PLEASVRESOFUTERAWRE TrtE SOLACE or BOOKS COMPILED BY JOSEPH SHALER A BOOK. Emily Dickinson. He ate and drank the precious words His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, ' Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings ! THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE PLEASURES OF LITERATURE AND THE SOLACE OF BOOKS #• BOOK SECTION V/LLLS. MAN«an BOOKSELLr.RS U O WF"R*0 BOOKBINDEftS BOOK IMFOKTr^S aUUKgfc H-r.K 5 •m ^ -iiy- Vp |i ^ BOOKB I N D E I \t?oo PREFACE It may occur to some who read these extracts, that no adequate reason can be advanced for making this selection, as the work has been so exhaustively carried out by Mr. Alexander Ireland in his Booklover's Enchiridion. As a monument of industrial research that work stands unrivaled, and is in itself a library of reference for much that has been said about books. Mr. Ireland's volume is not, however, convenient for easy reading or well suited for the pocket. It was therefore thought that lovers of books would welcome a volume con- taining a short selection of pertinent extracts which would answer to these requirements. Another reason for its existence is the growing interest taken in books, and also the fact that during recent years some of our great statesmen and men of letters have written and said many things about books which are well worth detach- ing from their surroundings and including amongst other gems from some of our masters 6 preface in English literature. Carlyle has said that " Literature is the thought of thinking minds " ; and every student of literature knows how completely true is this remark. If the perusal of these extracts should stimulate the mind of either book-worm or book-butterfly one object with which the compilation was undertaken will have been attained. It is, however, hoped that a higher result will follow ; that of directing readers to the sources from which these gems have been obtained, where they may drink in deeply the thoughts which flow from master- minds, and which in their supply know no exhaustion. The warmest and most sincere thanks of the compiler are given to the various authors from whose works these selections are taken, but special acknowledgment is here made to the Right Hon. Lord Rosebery, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen ; to Mr. Sidney Lee and Mr. Henry N. Stevens for their courtesy and consent, also to Messrs. Bickers & Son for the extracts from Matthew Arnold and the Right Hon. John Morley, to Mr. George Allen for the selection from Mr. Ruskin, prctace 7 to Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton for that by Dean Farrar, and to Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for those by Sir John Lubbock and Mr. Frederic Harrison. Should there, however, be any author from whose works an extract has been taken and not specially acknowledged, I hope this general recognition of indebtedness will be deemed a sufficient expression of my gratitude. Joseph Shaler. mx All these things here collected are not mine, But divers grapes make but one kind of wine, So I from many learned authors took The various matters written in this book ; What's not mine own shall not by me be father'd. The most part I in many years have gather'd. John Taylor the Water-Poet, 1 580-1654. We INTRODUCTION By Andrew Lang " For the sins of the learned," says Swift, or Arbuthnot, " Heaven permitted the invention of Printing." In the following volume, Mr. Arthur Balfour, in a vein of paradox, doubts whether the invention of printing is to be regretted. In my poor opinion, it has proved a great blow to Literature. Nobody can main- tain that printing has produced greater poets, or philosophers, or historians, than they who wrote when books were confined to manuscript. Homer, the Greek Tragedians, Herodotus, Thucydides, Lucretius, Simonides, Virgil, Plato, Tacitus, Catullus, Horace, have not been sur- passed, while the Prophets of Israel remain unique, as do the authors of the Gospels and the Psalms. All wrote many centuries before Heaven permitted the invention of Printing. All had a sufficient audience, and what more was required ? People who deserved to be able to read, did read, and now that every one can read, few lo flntroDuction people deserve to do so, for few go beyond a newspaper. It is but a small minority who even aspire to study a novel. What is the result ? The result is that authors endeavour to reach that vast public which, in no age and in no country, has cared for the pleasures of literature. We hear it said of a book that it does not appeal to a man on an omnibus, or to a man lunching in a public-house. That con- demns a book, therefore authors debase their wares, to captivate indolent women, and the man on the omnibus. Bad books are multiplied, tares are deliber- ately sown, the good seed is choked, the rare good books are lost among the weeds, like wheat obscured by flamboyant poppies. The great and good men who supply many of the passages in this collection, were honestly thanking Heaven and good writers for good books. They were trying, also, to lure the public by praise, to partake of the pleasures of the literature which is excellent. The great public is not to be tempted, for, of all the arts, Literature is least to the general taste of the world. Untro^uction 1 1 " A book in a nook," Ubelliis in angiilo, was the desire of Thomas ^ Kenipis : it is not the world's desire. True reading demands seclu- sion, leisure, freedom from the crowd ; and the great world, in all classes, is " gregarious." It confesses that it " has not time to read." Its time is devoted to seeking crowds ; even music, the play, pictures, can be enjoyed in a crowd. Not so literature ; the reading man or woman is not, like the world, gregarious. We readers are a little flock, scattered sparsely about the land, some in London, several in Glasgow, two or three, perhaps, in such a thriving village as Dundee. We are not gregarious ; for the gregarious there are plays, operas, the Royal Academy, and lectures. The man or woman who reads is at the opposite pole from those who go to lectures. They never read, they expect to take literature in " through the pores," and among a crowd. The Greeks were of a like mind. You do not come on praises of books, as you turn over the exemplaria Gracca. That famous people went to the play, went to Recitations, went to Lectures, but did not read books any more than 1 2 1[ntrot)uctlon does our general public. Their very word for reading meant, literally, " reading aloud." I don't remember any Greek praises of reading (not aloud) before a very late age, but Cicero is eloquent on the topic : he is usually quoted on the pleasures of literary study. The great students, Dean Farrar, Mr. Arthur Balfour, Mr. Hain Friswell, Bacon, and others cited in this work, remind me, when they praise books, of boys who are in the water, on a chilly day. " Come in, you fellows," they cry, " it's awfully jolly." They express themselves much more eloquently ; they say charming things about literature. Books lighten anxiety ; books convey counsel ; books make dark days sunny ; books instruct ; books " have the key of the happy golden land," the Open Sesame of romance. The authors are our friends, who do not bore us. " My days among the dead are passed," cries Southey, " Around me I behold. Where e'er these casual eyes are cast The mighty minds of old." It is all very true, but the public, like Mr. Huckleberry Finn, " takes no stock in dead people," does not care a dime for the mighty minds of old. In fact, as we splash Untro^itction 13 about in the sea of letters, and cry, " Come in, it's awfully jolly," the wise world goes bicycling, or has some beer, or talks of politics or society. The lady in Mr. Mallock's satire Justly distrusted persons who talk about books : " it looks as if they did not know any people to talk about." We address an inattentive population. Mankind, as a rule, detests literature. " What another damned great volume, always writing, writing, Mr. Gibbon," said a Royal Duke, very gracefully, to the author of The Decline and Fall. The Stuarts were reading men : even Charles, Prince of Wales over the water, was a bibliophile. James I. was a poet, James V. was no better, James VI. was a book- worm ; Charles I. was a collector ; James VH., in the opinion of Lord Wolseley and the Duke of Wellington, was the most lucid of writers on military subjects. Hence the unpopularity of the Stuarts. Now the House of Hanover (in the last century) exactly suited us Britons. George IH., brought up as a kind of Jacobite, had literary tastes ; so had George IV. The Duke of Sussex, a friend of Cardinal York, 14 1IntroC)uction was a book collector. Her Majesty is herself an author. The early Georges did not read. " Another damned great volume, Mr. Gib- bon ! ", thus does the English world salute an author, to the present day. A reader has a kind of freemasonry, like an angler, which enables him to detect other readers every- where. Thus I have found comrades among game-keepers and gillies, and viscountesses, and grandes dames de par le monde, who quote Donne at dinner-parties. Marquises are often bookish, and I have heard, at first hand, of an omnibus-driver who read Plato in Mr. Jowett's translation. Soldiers read a good deal, not so actors, school-masters, or college dons, a race of men remarkable for ignorance outside of their speciality. Barristers " have no time to read." Judges read novels, reviewers read nothing. They have not time. Do I blame my fellow-creatures ? In no wise, but I do not hope to convert them. They are naturally human ; I am one of a small race of abnormal creatures, known to science as bookworms. From babyhood, almost, I was acquainted with the word " bookworm," and 1Intro&uction 15 endured the contempt of mankind. " My days among the dead were passed," with Bruce and Wallace, the Fat Knight and Mercutio, Aladdin and Colonel Henry Esmond, and Baron of Smailholme and Michael Scott the wizard. Society reproved, and endeavoured to correct me. " Why did I not play with the other boys ? " (at cricket I did, of course), and like Sir Walter I might have said, " You can't think how ignorant these boys are." This remark I repressed : it was the only priggish saying recorded of Scott, and was uttered about the age of five. But society did not convert me from my taste (the chief pleasure of a long and laborious existence) nor shall I ever attempt to convert Society. We readers dwell apart : " We are like children reared in shade Within some old-world abbey wall, Forgotten in a forest glade, And secret from the eyes of all." The world could not wag on, if we were all bookworms. " Muscles make the man. Not mind, or that confounded intellect." Some persons are born to prefer existence at second hand, glorified in the dreams of poets, sages, 1 6 Untro^uction romancers, wits. There is better company, for such people, in a shelf of books, than at the Club, or at a rout, or in the public-house. It suits us better to hear Mr. Stevenson, or Montaigne, or