Chapter I: Preface

One of the most delightful of the _Last Essays of Elia_ is entitled 'Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading', a title which would serve very well to indicate the contents of this anthology. In bringing together into one volume the tributes and opinions of a galaxy of writers, my object has been the glorification of books as books, a book being regarded as a real and separate entity, and often as an end in itself. There is a wide circle to whom this collection should appeal, in addition to bibliomaniacs or mere collectors of first or rare editions to whom the contents are often anathema, for the love of books is not confined to scholars or great readers. This love is incommunicable: it comes, but happily seldom goes, as the wind which bloweth where it listeth; it is perfectly sincere, and knows nothing of conventions and sham admirations.

No greater lover of books has ever lived than that Englishman who was born at Bury St. Edmunds seven hundred and thirty years ago--Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, author of _Philobiblon_, and, as Lord Campbell said, undoubtedly the founder of the order of book-lovers in England. Centuries passed, and then the more modern worship of books was promoted by one of even higher station than this lord chancellor and lord high treasurer of England--by King James, whom sycophants and cynics called the British Solomon. The sixteenth century saw also the births of Bacon, Burton, and Florio, the inspired translator of Montaigne, and Ben Jonson, who all deserved well of the order. Milton, with prose and poetry, handed down the sacred fire in the seventeenth century, and his

soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart.

Dr. Johnson, nearly a hundred years later, filled a niche of his own, irreverent though he was to books except for their message. The latter half of the eighteenth century is especially memorable, for it synchronized with the early years of Southey, Lamb, and Leigh Hunt, the very temples of the spirit which I have sought to enshrine in these pages, and of Hazlitt, and of two who should be dear to librarians, Crabbe and John Foster. I should like to claim an honoured place in the nineteenth century for Bulwer Lytton, who, although he understood 'the merits of a spotless shirt', understood books also and appreciated them thoroughly; and for the Brownings, especially the author of _Aurora Leigh_. Emerson is conspicuous, not only as a book-lover, but also as a professor of books, and as a missionary in the sense that Carlyle and Ruskin preached the gospel of books. Many others deserve honourable mention, but I must pass on to some of those who adorn the present day. It would have been very pleasant to have seen Lord Morley, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. Andrew Lang, and Mr. Augustine Birrell appearing in this cloud of witness, but happily they are alive to testify to the faith that is in them, and for that reason are beyond the scope of an anthology confined to authors who are dead.

It may be pointed out that there has been an increasing tendency to write not so much about books as about the authors of books; but to have included literary criticism, except incidentally, would have increased this volume to prodigious size. While I have been obliged for the same reason to ignore, as a rule, individual volumes, an exception has been made of the Bible, which is itself a library, and this is justified by the fact that many pages are devoted to libraries. Scores of poems have been prefixed to volumes or addressed in apology to possible readers, but these, and colophons, interesting though they may be, do not fit in with my scheme. However tempting it seemed to give versions of Catullus, Horace, or Martial, translations from ancient classic writers have been excluded; but room has been found for classic writers of comparatively modern times, for it would have been ridiculous to have passed over, for example, Montaigne, whose immortal essays have been handed down in the splendid English dress of John Florio's design. For the rest, the contents of this volume, in which more than 200 authors bear their varying testimony, must speak for themselves.

The passages will be found grouped more or less according to subjects, though the dividing lines are fine, and chronological order within the limits of the groups has been a secondary consideration. After forewords by Lamb, the anthology deals with books as companions, the love of and delight in books, the immortality of books and the immortality which they convey, the multiplicity of books and the distraction of choice; ancient and modern books and their respective claims; books that are or may be thought injurious; novels and romances; bookmaking of various kinds--plagiarism, books about books, anthologies, abridgements, dedications, presentation copies, bibliographies, translations, and quotations; books and preachers, and books as 'the true university of these days'; critics and criticism; rules for reading, commonplace-books, abstracts, epitomes, and marginalia; casual and superficial reading, talking from books, brains turned by books, over-reading; books and life; books as an enemy to health and as pharmaceutical preparations for mental indisposition; reading in bed, at meal-times, and out-of-doors, and the call of the book of nature; the horn-book and other books for children; advice on youthful reading, and the early preferences of some notable book-lovers; love and literature, and the conflict between matrimony and the library; women and books and libraries; the human species of book-worms, bibliomaniacs, and pedants; the proper handling of books; bindings, book illustrations, &c.; book pests--worms and moths; 'finds' at second-hand bookshops and what Leigh Hunt calls 'bookstall urbanity'; booksellers and publishers; mammon and books; book borrowers and book borrowing; bookish similes; books for magic; the Bible; literary geography; libraries--as studies and keys to character, private libraries real and imaginary, public libraries--from the provincial reference library to the British Museum, reflections in libraries, Crabbe's masterpiece, the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge with fitting tributes to Bodley; and, finally, a memorable tribute to books and the priceless treasury that a library affords. The source of the quotations is generally given; and the index of authors quoted or referred to, together with a full list of contents, and, it is hoped, the notes, should serve the convenience of the reader.

