic, 297 ; essays, 320. Tavlor, Jeremy, holy living and dying, 339. Taylor, J. J., Christian aspects, etc., 339, Taylor, Isaac, on Hebrew poetry, 168; restoration of belief, 336. Taylor, Jeremy, 20; poetic, 243. Taylor, N. W., moral government, 334. Taylor, W. C, maniial of modern his- tory, 175 ; natural history of society, 193. Tenden7.-Roman, 95. Tennyson, A., cannot hide his feelinga, 20-53. Thackeray, W. M., cannot hide his feel- ings, 25, 53; ethical truth of. 88: Henry Esmond, 160, 187; his influ- ence on his readers, 230; bis novelt Index. 433 picture English society, 234 ; as critic, 296. Theism, books on, 333. '4. Theologians and preachers, who hare had a high place in literature, 112. Thierry, Norman conquests, 187. Thiers, A., histories, 179. Thirlwall, C, history of Greece, 170. Thomas, J. J., farm implements, 307 ; fruit culturist, 308. Thompson, D'Arcy, day dreams, etc., 321. Thompson. J. P., Egypt, etc., 1G8. Thompson, R. A., Christian theism, 333. Thomson, tlie land and the book, 337. Thoreau, his influence on the opinions, 70 ; is he Pagan or Christian ? 119. Thrupp, Anglo-Saxon homo, 187. Ticknor. G., history of Spanish litera- ture, 177. Tischendorf, when were the Gospels writ- ten, 33-1. Titian's last supper, remark on, referred to, 78. Tom Jones. 214. Townsend, G. F., bible in chronological order, 3-57. Tracts for priests and people, 334. Translations of Greek and Roman au- thors, 172. Trenck, Baron, life of, 197. Trench, R. C, as critic on English lit- erature, 297 ; on language and words, 301 ; on miracles, 334. Trollope, A., cannot hide his opinions and feelings, 25; his novels picture English society, 234. Trumbull ; McFingal, lines from, 76, 192. Tuckcrman, H. T , as critic, 298, '9; book of the artists, 300. Tulloch, J., Theism, 333. Turner, life of, '204. Tyndall, J., writings of, 305, '6. Tytler, A. F., modern history, 175, u. Ueberweg, F., history of philosophy, 311. Uhlemann, Three Days in Memphis, 167. TJhlhorn, G., representations of Jesus, 334. TJlrici, H., as critic on Shakspeare, 297. Uncultured people fancy coarse nov- els, 223. Universal historv, the, superseded, 131. Upham, T. C, psychology, 313. V. Van Buren, M., life of, 201 ; history of parties, 191, 317. Tan de Velde, map of the holy land, 169. Yane, Sir Harry, life of, 20U. Yaughan, C. J., Sermons, 339. Yaughan, R., revolutions of English his- tory, and England under the Stuarts, 185; the way of rest, 235. Yaughan, R. A., hours with the mystics, 297. Ya««-i'8 lives of painters, 299. Vegetable Physiology, books on, 314. Vicars, Hcdloy, life of, 19S. Victor Hugo, pictures of French life, 2.35. Virgil, translated by Conington. 173. Von Mohl, II., the vegetable cell, 314. w. ■Wallace, II. E., as critic, 298, '9 ; his pa- pers, 320. Walker, J. B., philosophy of the plan of salvation, etc., 334. Walt. Whitman, his offences against purity, 92. Walpole, Horace, letters, 164 ; letters and journal, 185; anecdotes of paint- ing, 2:^9. Walworth, C, the gentle sceptic, 335. Ware, W., Zenobia, Aurelian and Julian, 174. Warren, life of, 200. Waring, G. E., draining for profit, 307. Watt, life of, 204. Watts, I., on the mind. 120. Watson's Philip II., 177. Waverly, 219. Wayland, F., psychology, 313 ; moral phil., 315. Webb, T. E., intellectualism of Locke, 313. Webster, D., 32 ; an earnest reader, 35 ; love for English poets and ess.iyists, read his few books so as to repeat them, his views of Chevy Chase, liis hi'.bits when a student, 35, '6 ; sayings of, 50; political speeches of, 192; life of, 201-203 ; on religion as a theme for thought, 322; preservation of his library, .336 ; pol. writings, 3G7. Webster, Noah, his definition of a dandy, 24. Wesley, John, life of, 202. West, B., life of, 204. Westcott, B. F., gospel of the resurrec- tion, 335 ; history of the English Bible, study of the gospels, 337. Westminster Review, the, its indirect influence, 70. Wharton, F., Theism and scepticism, 333. Whately's, R., remarks on reading, 10. Whately, Archbishop, life of, 208 ; on po- litical economy, 318; his historic doubts, 3:54. Wheaton, H., works on international law, 318. Whewell, W., translations of Plato, and dialogues, 172 ; Platonic dialogues, 312; . history of ethics, 314 ; elements of mo- rality, 315 ; indications of a creator, 333. Whipple, E. P., as critic, 298, '9 ; essays, 321. White, Blanco, life of, 208. White, G., Natural History of Selborne, ,306. White, James, eighteen Christian centu- ries, 175 ; his historv of France, 179. White, R. G., as critic, 298, '9. Whitney, life of, 204. Whitney, W. D., on language, etc., 301. 4;3-t Index. Whole iliitv nf man, 339. Wilt, hlo ol, J04. fl'ii'iam III., lite of, 199. Williiini the t^ilent. lito of, 199. M"iUis, N. I'., niiscfllanics, 321. Wilberfor.-e, life of, -^02. Willoiii;hli.v, L.'i.ly, diary of, 188. Wilkio, remark reported by, 78; life of, 204. Wilkinson, .1. G., works on Egypt, 167. Wilson, Bishop, Sacra Privata and Max- ims, 339. Wilson, O., evidences of the Christian religion, 3)5. Wilson, George, life of, 204. Wilson, Prof. John, life of, 208; his novels pictures of So