Coleridge, or Hazlitt, than to listen to such talk as is common enough. It is a taste like another : it cannot be taught or communicated : you cannot preach or lecture men and women into a love of good letters. The world is fundamentally hostile to literature, in great part because the world is gregarious, and literature is a solitary pursuit. Much may be said against it, as unfitting men for life, though some of the greatest readers, Cicero, Napoleon, Scott, Macaulay, Mr. Gladstone, have been stirring personages. But there are plenty of people to carry on this business of life. Let us read unreproved ! The spirit of these remarks I find rebuked, whenever I turn from literature to authorship, and study The Author. In that great com- mercial organ, among the most eloquent remarks on discount, I seem to find traces of optimism, traces of belief in a great literary public. I do not believe in any such thing, even if some 1lntroC)uctlou 17 novels, at six shillings, find a market for 100,000 copies. Even that (considering how bad most of these books are, how ignorant, coarse, emphatic, and illiterate) is relatively a very small demand. Think of the millions of England, and think of how many of them buy a book, say, of an author who is a man of genius, and " popular," Mr. Kipling or Mr. Stevenson. What a beggarly account ! As for those who read Marlowe, or Montaigne, they are the tiniest of remnants. The public hates to spend money on books. A correspondent, writing from a college in a populous part of the country, favored me to-day with some useful remarks on a special subject which I had treated. He did so on the strength of reviews ; it would be long enough before the book in question came his way, he said, and he wrote from a College 1 He had not the least faith in the acquisition of a book by the library of his College. (After writing this, I learn that the " College " is 7iot a college, but the tale is too good to be lost 1) This is typical of the English attitude towards literature. In large public libraries with good endowments, if no 1 8 flntroDuction minion is kept to cut the leaves open, hundreds of books, famous books, remain uncut. I have myself cut pages of a century old, and the book, in this instance, was a classic. Education has not increased, I believe it has diminished, the number of readers of anything more abstruse than the last novel whose author had noisy backers. Perhaps Education has not directly caused the diminution in the number of students. The increased facilities for gregarious hurry have helped, and the number of journals which tell people (often quite erroneously) just as much about a book as will satisfy an easy curiosity, assist in keeping down literature. Circulating libraries lend their aid, by " sitting tight," when a book is asked for, by not supplying it, and by waiting till the public have forgotten the subject. They do not need to wait long. The indifference, or hostility, to reading is human, natural, and has always existed. In many obvious ways, modern life aids and con- firms the natural hostility and indifference. But we bookish beings are not actually persecuted, after our childhood is over. Penal laws on study are not passed and enforced. We are 1[ntrot)uction 19 more happily situated than Catholics under Elizabeth, Presbyterians under Charles II., or Scottish Episcopalians under Queen Anne or George II. We are not even forbidden to proselytize, and to win sheep into our narrow fold. This collection of wise sayings on the pleasures of letters may here and there convert a soul, though, as I have said, I conceive that we must be born to love books, and to inherit citizenship in the Republic of Letters. If so, the text will, at least, confirm a faith founded in grace, and bestowed freely on the elect of the Muses. This doctrine, then, is a kind of literary Calvinism. These are lost souls who read to be in the fashion, mere empty professors, sound- ing brass and tinkling cymbals. They waste their hypocrisy, for it is decidedly not in the fashion to be bookish, — or only in " the highest circles." €St LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED PAGE Addison, Joseph . . . . . . -25 Arnold, Matthew 27 Arnold, Thomas 28 Aungerville, Bishop 30 Bacon, Francis, Lord Verulam . . . •3' Balfour, Right Hon. A. J 32 Baxter, Richard 37 Bayard, Hon. T. F 39 Beaconsfield, Lord 4° Beaumont, F., and J. Fletcher . . . 4- Bright, John 43 Cameron, Rev. A . . . . . . .46 Carlyle, Thomas 47 Channing, Dr. W. E 49 Chapin, Dr. ........ 51 Corbett, W 79 Coleridge, S. T. . . . . . . -53 Collier, Jeremy ....... 54 Colton, C. C 82 Dawson, George 56 De Bury, Richard 57 De Genlis, Madame 59 D'Israeli, I.saac ....... 60 22 Xfst of Hutbors Emerson, R. W. . Farrar, Dean . Fenelon, F. . Friswell, J. II. Fuller, Thomas Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E Godwin, William . Goldsmith, Oliver . Goschen, Right Hon. G. J. Harrison, Frederic Hazlitt, William Helps, Sir Arthur Herschel, Sir John Holmes, Dr. O. W Hood, Paxton Hood, Thomas Horace . Houghton, Lord Iddesleigh, Earl of, Irving, Washington Johnson, Dr. S. Jonson, Ben . Kingsley, Charles . Lamb, Charles 58, 71 73 74 Xlst of Butbors 23 Landor, W. S 26 Langford, J. A. . . . . . . -97 Lee, Sidney ........ 99 Locke, John ........ loi Lubbock, Sir John . . . . . .103 Lytton, Lord . . . . . . .104 Lytton, Lord (Owen Meredith) . . . .105 Macaulay, Lord 106 Mahon, Lord 109 Miller, Rev. J. R 112 Milton, John 114 Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley . . . .76 Montesquieu, C 100 Morley, John, Right Hon 116 Parker, Theodore . . . . . . .120 Pattison, Mark 121 Petrarch, Francesco 123 Plato 98 Richardson, C. F. . . . . . . .125 Rosebery, Lord 128 Ruskin, John. . . . . . . -132 Schopenhauer, A . .134 Steele, Sir R. 48 Stevens, Henry ....... 137 Swift, Dean 58 Thoreau, H. D. . . , . . . . 138 Voltaire, F. M. A. 67 ZTbe plcaeures of Xltcrature As the Supreme Being has ex- pressed, and as it were printed His ideas in the creation, men express their ideas in books, which by this great invention of these latter ages may last as long as the sun and moon, and perish only in the general wreck of nature. There is no other method of fixing those thoughts which arise and disappear in the mind of man, and transmitting them to the last periods of time ; no other method of giving a permanency to our ideas, and preserving the knowledge of any particular person, when his body is mixed with the common mass of matter, and his soul retired :«8ooft0 Xcgaciesto ^anftin&. Joseph Addison 1672-1719 26 Ube pleasures of Xiterature JSooF^S into the world of spirits. Books TLeflacics are the legacies that a great genius to leaves to mankind, which are de- /IRanftln& livered down from generation to generation, as presents to the pos- Joseph terity of those who are yet unborn. Addison All other arts of perpetuating our 1672-1719 ideas continue but a short time fm The writings of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander. — IF. S. Latidor. * In short, does our mind act over again from the writer's guidance what His acted before ; do we reason as he reasoned, conceive as he conceived, think and feel as he Ube pleasures of Xiterature thought and felt ; or, if not. can we discern where and how far we do not, and can we tell why we do not? m To divert at any time a trouble- some fancy, run to thy books ; they presently fix thee to them, and drive the other out of thy thoughts. They always receive thee with the same kindness. — Thomas Fuller. 'm 29 IReaOing an& Dr. Thomas Arnold 1795-1842 3° Ube pleasures of OLiterature 3Boofts our Ifnstruc* tors mk Let us consider how great a commodity of doctrine exists in books — how easily, how secretly, how safely they expose the naked- ness of human ignorance, without Bishop putting it to shame. These are the AUNGER- masters who instruct us without VILLE rods and ferules, without hard words I 281-1345 and anger, without clothes or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep ; if investigating, you inter- rogate them, they conceal nothing ; if you mistake them, they never grumble ; if you are ignorant, they cannot laugh at you. mk trbe pleasures ot ^Literature Read not to contradict and con- fute ; nor to believe and take for granted ; nor to find talk and dis- course ; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tatted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested ; that is, some books are to be read only in parts ; others to be read, but not curiously ; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. . . . Reading maketh a full man ; conference a ready man ; and writing an exact man. . . . Histories make men wise ; poets, witty ; the mathematics, subtle ; natural philosophy, deep ; moral, grave ; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. 1bow to IReaD Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam 1561-1626 Xlbe pleasures ot ^Literature HMeasures of Xiterature Right Hon. A.J. Balfour 1848 I AM deliberately of opinion that it is the pleasures and not the pro- fits, spiritual or temporal, of litera- ture which most require to be preached in the ear of the ordinary reader. I hold indeed the faith that all such pleasures minister to the development of much that is best in man, mental and moral ; but the charm is broken and the object lost if the remote consequence is consciously pursued to the exclu- sion of the immediate end. It will not, I suppose, be denied that the beauties of nature are at least as well qualified to minister to our higher needs as are the beauties of literature. Yet we do not say we are going to walk to the top of such and such a hill in order to provide ourselves with " spiritual susten- ance." We say we are going to Zbc pleasures ot Xiterature look at the view. And I am con- vinced that this, which is the natural and simple way of consider- ing literature as well as nature, is also the true way. The habit of always requiring some reward for knowledge beyond the knowledge itself, be that reward some material prize, or be it what is vaguely called self-improvement, is one with which I confess I have little sympathy, fostered though it is by the whole system of our modern education. Do not suppose that I desire the impossible. I would not, if I could, destroy the examination system. But there are times, I admit, when I feel tempted somewhat to vary the prayer of the poet, and to ask whether heaven has not reserved in pity to this much educating j generation some peaceful desert of literature as yet unclaimed by the crammer or the coach, where it might be possible for the student 23 pleasures of ^Literature Right Hon. A. J. Balfour 1848 34 Ubc pleasures of Xiterature pleasures ot literature Right Hon. A.J. Balfour 1848 to wander, even perhaps to stray, at his own pleasure, without find- ing every beauty labelled, every difficulty engineered, every nook surveyed, and a professional cice- rone standing at every corner to guide each succeeding traveller alongthesame well-worn round. . . . When I compare the position