Many years ago Mr. Alexander Ireland gave me a copy of _The Book-Lover's Enchiridion_, and my debt to that 'treasury of thoughts on the Solace and Companionship of Books' is great. Mr. Ireland's object was 'to present, in chronological order, a selection of the best thoughts of the greatest and wisest minds on the subject of Books--their solace and companionship--their efficacy as silent teachers and guides--and the comfort, as of a living presence, which they afford amidst the changes of fortune and the accidents of life.' In this volume I have taken the subject and myself less seriously than would have been possible to Mr. Ireland. The 'thoughts' which I have collected are more 'detached', and they cover a wider field. I am under much obligation also to the _Ballads of Books_, which Mr. Brander Matthews compiled nearly a quarter of a century ago and Mr. Andrew Lang recast, and to Mr. W. Roberts's _Book-Verse_. Mainly, however, I have relied upon my own personal reading--'blessing,' as Lamb said, 'my stars for a taste so catholic, so unexcluding'--and upon research, in which I have had invaluable assistance from friends and colleagues. I am fortunately able to include many copyright pieces, and I have to thank the following for the necessary permission:--

Messrs. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., for B. W. Procter's autobiographical fragment, 'My Books'; Messrs. Chapman & Hall, for what I have taken from a contribution to the _Fortnightly Review_ by Mark Pattison, and for the passage from Carlyle's _Historical Sketches_; Messrs. Chatto & Windus, for the poems by Laman Blanchard, also for the passage from R. Jefferies' _Life of the Fields_; and Messrs. Macmillan & Co., for the excerpt from the same author's _The Dewy Morn_; Messrs. Constable & Co., and the executors of the late George Gissing, for the passages from _The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft_; Mr. A. C. Fifield, for Samuel Butler's whimsical irreverence quoted from _Quis Desiderio_; Mr. Edward Garnett, for Richard Garnett's poem; the Houghton Mifflin Co., for Whittier's 'The Library'; Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., for R. L. Stevenson's 'Picture Books in Winter' (and Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons in respect of copyright in America); Mr. Elkin Mathews, for Lionel Johnson's poem; Messrs. G. Routledge & Sons, Ltd., for Longfellow's 'My Books', and 'Bayard Taylor' (and the Houghton Mifflin Co. in respect of copyright in America); Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., for J. A. Symonds's poem from _Lyrics of Life_; and Dr. A. Stoddart Walker, for permission to quote from J. S. Blackie's _Self-Culture_.

In _Guesses at Truth_ the brothers Hare wrote: 'They who cannot weave a uniform net, may at least produce a piece of patchwork, which may be useful, and not without a charm of its own.' It is my modest ambition that book-lovers shall find this volume useful and not without charm.

R. M. LEONARD.

CONTENTS

ADDISON, JOSEPH (1672-1719).
The Legacies of Genius 14
The Authors' Advantage 60
The evil that Men do 80
A great Book is a great evil 119
Chance Readings 145
A Lady's Library 209
Books for a Lady's Library 211

ALCOTT, AMOS BRONSON (1799-1888).
The Fellowship of Books 6

ALCUIN or EALWHINE (735-804).
An Episcopal Library 311

ARBLAY, FRANCES, MADAME D' (1752-1840).
Royal Patronage of Books 253

ARMSTRONG, JOHN (1709-79).
Read without Prejudice 127

ARNOLD, MATTHEW (1822-88).
The Grand Mine of Diction 297

ASCHAM, ROGER (1515-68).
Books that do Hurt 77
Epitomes 138

_ATHENIAN MERCURY, THE_
Whether 'tis lawful to read Romances 85

AUNGERVILE. _See_ BURY.

AUSTEN, JANE (1775-1817).
Only a Novel 87

BACON, FRANCIS, LORD VERULAM AND VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS
(1561-1626).
Enduring Monuments 46
Old Authors to Read 65
Dedications 97
'Books will speak plain' 113
Studies 124
Commonplace Books 141
Over-reading 157
A great Necromancer 287
The Shrines of the Ancient Saints 325

BAILEY, PHILIP JAMES (1816-1902).
'Worthy Books' 5

BALE, JOHN, BISHOP OF OSSORY (1495-1563).
A most Horrible Infamy 325

BARCLAY, ALEXANDER (1475?-1552).
Envoy to Fools 218

BARNES, WILLIAM (1801-86).
Learning 173

BARROW, ISAAC (1630-77).
He that loveth a Book will never want 3

BARTON, BERNARD (1784-1849).
Composed in the Rev. J. Mitford's Library 324

BAXTER, RICHARD (1615-91).
Romances are Pernicious 84
Books preferred to Preachers 108

BAYLY, THOMAS HAYNES (1797-1839).
A Novel of High Life 88

BEACONSFIELD, EARL OF. _See_ DISRAELI, BENJAMIN.