of the reader of to-day with that of his predecessor of the sixteenth century, I am amazed at the in- gratitude of those who are tempted even for a moment to regret the invention of printing and the multi- plication of books. There is now no mood of mind to which a man may not administer the appro- priate nutriment or medicine at the cost of reaching down a vol- ume from his book-shelf. In every department of knowledge infinitely more is known, and what is known is incomparably more accessible than it was to our ances- Xlbe pleasures of Xiterature L tors. The lighter forms of htera- ture, good, bad, and indifferent, which have added so vastly to the happiness of mankind, have in- creased beyond powers of compu- tation ; nor do I believe that there is any reason to think that they have elbowed out their more serious and important brethren. It is perfectly possible for a man, not a professed student, and who only gives to reading the leisure hours of a business life, to acquire such a general knowledge of the laws of nature and the facts of history, that every great advance made in either department shall be to him both intelligible and interesting ; and he may besides have among his familiar friends many a de- parted worthy whose memory is embalmed in the pages of memoir or biography. All this is ours for the asking. All this we shall ask for, if only it be our happy fortune 35 IPleasures of Xitcrature Right Hon. A.J. Balfour 1848 36 iPleasures of Xiterature Right Hon. A. J. Balfour 1848 Ube HMeasures oX ^Literature to love for its own sake the beauty and the knowledge to be gathered from books. And if this be our fortune, the world may be kind or unkind — it may seem to us to be hastening on the wings of enlight- enment and progress to an im- minent millennium, or it may weigh us down with the sense of insoluble difficulty and irremediable wrong ; but whatever else it be, so long as we have good health and a good library, it can hardly be dull. mk U\K pleasures of Xiterature But books have the advantage in many other respects ; you may read an able preacher, when you have but a mean one to hear. Every congregation cannot hear the most judicious or powerful preachers ; but every single person may read the books of the most powerful and judicious. Preachers may be silenced or banished, when books may be at hand : books may be kept at a smaller charge than preachers ; we may choose books which treat of that very subject which we desire to hear of ; but we cannot choose what subject the preacher shall treat of. Books we may have at hand every day and hour ; when we can have sermons but seldom, and at set times. If forgotten, they are sermons be gone. But 37 better tban IPrcacbers a book we may read over and over until we remember it ; and, if we forget it, may again Richard Baxter 1615-1691 38 3Boch9 better tban Iprcacbers Richard Baxter 1615-1691 XTbe pleasures ot Xiterature peruse it at our pleasure, or at our leisure. So that good books are a very great mercy to the world. Books are the depository of everything that is most honourable to man. Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human I and the animal kingdoms. He that loves reading has everything within his reach. He has but to desire, and he may possess him- self of every species of wisdom. — IV. Godwin. mk Zbc pleasures ot literature To-day the smallest coin of the realm will suffice to procure copies of the masterpieces of thought and composition, and the humblest and the poorest individual can summon to his companionship the kings of thought, the master minds of the world. . . . The cold crust of class and per- sonal selfishness is penetrated by these roots of intellectual fellow- ship in the commonwealth of letters, and a tide has set in which, with increasing volume, is drawing men from every class of occupation into a co-operative sympathetic under- standing with each other for the advancement and diffusion of learning. 39 sallts of Xiteraturc Hon. T. F. Bayard 1828 40 J6ooI;6 tbc <5ieat Equalisers Lord Beacons- field 1804-1881 Zbc ipicasuccs of OLitcrature A MAN who knows nothing but the histor}' of the passing hour, who knows nothing of the history of the past, but that a certain person whose brain was as vacant as his own occupied the same house as himself, who in a moment of de- spondency or of gloom has no hope in the morrov/ because he has read nothing that has taught him that the morrow has any changes — that man, compared with him who, has read the most ordinary abridgment of history, or the most common philosophical speculation, is as distinct and different an ani- mal as if he had fallen from some other planet, was influenced by a different organization, working for a different end, and hoping for a different result. It is knowledge that equalizes the social condition of man — that gives to all, however different their political position, paS- Ubc pleasures of Xitcrature 41 sions which are in common, and asoolis tbc enjoyments which are universal. ©rcat Knowledge is like the mystic ladder JEqual(3erB in the patriarch's dream. Its base rests on the primeval earth — its crest is lost in the shadowy splen- dour of the empyrean ; while the great authors who for traditionary ages have held the chain of science and philosophy, of poesy and erudi- Lord Beacons- tion, are the angels ascending and descending the sacred scale, and field 1804-1881 maintaining, as it were, the com- munication between man and heaven. 4-^ JQoohs tbe best Com* panions F. Beaumont 1586-1616 J. Fletchek 1576-1625 Ubc pleasures of Xlteratuce Give me leave to enjoy myself ; that place that does contain my books, the best companions, is to me a glorious court, where hourly I converse with the old sages and philosophers ; and sometimes, for variety, I confer with kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels ; calling^ their victories, if unjustly got, unto a strict account, and, in my fancy, deface their ill-placed statues. Can I then part with such constant pleasures, to embrace un- certain vanities ? No ; be it your care to augment your heap of wealth ; it shall be mine to increase in hnov/lcdge. €)t Zbc BMeasuies ot Xiteraturc What is a great love of books ? It is something like a personal introduction to the great and good men of all past times. Books, it is true, are silent as you see them on their shelves ; but, silent as they are, when I enter" a library I feel as if almost the dead were present, and I kno.v if I put questions to these books they v/ill answer me with all the faithfulness and ful- ness which has been left in them by the great men who have left the books with us. Have none of us, or may I not say, are there any of us who have not, felt some of this feeling when in a great library ? When you are within its walls, and see these shelves, these thou- sands of volumes, and consider for a moment who they are that wrote them, who has gathered them to- gether, for whom they are intended, how much wisdom they contain, 43 JCooFis tbe ©rcatcst Bccoratfon John Bright 1811-1889 44 JSoofts tbc 6rcatc5t Decoration John Bright 1811-1889 Zbc ipleasures of literature what they tell the future ages, it is impossible not to feel something of solemnity and tranquillity when you are spending time in rooms like these ; and if you come to houscs.of less note you find libra- ries that are of great estimation, and which in a less degree are able to afford mental aliment to those who are connected with them ; and I am bound to say — and if any one cares very much for anything else they will not blame me — I say to them, you may have in a house costly pictures and costly orna- ments, and a great variety of deco- ration, yet, so far as my judg- ment goes, I would prefer to have one comfortable room well stocked with books to all you can give me in the v;ay of decoration Vvhich the highest art can supply. The only subject of lamentation is — one feels that always, I think, in the presence of a library — that life is too short. XTbe pleasures of Xfterature and I am afraid I must say also that our industry is so far deficient, that we seem to have no hope of a full enjoyment of the ample repast that is spread before us. In the houses of the humble a little library in my opinion is a most precious possession. . . . ^ If the crowns of all the kingdoms of the Empire were laid dov/n at my feet in exchange for my books and my love of reading, I would spurn them all. — Fhielon. ^ 45 Boolts tbe ©ccatest EJccotatioii John Bright 46 TReaMng anO Cbfnftfnfl Rev. a. Cameron 1747-1828- TLDc pleasures ot Xlterature It is good to read, mark, learn ; but it is better to inwardly digest. It is good to read, better to think — better to think one hour than to read ten hours without thinking. Thinking is to reading what rain and sunshine are to the seed cast into the ground — the influence which maketh it bear and brin^ forth thirty, forty, or a hundred- fold. To read is to gather into the barn or storehouse of the mind ; to think is to cast seed-corn into the ground to make it productive. To read is to collect information ; to think is to evolve power. To read is to lay a burden in the bank; but to think is to give the feet swiftness, to the hands strength. Yet we have a thousand or ten thousand readers for one thinker, as the kind of books sought after in circulating libraries bear witness. Ube pleasures ot Xtterature On all sider., r.re we not driven to the conclusion that, of the things which man can do or make here below, by far the most moment- ous, wonderful, and worthy are the things we call Books ? Those poor bits of rag-paper with black ink on them — from the Daily News- paper to the sacred Hebrew Book, what have they not done, what are they not doing? For indeed, what- ever be the outward form of the thing (bits of paper as we say, and black ink), is it not verily, at bot- tom, the highest act of man's faculty that produces a book ? It is the Thought of man; the true thaumaturgic virtue ; by v^hich man works all things whatsoever. All that he does, and brings to pass, is the vesture of a thought. . . . The thing we call " bits of paper with traces of black ink," is the purest embodiment a Thought of man can 47 Zhz Ijiurcst mcnt ot tTboiiGbt Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881 48 Zbe purest Bmbo£)f» ment of ^bousbt Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881 jibe pleasurcij ot Xltecature have. No wonder it is, in all ways, the activest and noblest. If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts ; all art and author-craft are of small account to that. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. As by the one health is preserved, strength- ened, and invigorated ; by the other virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed. — Sir Ji. Steele. outh anO Jeremy Collier 1650-1726 56 Consulting IRoom of tbe "Miec George Dawson 1821-1876 XTbe pleasures ot Xlteraturci — , JL The great consulting-room of a wise man is a library. When I am in perplexity about life, I have but to come here, and, without fee or reward, I commune with the wisest souls that God has blest the world with. If I want a discourse on immortality Plato comes to my help. If I want to know the human heart Shakspeare opens all its chambers. What ever be my perplexity, or doubt, I know exactly the great man to call to me, and he comes in the kindest way, he listens to my doubts and tells me his convictions. So that a library may be regarded as the solemn chamber in which a man can take counsel with all that have been wise and great and good and glorious amongst the men that have gone before him. Ube pleasures of literature Books delight us when pros- perity smiles upon us ; they comfort us inseparably when stormy for- tune frowns on us. They lend validity to human compacts, and no serious judgments are pro- pounded without their help. Arts and sciences, all the advantages of which no mind can enumerate, consist in books. How highly must we estimate the wondrous power of books, since through them we survey the utmost bounds of the world and time, and contemplate the things that are, as well as those that are not, as it were in the mirror of eternity. In books we climb mountains and scan the deepest gulfs of the abyss ; in books we behold the finny tribes that may not exist outside their native waters, distinguish the properties of streams and springs and of various lands ; from books we dig out gems 57 XLbc DcUgbt of asoofts Richard DE Bury 1287-1345 58 Deltgbt of J6ooli0 Richard DE Bury I 287- 1345 Ltf^ ^- Ube pleasures of Xiterature and metals, and the materials of every kind of mineral, and learn the virtues of herbs and trees and plants, and survey at will the whole progeny of Neptune, Ceres, and Pluto. mk When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me. — I?ean Swift. me tlbe pleasures of literature How I pity those who have no love of reading, of study, or of the fine arts ! I have passed my youth amidst amusements and in the most brilUant society ; but I can assert with perfect truth, that I have never tasted pleasures so true as those I have found in the study of books, in writing, or in music. The days that succeed brilliant entertainments are always melancholy, but those which follow days of study are delicious : we have gained some- thing ; we have acquired some new knowledge, and we recall the past days not only without disgust and without regret, but with consum- mate satisfaction. 59 faction ot Xiterature Madame DE Gexlis I 746- I 830 6o Zbc Bvt of IRea&infl Ube pleasures of Xiterature Isaac d'israeli 1766-1848 I THINK that reading claims the same distinction. To adorn ideas with elegance is an act of the mind superior to that of receiving them ; but to receive them with a happy discrimination, is the effect of a practised taste. Yet it will be found that taste alone is not sufficient to obtain the proper end of reading. Two persons of equal taste rise from the perusal of the same book with very different notions : the one will have the ideas of the author at command, and find a new train of sentiment awakened ; while the other quits his author in a pleasing distraction, but of the pleasures of reading nothing re- mains but tumultuous sensrtions. Many ingenious readers complain that their memory is defective, and their studies unfruitful. This defect Ube pleasures of Xiterature arises from their indulging the facile pleasures of perceptions, in prefer- ence to the laborious habit of form- ing them into ideas. Perceptions require only the sensibility of taste, and their pleasures are continuous, easy, and exquicite. Ideas are an art of combination, and an exertion of the reasoning powers. Ideas are therefore labours ; and for those who will not labour, it is unjust to complain, if they come from the harvest with scarcely a sheaf in their hands. There are secrets in the art of reading, which tend to facilitate its purposes, by assisting the memory, and augmenting intellectual, opu- lence. Some, our own ingenuity must form, and perhaps every stu- dent has peculiar habits of study, as, in shorthand, almost eveiy writer has a system of his own. A frequent impediment in read- ing is a disinclination in the mind 6i IRcaDfttfl Isaac d'israeli 1766- 1^48 62 Ube pleasures ot Xiterature ^bc mt of "KeaDtng Isaac d'israeli I76t>-i848 to settle on the subject ; agitated by incongruous and dissimilar ideas, it is with pain that we admit those of the author. But on applying ourselves with a gentle violence to the perusal of an interesting work, the mind soon assimilates to the subject ; the ancient Rabbins ad- vised their young students to ap- ply themselves to their readings, whether they felt an inclination or not, because, as they proceeded, they would find their disposition re- stored and their curiosity awakened. Readers may be classed into an infinite number of divisions ; but an author is a solitary being, who, for the same reason he pleases one, must consequently displease an- other. To have too exalted a genius is more prejudicial to his celebrity than to have a moderate one ; for we shall find that the most Dopular works are not the most profound, but such as instruct those Tlbe pleasures of Xiterature who require instruction, and charm those who are not learned to taste their novelty. Authors are vain, but readers are capricious. Some will only read old books, as if there were no valuable truths to be discovered in modern publications ; while others will only read new books, as if some val- uable truths are not among the old. Some will not read a book, because they are acquainted with the author ; by which the reader may be more injured than the author ; others not only read the book, but would also read the man ; by which the most ingenious author may be injured by the most impertinent reader. 63 V:be art of TReaDing Isaac d'israeli I766-I848 64 Zbc UMeasures ot Xiterature Benefits of J6ooh0 R w. Emerson 1803-1882 CoNSiDEi^ what you have in the smallest chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all civil countries, in a thousand years, have set in best order the results of their learning and wisdom. The men themselves were hid and inacces- sible, solitary, impatient of inter- ruption, fenced by etiquette ; but the thought which they did not un- cover to their bosom friend is here written out in transparent words to us, the strangers of another age. We owe to books those general benefits which come from high in- tellectual action. Thus, I think, we often owe to them the percep- tion of immortality. ^be pleasures of Xiterature Thanks to the printed page, it is not the blood-stained conquerors, not the despotic kings, not the ignorant shouters of anarchy, who rule the world : it is the knowledge of the wise. More eternal than the Pyramids, they are the imperishable shrines, not of dead ashes, but of living souls. It is by their means that truths become irresistible. A monk at Erfurt sits poring over the Epistle to the Galatians in his lonely cell. While he is musing, the tire burns. At last he speaks with his tongue, and, lo ! the nations, laughing to scorn the impotence of popes and emperors, shake a thousand of years of cruel tyranny and superstitious priestcraft to the dust. An astron- omer observes through his rude telescope the planet Venus in eras- 65 :©oof?6 tbe IknowleOge of tbe "miec Dean Farrar 1831 66 aSoofts tbc IfjnowIeDgc of tbc mise Dean Farrar 1831 Xlbe pleasures ot literature cent, divines the facts of the planet- ary system, is denounced as a her- etic, thrown into the dungeons of the Inquisition, and forced to recant upon his knees. A few years pass, and by the help of the printed page men see that this heresy was an eternal truth, and that this discov- erer whom priests treated as a criminal had done more than any who yet had lived to reveal to man's mind the plan of God. Then think what books have done for liberty ! In old days of the struggle for freedom many a grand speech might die away within the walls where it was uttered : now by the aid of the printing-press, rever- berated through all the nations, it may go thrilling and thrilling through the world, and come rolling back to the speaker in millions of echoes. The spoken word may Z\K pleasures of Xiterature reach two or three thousand : the printed page may be read by three hundred miUions of men and women. • • • • • " Give them," said Sheridan, " a corrupt House of Lords, give them a venal House of Commons, give them a tyrannical prince, give them a truckling court, and let me but have an unfettered press, and I will defy them to encroach but a hair's breadth on the liberty of England." €3t All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books. — Voltaire. 67 1Rno\vleJ>ge: of tbe Timise Dean Farrar 1831 68 XLbc %OK>c of :SBoo\{Q TLbc HMeasures ot Xiterature J.H. Friswell 1827-1878 When a man loves books he has in him that which will console him under many sorrows and strengthen him in various trials. Such a love will keep him at home, and make his time pass pleasantly. Even when visited by bodily or mental affliction he can resort to this book-love and be cured. . . . And when a man is at home and happy with a book, sitting by his fireside, he must be a churl if he does not communicate that happi- ness. Let him read now and then to his wife and children. Those thoughts will grow and take root in the hearts of the listeners. Good scattered about is indeed the seed of the sower. A man who feels sympathy with what is good and noble, is at the time he feels that sympathy good and noble himself. Ubc HMeasures ot Xiterature Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books — even without taking them from their shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome. They seem to tell you that they have got something inside their covers that will be good for y u, and that they are willing and de- sirous to impart to you. Value them much. Endeavour to turn them to good account, and pray recollect this, that the education of the mind is not merely a storage of goods in the mind. The mind of man, some people seem to think, is a storehouse which should be filled with a quantity of useful commodities which may be taken out like packets from a shop, and delivered and distributed according to the occasions of life. I will not say that this is not true as far as it goes, but it goes a very little 69 Cbe Society of asoofts Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone 1809-1898 70 Zbc pleasures of Xiterature Society of Right. Hon. W. E. Gladstone 1809- 1898 way ; for commodities may be taken in, and commodities may be taken out, but the warehouse remains just the same as it was before, or prob- ably a little worse. That ought not to be the case with a man's mind. S3t The knowledge of books, like the wealth of another, is not thine until thou hast made it so ; but he who hath not knowledge serveth him who hath, to whom alone is homage paid or due. — Burmese Proverb. 'm Ube pleasures ot Xlterature Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man. Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms. He that loves reading, has everything within his reach. He has but to desire ; and he may possess himself of every species of wisdom to judge, and power to perform. . . . Books gratify and excite our curiosity in innumerable ways. They force us to reflect. They hurry us from point to point. They present direct ideas of various kinds, and they suggest indirect ones. In a well- written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights, of a mind of un- common excellence. It is impossi- ble that we can be much accus- tomed to such companions, without attaining sofne resemblance of them. 71 ©ratificas tion of :i6ooR0 William Godwin 175^1836 r- Xlbe pleasures of Xttcrature (5ratif(ca= tion of .•©oofts William Godwin 1756-1836 When I read Thomson, I become Thomson ; when I read Milton, I become MiHon. I find myself a sort of intellectual chameleon, as- suming the colour of the substances on which I rest. He that revels in a well-chosen library has innumer- able dishes, and all of admirable flavour. His taste is rendered so acute as easily to distinguish the nicest shades of difference. His mind becomes ductile, susceptible to every impression, and gaining new refinement from them all. His varieties of thinking baffle calcu- lation, and his powers, whether of reason or fancy, become eminently vigorous. me XTbe pleasures of Xiterature mk There is unspeakable pleasure attending the life of a voluntary student. The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend : when I read over a book I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one. 73 ■fflewJBoohs arc IRcvv jFrienDs Learn nothing imperfectly, and let your conduct be worthy of your knowledge. mk Oliver Goldsmith 1728-1774 74 Zbc BDvans tagea of literature Right Hon. G.J. GOSCHEN 1831 Ube pleasures of Xlterature History deals with the things of the past. They are absent, in a sense, from your minds — that is to say, you cannot see them ; but the study of history quahfies you and strengthens your capacity for un- derstanding things that are not present to you, and thus I wish to recommend history to you as a most desirable course of study. Then, again, take geography, travels in foreign countries. Here, again, you have matters which are absent, in the physical sense, from you ; but the study of travels will enable you to realize things that are absent to your own minds. And as for the power of forming ideal pictures, there I refer you to poets, dramatists, and imaginative writers, to the great literature of all times and of all countries. Such studies as these will enable you to live, and to move, and to think, in a world different XTbe UMeasures of Xiteraturc from the narrow world by which you are surrounded. These studies will open up to you sources of amuse- ment which, I think I may say, will often rise into happiness. I wish you, by the aid of the training which I recommend, to be able to look beyond your own lives, and have pleasure in surroundings different from those in which you move. I want you to be able — mark this point — to sympathize with other times, to be able to understand the men and women of other countries, and to have the intense enjoyment — an enjoyment which, I am sure, you would all appreciate — of mental change of scene. I do not only want you to know dry facts ; I am not only looking to a knowledge of facts, nor chiefly to that knowledge. I want the heart to be stirred as well as the intellect. I want you to feel more and live more than you can do if you only know what 75 Zbc a5van= tages of Xlteraturc Right Hon. G.J. GOSCHEX 183 1 76 XTbe tages of Xitcraturc Right. Hon. G.J. GOSCHEN I83I XCbe pleasures of Xiteraturc surrounds yourselves. I want the action of the imagination, the sym- pathetic study of history and trav- els, the broad teaching of the poets, and, irdeed, of the best writers of other times and other countries, to neutralize and check the dwarfing influences of necessarily narrow ca- reers and necessarily stunted lives. mfr No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. — Za a re aux eer/s, where my favourites await my moments of leisure and pleasure, — my scarce and previous editions, my luxurious typographical masterpieces ; my Delilahs, that take my head in their lap; secret treasures that nobody else knows anything about ; books, in short, that I like for insufficient reasons it may be, but peremptorily, and mean to like and to love and to cherish till death us do part. Xlbe pleasures ot Xiterature Many, many a dreary, weary hour have I got over — many a gloomy misgiving postponed — many a men- tal or bodily annoyance forgotten, by help of the tragedies and come- dies of our dramatists and novelists ! Many a trouble has been soothed by the still small voice of the moral philosopher — many a dragon-like care charmed to sleep by the sweet song of the poet ; for all which I cry incessantly, not aloud, but in my heart, thanks and honour to the glorious masters of the pen, and the great inventors of the press ! vSMT 89 CTbc Cbarm of :fi3ooft0 Thomas Hood 1798-1845 9° Ube pleasures of Xiterature 3Booh0 a Iportlcn of mk tbc Eternal /iRlnJ) Think what a book is. It is a portion of the eternal mind caught in its process through the world, stamped in an instant, and pre- Lord served for eternity. Think what Houghton it is ; that enormous amount of 180Q-1885 human sympathy and intelligence that is contained in these volumes ; and think what it is that this sympathy should be communicated to the masses of the people. ®t The reading which has pleased, will please when repeated ten times. — Horace. mt Zbc pleasures of Xiterature Learning is not to be won by short cuts or royal roads, yet, as the philosopher's stone could turn whatever it touched into gold, so the true lover of literature can, by the alchemy of a sympathetic mind, find the true gold of the intellect in the works to which he applies him- self. Have you knowledge ? — Apply it. Have you not ? — Confess your ignorance. This is true wisdom. — Pagan Philosophy. >m Cbe Zx\xz Xover ot Xltcrature Earl of Iddesleigh 1818-1887 92 I^oetrB In Xftcraturc Washington Irving. 1783-1859 'Cbc pleasures of Xtterature With the true poet everything is terse, touching, or brilhant. He gives the choicest thoughts in the choicest language. He illustrates them by everything that he sees most striking in nature and art. He enriches them by pictures of human life, such as it is passing before him. His writings, therefore, contain the spirit, the aroma, if I may use the phrase, of the age in which he lives. They are caskets which enclose within a small compass the wealth of the language, — its family jewels, which are thus transmitted in a portable form to posterity. The setting may occasionally be anti- quated, and require now and then to be renewed, as in the case of Chaucer ; but the brilliancy and intrinsic value of the gems continue unaltered. Cast a look back over the long reach of literary history. What vast valleys of dulness, filled Ube pleasures of literature 93 with monkish legends and academi- Poetry in cal controversies! what bogs of theo- ^Literature logical speculations ! what dreary wastes of metaphysics ! Here and there only do we behold the heaven- illuminated bards, elevated like beacons on their widely separate Washington Irving 1783-1859 heights, to transmit the pure light of poetical intelligence from age to age. m^ The learned man's country is every country, and each town his town. Why, then, do men remain ignorant ? — Pagan Wisdom. We 94 Zbc HMeasures of Xtterature 38ooft0aoo& Counsels lots mf! A PRINCE without letters is a pilot without eyes. All his govern- ment is groping. In sovereignty it is a most happy thing not to be compelled ; but so it is the most miserable not to be counselled. Ben Jonson And how can he be counselled 1573-1637 that cannot see to read the best counsellors (which are books); for they neither flatter us nor hide from us ? He may hear, you will say ; but how shall he always be sure to hear truth ? or be counselled the best things, not the sweetest ? mk Ube ipleasures ot Xiteraturt Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book ! — a message to us from the dead — from human souls whom we never saw, who Uved, perhaps, thousands of miles away ; and yet these, on those little sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, vivify us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. ... I say we ought to reverence books, to look at them as useful and mighty things. If they are good and true, whether they are about religion or politics, farming, trade, or medicine, they are the message of Christ, the maker of all things, the teacher of all truth, which He has put into the heart of some man to speak, that he may tell us what is good for our spirits, for our bodies, and for our country. Would to God that all here would make the rule never to look into an evil book I 95 Timon&crful Cbaractcr ot JSoofts Charles KiN'GSLEY 181^1875 96 Ube pleasures ot Xiterature tlbougbts m an ®IJ> Xibrar^ Charles Lamb 1775-1834 muf What a place to be in is an old library ! It seems as though all the souls of all the writers, that have bequeathed their labours to these Bodleians, were reposing here, as in some dormitory, or middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves, their winding-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem to inhale learning, walking amid their foliage ; and the odour of their old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as the first bloom of those sciential apples which grew amid the happy orchard. mk TLbc pleasures ot Xiterature The onl}' true equalizers in the world are books ; the only treasure- house open to all comers is a library ; the only wealth which will not decay is knowledge ; the only jewel which you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom. To live in this equality, to share in these treasures, to possess this wealth, and to secure this jewel may be the happy lot of every one. All that is needed for the acquisition of these inestimable treasures, is the love of books. ... As friends and companions, as teachers and consolers, as recreators and amusers, books are always with us, and always ready to respond to our wants. We can take them with us in our wanderings, or gather them around us at our hresides. In the lonely wilderness, and the crowded city, their spirit will be with us, giving a meaning to the seemingly confused movements of humanity, 97 asoofts arc always wltb us J. A. Langford 1823 98 JBoofts arc always witb U5 J. A. Langford 1823 ITbe pleasures of Xiterature and peopling the desert with their own bright creations. Without the love of books the richest man is poor ; but endowed with this treasure of treasures, the poorest man is rich. He has wealth which no po\¥er can diminish ; riches which are always increasing ; possessions which the more he scatters the more they ac- cumulate ; friends who never desert him, and pleasures which never cloy. €St Books are the immortal sons deifying their sires. — Plato. >m XTbe