BEECHER, HENRY WARD (1813-1887).
The Bodleian: a Dead Sea of Books 364

BERESFORD, JAMES (1764-1840).
Bibliosophia 225
Eye-worship 242

BLACKIE, JOHN STUART (1809-95).
Overrating the Value of Books 162

BLANCHARD, SAMUEL LAMAN (1804-45).
The Double Lesson 192
The Art of Book-keeping 280

BLOUNT, CHARLES (1654-93).
The Imprimatur 119

BOSWELL, JAMES (1740-95). _See also_ JOHNSON.
Shakespeare in Heaven 48
Reading according to Inclination 128
Johnson's Cursory Reading 148
Talking from Books 153
The Dog and the Bone 170
Books you may hold in your hand 247

BRANT, SEBASTIAN (1458-1521).
The Chief Fool 216

BROWNE, SIR THOMAS (1605-82).
Superfluous Books 58

BROWNE, SIR WILLIAM (1692-1774).
Oxford and Cambridge: an Epigram 113

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT (1806-61).
'Books are men of higher stature' 39
Reading as Intellectual Indolence 159
The Poets 205
The World of Books 206
A Forced Sale 259
The Library in the Garret 318

BROWNING, ROBERT (1812-89).
Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis 236
The Find 257

BRYDGES, GREY, LORD CHANDOS (1579?-1621).
The greatest Clerks be not always the wisest Men 149

BUCKINGHAM, DUKE OF. _See_ SHEFFIELD.

BULWER. _See_ LYTTON, LORD.

BUNYAN, JOHN (1628-88).
The Scriptures: what are they? 292

BURNEY, FANNY. _See_ ARBLAY.

BURNS, ROBERT (1759-96).
The Bookworms 249
The big Ha'-Bible 298

BURTON, JOHN HILL (1809-81).
A Sense of Humour 18
A Course of Reading 134
Definitions 235

BURTON, ROBERT (1577-1640).
An extraordinary Delight to study 26
'Though they write _contemptu gloriae_' 51
Every Man his Due 89
Read the Scriptures 290
To be chained with good Authors 356

BURY, RICHARD DE, BISHOP OF DURHAM (1281-1345).
The Desirable Tabernacle 13
Books as Memorials 43
Woman and Books 203
Of Handling Books 239
Deductions from Scripture 240
Mammon and Books 273

BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692-1752).
The Habit of Casual Reading 147

BUTLER, SAMUEL (1612-80).
Superficial Readers 151

BUTLER, SAMUEL (1835-1902).
Books in a New Light 330

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON, LORD (1788-1824).
A Lasting Link of Ages 52
''Tis pleasant, sure' 95
Love and the Library 198
To Mr. Murray 268

CALVERLEY, CHARLES STUART (1831-84).
Of Reading 135

CAMPION, THOMAS (1567?-1620).
The Writer to his Book 261

CARLYLE, THOMAS (1795-1881).
The Miraculous Art of Writing 42
The Virtue of a True Book 52
The Real Working Effective Church 109
The True University of These Days 112
A Very Priceless Thing 295

CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE (1547-1616).
'There is no Book so bad' 117
The Burning of Don Quixote's Books 155

CHANDOS, LORD. _See_ BRYDGES.

CHANNING, WILLIAM ELLERY (1780-1842).
Books the True Levellers 19
The Diffusion of Books and its Effect upon Culture 60
Folly generated by Books 156

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY (1340 ?-1400).
To Drive the Night Away 169
Farewell to Books in Springtime 172
The Oxford Scholar and his Books 216

CHESTERFIELD EARL OF. _See_ STANHOPE.

CHURCHYARD, THOMAS (1520 ?-1604).
Books is Nurse to Truth 33

COBBETT, WILLIAM (1762-1835).
The Danger of Poets and Romances 86
A Birth of Intellect 184

COLERIDGE, HARTLEY (1796-1849).
Suitable Bindings 246

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR (1772-1834).
Books as Fruitful Trees 129
Reading to kill Time 153
The Pilgrim's Progress 293

COLLIER, JEREMY (1650-1726).
Of the Entertainment of Books 34

COLTON, CHARLES CALEB (1780 ?-1832).
'We should choose our Books' 6
'There are many Books written' 120
Readers and Writers 123
Title-readers 154
Books and Men 159

COOK, ELIZA (1818-89).
Old Story Books 177

'CORNWALL, BARRY.' _See_ PROCTER, B. W.