BMeasurcs of literature The study of literature as litera- ture — as an embodiment of the best thought and emotion set forth in the best forms of which words are capable — the study of literature in this sense is, I believe, the best instrument in liberalizing education, and for us English people I think that our own literature might not prove the worst instrument where- with to gain this end. The Greeks, who fully recognized the place that literature should occupy in a liberal education, found in their own literature the means of supplying their youth with liberal culture. And their education was not the less efficient in consequence. The Romans undoubtedly drew most of their liberal culture from Greek literature, but the inferiority of all but a small fraction of their own literary effort does not make their experience altogether parallel 99 6reatnc60 of Bmilisb Xitcrature SiDXEY Lee i«59 lOO Ubc pleasures ot Xiterature ^be to our own. A Frenchman a hun- ©reatness dred years ago asserted that Eng- of jEnfllisb lish Hterature was the most varied Xitcraturc in the world. It has grown since then, and the greatness of the in- Sidney Lee heritance in quality and in quantity 1859 is indisputable. It kindles enthu- siasm in all who are competent to study it at home or abroad. mt Love of reading enables a man to exchange the weary hours which come to every one, for hours of delight. — Mo7itesquieu. • We TLbc pleasures of Xtterature ®t Education begins the gentle- man, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him. Those who have read of every- thing are thought to understand everything too ; but it is not always soo Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge ; it is tlrnking that makes what is rer.d ours. We are of the ruminat- ing kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections ; unless we chew them over again they will not give us strength and nourishment. mfe lOI ifurnlBbcD John Locke 1632-1704 I02 Xlbe pleasures of Xlterature versality? of :Koot?s Sir John Lubbock 1834 We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth. We may travel round the world with Captain Cook or Darwin, with Kingsley or Ruskin, who will show us much more perhaps than ever we should see for ourselves. The world itself has no limits for us ; Humboldt and Herschel will carry us far away to the mysterious nebulae, far beyond the sun and even the stars ; time has no more bounds than space ; history stretches out behind us, and geology will carry us back for millions of years before the creation of man, even to the origin of the material Universe it- self. We are not limited even to one plane of thought. Aristotle and Plato will transport us into a sphere none the less delightful be- cause it requires some training to appreciate it. We may make a library, if we do but rightly use it, XTbe pleasures of Xiterature 103 a true paradise on earth, a garden of Eden without its one drawback, for all is open to us, including and especially the fruit of the tree of knowledge for which we are told that our first mother sacrificed all the rest. Here we may read the most important histories, the most exciting volumes of travels and adventures, the most interesting stories, the most beautiful poems, we may meet the most eminent statesmen and poets and philos- ophers, benefit by the ideas of the greatest thinkers, and enjoy all the greatest creations of human genius. versalltY! of :J6oofts Sir John Lubbock i«34 5* I04 less TRcaDing. Lord Lytton 1803-1873 Ube pleasures of Xiterature Reading without purpose is sauntering, not exercise. More is got from one book on which the thought settles for a definice end in knowledge, than from libraries skimmed over by a wandering eye. A cottage flower gives honey to the bee, a king's garden none to the butterfly. I say that books, taken indis- criminately, are no cure to the diseases and afflictions of the mind. There is a world of science neces- sary in the taking them. I have known some people in great sorrow fly to a novel, or the last light book in fashion. One might as well take a rose-draught for the plague ! Light reading does not do when the heart is really heavy. i«® XTbe pleasures ot Xiterature The best education in the world is that which we insensibly acquire from conversation with our intel- lectual superiors. ... In learning to know other things and other minds, we become more intimately acquainted with ourselves, and are to ourselves better worth knowing. In our own nature as it expands we find a sweeter yet less selfish com- panionship. All that we have read and learned, all that has occupied and interested us in the thoughts and deeds of men, abler or wiser than ourselves, constitutes at last a spiritual society, of which we can never be deprived, for it rests in the heart and soul of the man who has acquired it. 105 Cultivation of tbc Untellcct Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) 1831-1891 io6 Ubc pleasures ot Xiterature Zbe power of Xiterature Lord Macau LAY 1800-1859 Fill your glasses to the Litera- ture of Britain ; to that literature the brightest, the purest, the most durable of all the glories of our country ; to that literature, so rich in precious truth and precious fic- tion ; to that literature which boasts of the prince of all poets and of the prince of all philosophers ; to that literature which has exercised an influence wider than that of our commerce, and mightier than that of our arms ; to that literature which has taught France the principles of liberty, and has furnished Germany with models of art ; to that litera- ture which forms a tie closer than the tie of consanguinity between us and the commonwealths of the valley of the Mississippi ; to that literature before the light of which impious and cruel superstitions are fast taking flight on the banks of the Ganges ; to that literature which ITbe pleasures ot Xiterature 107 will, in future ages, instruct and de- light the unborn millions who will have turned the Australasian and Caffrarian deserts into cities and gardens. To the Literature of Brit- ain, then 1 And, wherever British literature spreads, may it be at- tended by British virtue and by British freedom. H>o\vcr of Xitcraturc Lord Macaulay. 1800-1859 io8 JTbc a:bir0t tor JSoofts Lord Macau LAY 1800- I 859 Zhc pleasures ot Xiterature sat I STILL retain my thirst for knowl- edge ; my passion for holding con- verse with the greatest minds of all ages and nations ; my power of forgetting what surrounds me, of living with the past, the future, and the unreal. Books are becoming everything to me. If I had at this moment my choice of life, I would bury myself in one of those immense libraries that we saw together at the universities, and would never pass a waking hour without a book before me. m^ Zbc pleasures of Xitcrature The pleasures of reading deserve most careful cultivation. Other objects which we have in this world, other pleasures which we seek to pursue, depend materially on other circumstances, on the opinion or caprice of others, on the flourishing or depressed state of an interest or a profession, on connections, on friends, on opportunities, on the prevalence of one party or the other in the State. Thus, then, it happens, that without any fault of ours, with regard to objects dear to us, we may be constantly doomed to dis- appointment. In the pleasure of reading, on the other hand, see how much is at all times within your own power ; how little you depend upon any one but yourself. . . . See how little the man who can rely on the pleasures of reading is dependent on the caprice or the will of his fellow-men. See how 109 Cultivation of TReaOinfl Lord Mahon 1791-1875 no Xlbe pleasures ot Xiterature Cultivation otlReaDinfl Lord Mahon 1791-1875 much there is within his own power and control ; — how by reading, if his circumstances have been thwarted by any of the fortuitous events to which I have just referred, how often it is in his power by these very studies, to better his condi- tion ; or, failing in that, how many hours he has in which to obtain oblivion from it, when communing with the great and good of other days. Surely, then, all those who feel — and who does not ? — the variety and the vicissitudes of human life, ought, on that very account, if they be wise, to cultivate in themselves, and also to promote in others, an enlightened taste for reading. Of the pleasures of read- ing I will say, that there is no man so high as to be enabled to dis- pense with them ; and no man so humble who should be compelled to forego them. Rely upon it, that in the highest fortune and the high- Ubc ipleasures ot Xiterature III est station, hours of lassitude and weariness will intrude, unless they be cheered by intellectual occupa- tion. Rely on it, also, that there is no life so toilsome, so devoted to the cares of this world, and to the necessity of providing the daily bread, but what it will afford inter- vals (if they be only sought out) in which intellectual pleasures may be cultivated and oblivion of other cares enjoyed. Depend upon it that these are pleasures, which he who condemns will find himself a miserable loser in the end. TLbC Cultivation of IRcaDing Lord Mahon 1791-1875 112 Ubc pleasures of Xiterature ©n tbe Cbotce ot Rev. J. R Miller. On what principle do most per- sons choose the books they read ? Is there one in a hundred who ever gives a serious tliought to the ques- tion, or makes any intelligent choice whatever .-' With many it is " the latest novel," utterly regardless of what it is. With others it is any book that is talked about or exten- sively advertised. We live in a time when the trivial is glorified and held up in the blaze of sensation so as to attract the multitude, and sell. That is all many books are made for — to sell. They are written for money. There is no soul in them. There was no high motive, no thought of doing good to any one, of inspiring higher impulses, of adding to the world's joy, comfort, or knowledge. They were made to sell, and to sell they must appeal to the taste of the day, or, in other words, to the desire for sensation, TLbc pleasures ot Xiterature excitement, and diversion. So the country is flooded with worthless Hterature, whilst really good and valuable books are unsold and unread. The multitude devour ephemeral tales, weekly literary papers, society gossip, magazines, and the many new and trivial works that please or excite for a day, and are then forgotten. There are great books enough to occupy us during all our short and busy years ; and if we are wise, we shall resolutely avoid all but the richest and the best. 113 ©n tbc CDoice of SSoohs Rev. J. R. Miller ^t 114 JBoofts not DeaD Q;bln00 John Milton 1608-1674 Zbc {Pleasures of Xlterature Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fab- ulous dragon's teeth : and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book : who kills a man kills a reasonable 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. Many a man lives a burden to the earth ; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on pur- pose to a life beyond life. It is XTbe pleasures of Xiterature 115 true, no age can restore a life, whereof, perhaps, there is no great loss ; and revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse. We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise against the living labours of public men, how we spill that seasoned life of man, preserved and stored up in hooks. aSooks not ©eaO John Milton 1608-1674 ii6 Ibow to IReaD a 0oo&3i3ooh Right Hon. John MORLEY 1838 Zbc pleasures of Xiterature Knowledge is worth little until you have made it so perfectly your own, as to be capable of reproduc- ing it in precise and definite form, Goethe said that in the end we only retain of our studies, after all, what M'e practically employ of them. And it is at least well that in our serious studies we should have the possibility of practically turning them to a definite destination, clearly before our eyes. Nobody can be sure that he has got clear ideas on a subject, unless he has tried to put them down on a piece of paper in independent words of his own. It is an excellent plan, too, when you have read a good book, to sit down and write a short abstract of what you can remember of it. It is a still better plan, if you can make up your mind to a slight extra labour, to do what Lord Strafford, and Gibbon, and Daniel XTbe pleasures of Xiterature Webster did. After glancing over the title, subject, or design of a book, these eminent men would take a pen and write roughly what ques- tions they expected to find answered in it, what difficulties solved, what kind of information imparted. Such practices keep us from reading with the eye only, gliding vaguely over the page : and they help us to place our new acquisitions in relation with what we knew before. It is almost always worth while to read a thing twice over, to make sure that noth- ing has been missed or dropped on the way, or wrongly conceived or interpreted. And if the subject be serious, it is often well to let an interval elapse. Ideas, relations, statements of fact, are not to be taken by storm. We have to steep them in the mind, in the hope of thus extracting their inmost essence and significance. If one lets an interval pass, and then returns, it is 117 Ibovv to IRca? a ©ooD 3Bco?i Right Hon. John' MORLEY 1838 ii8 Ibow to IRea^ a (5oo& 36oo\\ TLbc pleasures ot Xiterature Right Hon. John MORLEY 1838 surprising how clear and ripe that has become, which, when we left it, seemed crude, obscure, full of per- plexity. All this takes trouble, no doubt, but then it will not do to deal with ideas that we find in books or else- where as a certain bird does with its eggs — leave them in the sand for the sun to hatch and chance to rear. People who follow this plan possess nothing better than ideas half- hatched, and convictions reared by accident. They are like a man who should pace up and down the world in the delusion that he is clad in sumptuous robes of purple and velvet, when in truth he is only half- covered by the rags and tatters of other people's cast-off clothes. Apart from such mechanical devices as these I have mentioned, there are habits and customary atti- tudes of mind which a conscientious reader will practice, if he desires to Ube pleasures oX Xiterature get out of a book still greater bene- fits than the writer of it may have designed or thought of. For ex- ample, he should never be content with mere aggressive and negatory criticism of the page before him. The page may be open to such criticism, and in that case it is natural to indulge in it ; but the reader will often find an unexpected profit by asking himself — what does this error teach me ? How comes that fallacy to be here ? How came the writer to fall into this defect of taste ? To ask such questions gives a reader a far healthier tone of mind in the long run, more serious- ness, more depth, more moderation of judgment, more insight into other men's ways of thinking as well as into his own, than any amount of impatient condemnation and hasty denial, even when both condemna- tion and denial may be in their place. 119 Ibow to 1Rea& a ©ooD :ffiooh Right Hon. John MORLEY 1838 I20 Zbc pleasures of Xiterature :fl3ooft9 as Sblps of ^bouobt Theodore Parker 1810-1860 I FEAR we do not know what a power of immediate pleasure and permanent profit is to be had in a good book. The books which help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading ; every man that tries it finds it so. But a great book that comes from a great thinker, — it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth, with beauty too. It sails the ocean, driven by the winds of heaven, breaking the level sea of life into beauty where it goes, leaving behind it a train of sparkling loveliness, widening as the ship goes on. And what treasures it brings to every land, scattering the seeds of truth, justice, love, and piety, to bless the world in ages yet to come. Ube pleasures ot Xiteraturc Those who most read books don't want to talk about them. The conversation of the man who reads to anj' purpose will be flavoured by his reading ; but it will not be about his reading. The people who read in order to talk about it, are people who read the books of the season because they are the fashion — books which come in with the season and go out with it. " In literature, I am fond of confining myself to the best company, which consists chiefly of my old acquaint- ance with whom I am. desirous of becoming more intimate. I suspect that nine times out of ten it is more profitable, if not more agree- able, to read an old book over again than to read a new one for the first time. ... Is it not better to try to elevate and endow one's mind by the constant study and contempla- tion of the great models, than I 21 eboulD be 1Rc=rea5 Mark Pattison 1813-1884 122 Ube pleasures ot Xiterature ©10 aSoohg eboulO be IRcsrcaO Mark Pattison 1813-1884 merely to know of one's own knowl- edge that such a book is not worth reading ? " mie TLbc UMeasures ot Xiterature I HAVE friends (my books), whose society is extremely agreeable to me: they are of all ages, and of every country. They have distin- guished themselves both in the cabinet and in the field, and ob- tained high honours for their knowl- edge of the sciences. It is easy to gain access to them ; for they are always at my service, and I admit them to my company, and dismiss them from it, whenever I please. They are never troublesome, but immediately answer every question I ask them. Some relate to me the events of past ages, while others reveal to me the secrets of nature. Some teach me how to live, and others how to die. Some, by their vivacity, drive away my cares and exhilarate my spirits, while others give fortitude to my mind, and teach me the important lesson how to re- strain my desires, and to depend 123 Zbc fricnOebip of :ffiooft9 Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374 124 3Fricn?sbU"» of :©ool?s Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374 Ubz pleasures of Xiterature wholly on myself. They open to me, in short, the various avenues of all the arts and sciences, and upon their information I safely rely, in all emergencies. In return for all these services, they only ask me to accommodate them with a con- venient chamber in some corner of my humble habitation, where they may repose in peace : for these friends are more delighted by the tranquillity of retirement, than with the tumults of society. mff Ube pleasures ot Xiterature 125 The very first thing to be re- membered by him who would study the art of reading is that nothing- can take the place of personal en- thusiasm and personal work. How- ever wise may be the friendly ad- viser, and however full and perfect the chosen hand-book of reading, neither can do more than to stimu- late and suggest. Nothing can take the place of a direct familiarity with books themselves. To know one good book well, is better than to know something a/>ouf a hundred good books, at second-hand. The taste for reading and the habit of reading must always be developed from within ; they can never be added from without. . . . The general agreement of intelli- gent people as to the merit of an author or the worth of a book, is, of course, to be accepted until one finds some valid reason for reversing for IReaDing C. F. Richardson 1841 I 26 ttbe 'Caste tor TRea&infl TLbc pleasures of Xiterature C. F. Richardson 1841 it. But nothing is to be gained by pretending to like what one really dislikes, or to enjoy what one does not find profitable, or even intelli- gible. If a reader is not honest and sincere in this matter, there is small hope for him. The lowest taste may be cultivated and im- proved, and radically changed ; but pretence and artificiality can never grow into anything better. They must be wholly rooted out at the start. If you dislike Shakespeare's Hamlet, and greatly enjoy a trashy story, say so with sincerity and sorrow, if occasion requires, and hope and work for a reversal of your taste. " It's guid to be honest and true," says Burns, and no- where is honesty more needed than here. . . . In general terms, one has passed the proper limit of reading when he reads without sufficient apprehen- sion, and understanding, and prom- XTbe pleasures of Xiterature ise of retention in memory, of the page before him, whether it be novel or history, humorous poem or didactic verse. " Reading with me incites to reflection instantly," says Mr. Beecher ; " I cannot separate the origination of ideas from the reception of ideas ; the consequence is, as I read, I always begin to think in various directions, and that makes my reading slow." Dugald Stewart thus emphasizes this duty of thoughtfulness in read- ing. " Nothing, in truth, has such a tendency to weaken, not only the powers of invention, but the intel- lectual powers in general, as a habit of extensive and various reading without reflection. The activity and force of the mind are gradually impaired in consequence of disuse ; and, not unfrequently, all our prin- ciples and opinions come to be lost in the infinite multiplicity and dis- cordancy of our acquired ideas." 