COWLEY, ABRAHAM (1618-67).
'May I a small house' 12
Material for Poesy 295
Pindaric Ode 360

COWPER, WILLIAM (1731-1800).
Books bad and good 81
Swallowing the Husks 158
'Twere well with most, if Books' 208
An Ode to Mr. John Rouse (translated from Milton) 357

CRABBE, GEORGE (1754-1832).
The Prouder Pleasures of the Mind 26
The Old Bachelor's Books 21
The Peasant's Library 317
The Library 337

CRASHAW, RICHARD (1613 ?-49).
Upon the Book of St. Teresa 106
On a Prayer-Book sent to Mrs. M. R. 200
On George Herbert's _The Temple_, sent to a Gentlewoman 201

CROSS, MARY ANN. _See_ ELIOT.

DANIEL, SAMUEL (1562-1619).
Immortality in Books 46
O Blessed Letters 51
To the Countess of Bedford 195

DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265-1321).
Love's Purveyor 192

DAVENANT, SIR WILLIAM (1606-68).
Hidden Treasure 92

DAVIES, SIR JOHN (1569-1626).
What profits it 163

DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY (1778-1829).
Permanence for Thought 41

DAWSON, GEORGE (1821-76).
The Consulting-room of a Wise Man 309
The Reference Library 327

DENHAM, SIR JOHN (1615-69).
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use 33

DE QUINCEY, THOMAS (1785-1859).
Instruction or Amusement 36
The Distraction of Choice 61

DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL (1776-1847).
An Unworthy Professor 227
A Bibliomaniac 228
Book Illustrations and Nightmare 247

DICKENS, CHARLES (1812-70).
Early Reading 188
What a Heart-breaking Shop 272

DIGBY, SIR KENELM (1603-65).
Reading in Bed 169

DILLON, WENTWORTH, EARL OF ROSCOMMON (1633 ?-85).
'Choose an author as you choose a friend' 7

DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD (1804-81).
'Lady Constance guanoed her mind' 88
Biography preferred to History 99
'The author who speaks about his own Books' 154

D'ISRAELI, ISAAC (1766-1848).
Golden volumes! richest treasures 226
A Malady of weak Minds 227
Accidents to Books 275

DODD, WILLIAM (1729-77).
In Prison 15

DONNE, JOHN (1573-1631).
Valediction to his Book 190
The Library and the Grave 305

DOVASTON, JOHN FREEMAN MILWARD (1782-1854).
The Cure for Bookworms 253

DRAYTON, MICHAEL (1563-1631).
Immortality in Song 56
Translations from the Classics 100

DRUMMOND, WILLIAM (1585-1649).
The Strange Quality of Books 47
The Book of Nature 283
Of Libraries: The Bodleian 355

DRYDEN, JOHN (1631-1700).
A Learned Plagiary 91
Under Mr. Milton's Picture 106

DUDLEY, EARL OF. _See_ WARD.

DYER, GEORGE (1755-1841).
'Libraries are the wardrobes of literature' 306

EALWHINE. _See_ ALCUIN.

EARLE, JOHN, BISHOP OF SALISBURY (1601 ?-65).
'His Invention is no more' 94
A Critic 114
A Pretender to Learning 150
An Antiquary 219

'ELIOT, GEORGE' (1819-80).
The Vocation 260
'Wise books, For half the truths they hold' 287
Of _The Imitation of Christ_ 299

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803-82).
A Company of the Wisest and the Wittiest 6
The Theory of Books 21
The Book the Highest Delight 28
The pleasure derived from Books 29
Our Debt to a Book 29
A Sort of Third Estate 74
On Reading Translations 99
Merit in Quotation 103
The Need of a Guide to Books 111
The Final Verdict upon Books 116
'Talent alone cannot make a writer' 116
Reading between Lines 122
Rules for Reading 132
A Diet of Books 133

ERASMUS, DESIDERIUS (1466 ?-1536).
The Royal Road 123

FABER, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1814-63).
The English of the Bible 297
A College Library 365

FERRIAR, JOHN (1761-1815).
The Bibliomania 220

FIELDING, HENRY (1707-54).
The filial piety of Books 118

FLETCHER, JOHN (1579-1625).
The Library a Glorious Court 305

FLETCHER, PHINEAS (1582-1650).
Upon my Brother's Book 106

FOSTER, JOHN (1770-1843).
The Influence of Books 38
Reflections in a Library 332

FULLER, THOMAS (1608-61).
The Multiplicity of Books 57
Printers gain by bad Books 79
'A commonplace Book contains many notions' 142

GARNETT, RICHARD (1835-1906).
Our master, Meleager 95

GASKELL, ELIZABETH CLEGHORN (1810-65).
Books for the Salon 304

GAY, JOHN (1685-1732).
The Elephant and the Bookseller 264
On a Miscellany of Poems 265

GIBBON, EDWARD (1737-94).
Abstracts of Books 138
Early Reading 183
Women's Want 210

GILFILLAN, GEORGE (1813-78).
The True Poem on the Library 335

GISSING, GEORGE (1857-1903).
The Mood for Books 40
The Scent of Books 310

GLANVILL, JOSEPH (1636-80).
'That silly vanity of impertinent citations' 102
The Mote and the Beam 118