127 for IReaOtnfl c. F. Richardson 1841 128 S3ool?3 a IRefuge from tbc morr(c0 of Xife Ubc pleasures ot literature Lord rosebery 1847 It seems to me that books are the great democratic agent of the world. You hear of many demo- cratic agencies — you have heard, for instance, of the invention of gunpowder, and how it destroyed chivalry and swept away the knights in armour and the aristocracy of war. The invention of gunpowder had that levelling effect on the battles of the Middle Ages. The invention of printing has worked more slowly, but not less effectually. It has worked more slowly because, in the first place, it only brought the learning out of the monasteries in which it was secluded into the palaces of the great. It brought it from the palaces of the great to the central places of learning as they existed in this country ; but it has taken a long and a weary time — though that time has now come — to bring it from the central places Ubc pleasures of Xiterature of learning in this country to the homes and hearts of the people. What does that fact mean ? It means that the men who possess that literature, whether they give ^d. for the cheapest possible edition, or whether they give ;^5oo for a first edition of which there may be only three copies, are placed on a level, and that this influence, demo- cratizing as I believe it to be, is not democratizing in the sense of level- ling, it is democratizing in the sense of elevating. For instance, the man who enjoys Shakespeare — the book for which Tennyson asked on his death-bed — enters a freemasonry to which all the greatest who have lived since Shakespeare belong. He sits down at a banquet to which no rank and no wealth without the necessary qualification — without the necessary wedding-garment — can obtain admittance. And not merely by that is he placed in direct i2g JGoohs a IRefuflc from tbe %itc Lord rosebery 1S47 130 BooI^s a IRefuge from tbe THHori'iea of Xife XTbe pleasures ot Xiterature Lord rosebery 1847 relation with the mind of the man who wrote that book, not merely has he an opportunity of endeavour- ing by his own perception to find out new nooks, new doors, and new paths in this most marvellous pro- duction of the Almighty which is called Shakespeare's mind, but he is placed also in communication with those before him, with the great minds of all time who have enjoyed Shakespeare's works. I say, I believe we cannot exaggerate the intellectual freemasonry which the cheapening and diffusing of literature among us has done for our people. It has raised humanity itself, and I believe that that cheap- ening progress will go on to such an extent that we can hardly fore- tell what the future of this move- ment will be. It is not merely that you place yourself in relation with these great minds, but that you have at your hand in a book a refuge XTbe pleasures of Xiterature from all the worries, all the miseries, all the anxieties of life. You may not have a room to sit in, but if you have a book to read, you have some- thing which may remove you from this life to something better. JBoofts a IRefuge from the Morriesot Xife Lord rosebery 1847 132 IRobUitv? of JBoofts JOHX RUSKIN I819 Ubc pleasures ot ^Literature A COMMON book will often give you much amusement, but it is only a noble book which will give you dear friends. Remember also that it is of less importance to you in your earlier years, that the books you read should be clever than that they should be right. I do not mean oppressively or repulsively instructive ; but that the thoughts they express should be just, and the feelings they excite generous. It is not necessary for you to read the wittiest or the most suggestive books ; it is better, in general, to hear what is already known, and may be simply said. Much of the literature of the present day, though good to be read by persons of ripe age, has a tendency to agitate rather than confirm, and leaves its readers too frequently in a helpless or hope- less indignation, the worst possible state into which the mind of youth Ube pleasures of Xtterature can be thrown. It may, indeed, become necessary for you, as you advance in life, to set your hand to things that need to be altered in the world, or apply your heart chiefly to what must be pitied in it, or con- demned ; but, for a young person, the safest temper is one of rever- ence, and the safest place one of ob- scurity. Certainly at present, and perhaps through all your life, your teachers are wisest when they make you content in quiet virtue, and that literature and art are best for you, which point out, in common life and familiar things, the objects for hopeful labour and for humble love. ^33 tTbe moblUttl Of JSoof^s John RUSKIN 1819 134 :ffiooft9 as /Ilbental 1Rourl6b= ment TLbc pleasures ot Xiterature A. Schopen- hauer 1 788- 1 860 As regards reading, to require that a man shall retain everything he has ever read, is like asking him to carry about with him all he has ever eaten. The one kind of food has given him bodily, and the other mental, nourishment ; and it is through these two means that he has grown to be what he is. The body assimilates only that which is like it ; and so a man retains in his mind only that which interests him, in other words, that which suits his system of thought or his purposes in life. Every one has purposes, no doubt ; but very few have any- thing like a system of thought. Few people take an objective interest in anything, and so their reading does them no good ; they retain nothing. If a man wants to read good books, he must make a point of avoiding bad ones ; for life is short, and time and energy limited. tlbe BMeasurcs of Xiteraturc Any book that is at all important ought to be at once read through, twice ; partly because, on a second reading, the connection of the differ- ent portions of the book will be better understood, and the begin- ning comprehended only when the end is known ; and partly because we are not in the same temper and disposition on both readings. On the second perusal we get a new view of every passage and a differ- ent impression of the whole book, which then appears in another light. It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time in which to read them ; but generally the purchase of a book is mistaken for the acquisition of its contents. A man's works are the quintes- sence of his mind, and even though he may possess very great capacity, they will always be incomparably more valuable than his conversation. 135 JScohs as /nbcntal nicnt A. Schopen- hauer I 788- I 860 136 :Koofts as /llbental 1Rouri6b= mcnt A. Schopen- hauer 1788-1860 TLbc pleasures of Xlterature Nay, in all essential matters his works will not only make up for the lack of personal intercourse with him, but they will far surpass it in solid advantages. The writings even of a man of moderate genius may be edifying, worth reading and instructive, because they are his quintessence — the result and fruit of all his thought and study ; whilst conversation with him may be un- satisfactory. So it is that we can read books by men in whose company we find nothing to please, and that a high degree of culture leads us to seek entertainment almost wholly from books and not from men. ^im XTbc pleasures ot Xiterature Books are both our luxuries and our daily bread. They have be- come to our lives and happiness prime necessities. They are our trusted favourites, our guardians, our confidential advisers, and the safe consumers of our leisure. They cheer us in poverty, and comfort us in the misery of affluence. They absorb the effervescence of im- petuous youth, and while away the tedium of age. You may not teach ignorance to a youth who carries a favourite book in his pocket ; and to a man who masters his appetites a good book is a talisman which insures him against the dangers of overspeed, idleness, and shallow- ness. 137 JBoohB our Xuxurics Henry Stevens 1819-1886 138 :fi3oohs tbc XClealtb of tbc •cmorlO H. D. Thoreau I8I7-I862 Ubc pleasures ot Xtterature No wonder that Alexander carried the //i(7(/ with him on his expedi- tions in a precious casket. A written word is the choicest of reHcs. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips ; — not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself. The symbol of an ancient man's thought becomes a modern man's speech. Two thousand summers ha-e imparted to the monuments of Grecian literature* as to her marbLs, only a maturer golden and autumnal tint, for they have carried their own serene and celestial atmosphere into all lands to protect them against the corrosion of time. Books are the treasured ITbe pleasures of Xiterature wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and right- fully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to plead, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader, his common- sense will not refuse them. Their authors are natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind. '39 :ffiooh5 tbe Mcaltb of tbemcrl? H. D. Thoreau 1817-1862 INDEX. Advantages of Literature, The, G. J. Goschen, 74 Art of Reading, Tlie, /. D'Isiaeli, 60 Benefits of Books, The, A'. W. Emerson, 64 Books a Blessing in Youth and Age,/. Collier, 54 Books a Portion of the Eternal Mind, Lord Houghton, 90 Books are always with us, /. A. Langford, 97. Books a Refuge from the Worries of Life, Lord Rose- bery, 128 Books as Mental Nourishment, A. Schopenhauer, 134 Books as Ships of Thought, Theodore Parker, i 20 Books Better than Preachers, R. Baxter, 37 Books Good Counsellors, Ben Jonso7i, 94 Books Legacies to Mankind, y. Addison, 25 Books riot Dead Things, yb/^w Milton, 114 Books our Instructors, Bishop Aungerville, 30 Books our Luxuries, H. Stevens, 139 Books the Best Companions, F. Beaumont atid J. Fletcher, 42 Books the Depositories of Mighty Litellects, Dr. Chapin, 51 Books the Great Equalizers, Lord Beaconsfield, 40 Books the Greatest Decoration, y. Bright, 43 Books the Knowledge of the Wise, Dean Farrar, 65 Books the Treasured Wealth of the World, LI. D. Thoreau, 138 Books the True Levellers, W. E. Channing, 49 Charm of Books, The, T. Hood, 89 Consulting Room of the Wise, The, G. Dawson, 56 Cultivation of Reading, The, Lord Mahon, 109 142 1Iut)ex Cultivation of the Intellect, The, Lord Lytton (Owen Mereditli), 105 Delight of Books, The, R. Bury, 57 Fashion in Reading, W. Hazlitt, 80 Friendship of Books, The, /'. Petrarch, 123 Good Books are like Fruit Trees, S. T. Coleridge, 53 Gratification of Books, W. Godwin, 71 Greatness of English Literature, The, S. Lee, 99 How to Read, Francis Bacon, 31 How to Read a Good Y,ooV, John Morley, 116 Leisure and Pleasure of Books, The, O. W. Holmes, 88 Love of Books, The, /. H. Friswell, 68 Mind Furnished by Reading, The,/. Locke, loi New Books are New Friends, O. Goldsmith, 73 Nobility of Books, The,/c^/^« Rttskin, 132 Objects of Reading, The, A. Helps, 83 Old Books should be Re-read, Mark Pattison, 1 21 On the Choice of Books, Rev. J. R. Miller, 112 Pleasures of Literature, The, A.J. Balfour, 32 Poetry in Literature, W. Irving, 92 Power of Culture, The, Matthew Arnold, 27 Power of Literature. The, Lord Macaulay, 106 Purest Embodiment of Thought, The, T. Carlyle, 47 Purposeless Reading, Lord Lytton, 104 Reading and Thinking, A. Cameron, 46 Reading and Thinking, Thomas Arnold, 28 llut)cx 143 Satisfaction of Literature, The, De Genlis, 59 Society of Books, The, W. E. Gladstone, 69 Taste for Books and Reading, A.J. Herschel, 87 Taste for Reading, The, C. F. Richardson, 125 Thirst for Books, The, Lord Macaiday, 108 Thoughts in an Old Library, C. Lamb, 96 True Lover of Literature, The, Earl of Iddesleigh, 91 Universality of Books, The, Sir J. Lubbock, 102 Universality of Literature, The, T. F. Bayard, 39 What Class of Book to Read, F. Harrison, 77 Wonderful Character of Books, The, C. Kingsley, 95 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. UC SOUTHERN RFGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 066 327 8