GODWIN, WILLIAM (1756-1836).
The Depositary of everything honourable 15
Bad Books and debauched Minds 83

GOLDSMITH, OLIVER (1728-74).
Sweet Unreproaching Companions 4
The Reading of New Books 67
Literary Hypocrisy 115
'I love everything that is old' 269

GREENE, ROBERT (1558-92).
Books for Magic 288

HALE, SIR MATTHEW (1609-76).
No Book like the Bible 293

HALES, JOHN (1584-1656).
The Method of reading profane History 136

HALL, JOHN (1627-56).
Men in their Nightgowns 98
When to Read 164

HALL, JOSEPH, BISHOP OF EXETER AND NORWICH (1574-1656).
How to spend our Days 125
Reading and Meal Times 170
On the Sight of a Great Library 331

HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM (1788-1856).
Underscoring 140

HARE, AUGUSTUS WILLIAM (1792-1834), and JULIUS CHARLES HARE (1795-1855).
In the Seat of the Scorner 115
Books of One Thought 121
Purple Patches 122
Books that provoke Thought 131
Desultory Reading 148
Brains squashed by Books 156

HARINGTON, SIR JOHN (1561-1612).
Against writers that carp 114

HAZLITT, WILLIAM (1778-1830).
The only Things that last for ever 49
On Reading Old Books 69
On Reading New Books 71
The best Books the commonest 182
The visionary Gleam 189
The enviable Bookworm 228
Ears nailed to Books 229

HELPS, SIR ARTHUR (1813-75).
Biography 99
Thoughts in a Library 334

HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA (1793-1835).
To a Family Bible 294

HERBERT, GEORGE (1593-1633).
The Parson's Accessory Knowledge 140

HERRICK, ROBERT (1591-1674).
To His Book 45
'Thou art a plant.'
'Make haste away.'
'If hap it must.'
'The bound, almost.'
'Go thou forth.'
His Prayer for Absolution 77
Virginibus Puerisque 84
Lines have their linings, and Books their buckram 242

HERSCHEL, SIR JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM (1792-1871).
A Taste to be Prayed For 27
Novels as Engines of Civilization 87

HOBBES, THOMAS (1588-1679).
'If I had read as much as other men' 158

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL (1809-94).
Old and New Books 74
Presentation Copies 98
'The foolishest Book' 118
The Literary Harem 233
Purchasing an Act of Piety 258
The Study 307
The Library as a Key to Character 309
'Every library should try to be complete' 318

HOOD, THOMAS (1799-1845).
Rich Fare 29

HOWELL, JAMES (1594?-1666).
The Choice of Books 125
Marriage and Books 198
The Value of Book Borrowing 275

HUNT, JAMES HENRY LEIGH (1784-1859).
On Parting with my Books 9
Love that is large 16
Authors as Lovers of Books 20
The Authors' Metamorphosis 50
A Library of One 62
A Literatura Hilaris 167
Early Reading 187
Kissing a Folio 233
Delight in Book-Prints 248
The Second-hand Catalogue 256
Borrowing and Lending 278
Wedded to Books 278
The Book of Books 294
Literary Geography 300
Scotland 300
England 301
Ireland 302
The Library as Study 305
Charles Lamb's Library 323

IRVING, WASHINGTON (1783-1859).
True Friends that Cheer 9

JAGO, RICHARD (1715-81).
To a Lady furnishing her Library 212

JEFFERIES, RICHARD (1848-87).
When Translations are to be preferred 101
In the British Museum Library 328

JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-57).
'A blessed companion is a Book' 12

JOHNSON, LIONEL (1869-1902).
Oxford Nights 366

JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1709-84). _See also_ BOSWELL.
Why Books are Read 37
An ignorant Age hath many Books 60
The Moons of Literature 67
Books of Morality 108
The Secret Influence of Books 109
Dead Counsellors are safest 109
Reading According to Inclination 128
Marginal Notes and Commonplace Books 143
Getting a Boy forward 181
At Large in the Library 181
Early Reading 183

JONSON, BEN (1573 ?-1637).
To Sir Henry Goodyer 10
To my Book 76
Book-makers and Plagiarists 91
To George Chapman 101
What Shakespeare hath left us 103
On the Portrait of Shakespeare 105
The first Authors for Youth 180
To my Bookseller 261

KEATS, JOHN (1795-1821).
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer 100

KING, WILLIAM (1663-1712).
A Moth 252
A Modern Library 311

KINGSLEY, CHARLES (1819-75).
Useful and Mighty Things 25
Liberty and Bad Books 83

LAMB, CHARLES (1775-1834).
Grace before Books 1
A Catholic Taste in Books 17
A Whimsical Surprise 84
Books with One Idea in Them 121
When and Where to Read 130
Proof of good Matter 170
Out-of-doors Reading 171
Discrimination in Bindings 244
The Treasure 254
The Readers at the Bookstall 255
To the Editor of _The Everyday Book_ 269
The Poor Student 274
Borrowers of Books 276
The Bodleians of Oxford 364

LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE (1775-1864).
To Wordsworth 21
'Well I remember how you smiled' 57
The Dead alone Canonized 66
The Classics 67
To Leigh Hunt 95
Small Authors Dangerous 131
Old-Fashioned Verse 186
Sent with Poems 202
Safe and untouched 312

LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761).
Classicus 66
Poetry and Piety 209

LEIGHTON, ROBERT (1822-69).
The Libraries of Heaven 49

LEWIS, MATTHEW GREGORY (1775-1818).
In Paternoster Row 263

LOCKE, JOHN (1632-1704).
Chewing the Cud 126
A new Method of a Commonplace Book 141

LOCKHART, JOHN GIBSON (1794-1854).
The Bible and Burns 298

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH (1807-82).
My Books 10
'The sweet serenity' 20
Bayard Taylor 234
The Wind over the Chimney 286

LOWE, ROBERT, LORD SHERBROOKE (1811-92).
Remunerative Reading 39

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL (1819-91).
Security in Old Books 75
Literature for Desolate Islands 303

LYLY, JOHN (1554 ?-1606).
Fashion in Books 43
'Far more seemly were it' 304

LYTTON, EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER-LYTTON, BARON (1803-73).
The Souls of Books 22
The Classics always Modern 68
The Bee and the Butterfly 143
The Pharmacy of Books 165
The Library an Heraclea 329

M., J. (fl. 1627).
On the Library at Cambridge 368

MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD (1800-59).
Action and Reaction 53
The Value of Modern Books 73
Original Editions 96
The Critics' Influence on the Public 117
Classical Education for Women 207
'I would rather be a poor man' 232

MACCREERY, JOHN (1768-1832).
Bookbindings 243

MAGINN, WILLIAM (1793-1842).
The Booksellers' Banquet 271

MALLET, DAVID (1705 ?-65).
The Reading Coxcomb 152

MAURICE, FREDERICK DENISON (1805-72).
The Ultimate Test of Books 53
The Message of Books 161

MILTON, JOHN (1608-74).
Books are not dead things 47
'To the pure all things are pure' 83
Plagiarie 90
Shakespeare's livelong Monument 105
'Deep-versed in Books and shallow in himself' 157
Tetrachordon 256
An Ode to Mr. John Rouse (translated by Cowper) 357

MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL (1787-1855).
That invention of the enemy--an Abridgement 96

MONTAGU, LADY MARY WORTLEY (1689-1762).
A cheap and lasting Pleasure 204

MONTAIGNE, MICHAEL EYQUEM DE (1533-92).
John Florio's Translation--
The Commodity Reaped of Books 32
Coats for Mackerel 44
Transplantation 90
Inductive Criticism 122
'There's more ado to interpret interpretation' 122
Bescribbling with Notes 139
Skipping Wit 144
Books an Enemy to Health 163
Early Reading 182
Letter-Ferrets 218
The Author's Library 319

MOORE, THOMAS (1779-1852).
'My only Books' 196
A Counter Attraction 199

MORE, HANNAH (1745-1833).
A Daughter's Favourite Novels 86
Literary Cookery 92

MORE, SIR THOMAS (1478-1535).
Of a New-married Student 198

NORRIS, JOHN (1657-1711).
'Reading without thinking' 142

NORTON, CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH (LADY STIRLING-MAXWELL) (1808-77).
To my Books 8

NORTON, JOHN BRUCE (1815-83).
Merton Library 365

OLDHAM, JOHN (1653-83).
To Cosmelia 199

ORFORD, EARL OF. _See_ WALPOLE.

OVERBURY, SIR THOMAS (1581-1613).
Man's Prerogative 13

PARNELL, THOMAS (1679-1718).
The Bookworm 250

PARROT, HENRY (fl. 1600-26).
Ad Bibliopolam 262

PATTISON, MARK (1813-84).
The Manufactory of Books 92

PAYN, JAMES (1830-98).
The Blessed Chloroform of the Mind 168

PEACHAM, HENRY (1576 ?-1643 ?).
A Bookish Ambition 149
Care as to Bindings 241

PEACOCK, THOMAS LOVE (1785-1866).
The Outside of a Book 247

PERCY, THOMAS, BISHOP OF DROMORE (1729-1811).
Why Books were Invented 37

PETRARCH (PETRARCA) FRANCESCO (1304-74).
The Delightful Society of Books 1

POPE, ALEXANDER (1688-1744).
Style v. Sense 114
Where Fools Rush In 115
Homer and Virgil 127
Lintott's New Miscellany 267
Cibber's Library 313

PRAED, WINTHROP MACKWORTH (1802-39).
To Helen: written in Keble's _Christian Year_ 201

PRIDEAUX, PETER (1578-1650).
On the Death of Sir Thomas Bodley 356

PROCTER, ADELAIDE ANNE (1825-64).
A Student 238

PROCTER, BRYAN WALLER (BARRY CORNWALL) (1787-1874).
My Books 8

QUARLES, FRANCIS (1572-1644).
On Buying the Bible 291

RABELAIS, FRANÇOIS (1483-1553).
By Divine Inspiration 41
Writing at Meal Times 171

RICHARDSON, SAMUEL (1689-1761).
Advice to Mothers 181

ROBERTSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1816-53).
Books instead of Stimulants 165

ROCHESTER, EARL OF. _See_ WILMOT.

ROSCOE, WILLIAM CALDWELL (1823-59).
To my Books on Parting with Them 9

ROSCOMMON, EARL OF. _See_ DILLON.

RUSKIN, JOHN (1819-1900).
Books of the Hour and of all Time 54
Taste in Literature and Art 117
Reading and Illiteracy 159
Girls' Reading 208
The Most Valuable Book 254
National Expenditure on Books 274
Libraries for Every City 326

ST. ALBANS, VISCOUNT. _See_ BACON.

SAXE, JOHN GODFREY (1816-87).
The Library 354

SCOTT, SIR WALTER (1771-1832).
Appetite and Satiety 147
The Ghost of Betty Barnes 203
The Antiquary's Treasures 231
The Bannatyne Club 270
Dominie Sampson in the Library 315

SELDEN, JOHN (1584-1654).
'It is good to have translations' 100
Quotation 102
Censorship 119

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616).
'Who will believe my verse' 55
'Study is like the heaven's glorious sun' 159
'How well he's read' 162
Books and Eyesight 164
Reading for Love's Sake 189
The Book of the Brain 191
Books as Spokesmen 194
Women's eyes 196
'Marriage! my years are young' 198
'The state, whereon I studied' 215
Dainties that are Bred of a Book 219
'Is not the leaf turned down' 240
Gold Clasps and a Golden Story 242
Nobler than Contents 242
'Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound' 243
'In Nature's infinite Book' 283
The Secret of Strength 288
Red Letters and Conjuring 289
'Come, and take choice' 306
'Of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my Books' 310
'Me, poor man,--my library' 316

SHEFFIELD, JOHN, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM (1648-1721).
The Sufficiency of Homer 127

SHERBROOKE, VISCOUNT. _See_ LOWE.

SHERIDAN, CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH. _See_ NORTON.

SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY (1751-1816).
'Steal! to be sure they will' 91
Lydia Languish and the Circulating Library 213
A neat Rivulet of Text 249

SHERIDAN, THOMAS (1687-1738).
Our Best Acquaintance 11

SHIRLEY, JAMES (1596-1666).
Sweet and Happy Hours 26
A Book of Flesh and Blood 196

SKELTON, JOHN (1460 ?-1529).
An Edition de luxe 241

SMITH, ALEXANDER (1830-67).
The True Elysian Fields 11
Power and Gladness 32

SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845).
A Short Cut to Fame 154
'No furniture so charming as Books' 264

SOUTH, ROBERT (1634-1716).
'He who has published an injurious Book' 80
A little Book the most excellent 120
'Much reading is like much eating' 158

SOUTHEY, ROBERT (1774-1843).
My days among the Dead are passed 4
A Heavenly Delight 5
The Best of all Possible Company 5
More than Meat, Drink, and Clothing 28
A Library of Twelve 62
Reading several Books at a time 130
Homo Unius Libri 292
A Colloquy in a Library 320

SPENSER, EDMUND (1552 ?-99).
One day I wrote her name 56
To his Book: of his Lady 195

STANHOPE, PHILIP DORMER, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD (1694-1773).
A Consolation for the Deaf 4
Books and the World 180
The last Editions the best 235
'Tis folly to be wise 246
Genteel Ornaments 273

STEELE, SIR RICHARD (1672-1729).
Exercise for the Mind 37

STEPHEN, SIR JAMES (1789-1859).
Poets as Commentators 136

STERNE, LAURENCE (1713-1768).
The Company of Mutes 3
Mr. Shandy's Library 314

STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS (1850-1894).
Picture-Books in Winter 174

STIRLING-MAXWELL, LADY. _See_ NORTON.

SWIFT, JONATHAN (1667-1745).
The Battle of the Books 63
Recipe for an Anthology 94
Cupid and the Book of Poems 194
A Standard for Language 296
'I have sometimes heard' 303

SYLVESTER, JOSUAH (1563-1618).
Surcloying the Stomach 156

SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON (1840-93).
[Greek: hupothêkê eis emauton]('Back to thy books!') 197

TAYLOR, JOHN (1580-1653).
Books and Thieves 77
To the Good or Bad Reader 150
Fast and Loose 289
On _Coryat's Crudities_ 302

TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM (1628-99).
The Multiplication of Originals 59
Ancient and Modern Books 63
Books as Signposts 110

TENNYSON, ALFRED, LORD (1809-92).
Poets and their Bibliographies 98
Merlin's Book 289

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE (1811-63).
Novels are Sweets 89
'There are no race of people who talk about Books' 153
A Kindly Tie 187

THOMSON, JAMES (1700-48).
The Mighty Dead 161

THOMSON, RICHARD (1794-1865).
The Book of Life 284

TICKLE, THOMAS (1686-1740).
The Hornbook 175

TOOKE, JOHN HORNE (1736-1812).
Read Few Books well 129

TRAPP, JOSEPH (1679-1747).
Oxford and Cambridge: an Epigram 113

TRENCH, RICHARD CHEVENIX, ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN (1807-86).
Books and Life 160

TUPPER, MARTIN FARQUHAR (1810-89).
Books and Friends 12

TURNER, CHARLES TENNYSON (1808-79).
On Certain Books 82

VAUGHAN, HENRY (1622-95).
To his Books 13
The Book 284
To the Holy Bible 290
On Sir Thomas Bodley's Library 362

VERE, SIR AUBREY DE (1788-1846).
Sacred and Profane Writers 296

VERULAM, LORD. _See_ BACON.

VOLTAIRE, FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DE (1694-1778).
Multiplication is Vexation 59
The Seat of Authority 107

WALLER, SIR WILLIAM (1597 ?-1668).
The Contentment I have in my Books 2
Riding Post 146
Full Libraries and Empty Heads 149

WALPOLE, HORATIO, EARL OF ORFORD (1717-97).
Lounging Books 169
Literary Upholsterers 264

WARD, JOHN WILLIAM, EARL OF DUDLEY (1781-1833).
A Preference for Great Models 72

WATTS, ISAAC (1674-1748).
Books to be Marked 139

WESLEY, JOHN (1703-91).
'I read only the Bible' 291
A Man of one Book 292

WHITELOCKE, BULSTRODE (1605-75).
The Soul's Viaticum 368

WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF (1807-92).
A Magnate in the Realm of Books 7
The Library 326

WILMOT, JOHN, EARL OF ROCHESTER (1647-80).
'Books bear him up awhile' 39

WILSON, JOHN (d. 1889).
O for a Booke 171

WITHER, GEORGE (1588-1667).
Mountebank Authors 78
'Good God! how many dungboats' 94
In bondage to the Bookseller 262

WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850).
Books a substantial World 21
The Tables Turned 172
Early Reading 184

YOUNG, EDWARD (1683-1765).
How Volumes Swell 93
An ignorant Book-collector 219

NOTES 369

INDEX OF AUTHORS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT AND IN THE NOTES 400

THE BOOK-LOVERS' ANTHOLOGY

GRACE BEFORE BOOKS

I own that I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts--a grace before Milton--a grace before Shakespeare--a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the _Fairy Queen_?--but, the received ritual having prescribed these forms to the solitary ceremony of manducation, I shall confine my observations to the experience which I have had of the grace, properly so called; commending my new scheme for extension to a niche in the grand philosophical, poetical, and perchance in part heretical liturgy, now compiling by my friend Homo Humanus, for the use of a certain snug congregation of Utopian Rabelaesian Christians, no matter where assembled.--C. LAMB. _Grace before Meat._

THE DELIGHTFUL SOCIETY OF BOOKS

These friends of mine regard the pleasures of the world as the supreme good; they do not comprehend that it is possible to renounce these pleasures. They are ignorant of my resources. I have friends whose society is delightful to me; they are persons of all countries and of all ages; distinguished in war, in council, and in letters; easy to live with, always at my command. They come at my call, and return when I desire them: they are never out of humour, and they answer all my questions with readiness. Some present in review before me the events of past ages; others reveal to me the secrets of Nature: these teach me how to live, and those how to die: these dispel my melancholy by their mirth, and amuse me by their sallies of wit: and some there are who prepare my soul to suffer everything, to desire nothing, and to become thoroughly acquainted with itself. In a word, they open a door to all the arts and sciences. As a reward for such great services, they require only a corner of my little house, where they may be safely sheltered from the depredations of their enemies. In fine, I carry them with me into the fields, the silence of which suits them better than the business and tumults of cities.--PETRARCH. _Life_ by S. Dodson.

THE CONTENTMENT I HAVE IN MY BOOKS

Here is the best solitary company in the world: and in this particular chiefly excelling any other, that in my study I am sure to converse with none but wise men; but abroad it is impossible for me to avoid the society of fools. What an advantage have I by this good fellowship that, besides the help which I receive from hence, in reference to my life after this life, I can enjoy the life of so many ages before I lived!--that I can be acquainted with the passages of three or four thousand years ago, as if they were the weekly occurrences! Here, without travelling so far as Endor, I can call up the ablest spirits of those times; the learnedest philosophers, the wisest counsellors, the greatest generals, and make them serviceable to me. I can make bold with the best jewels they have in their treasury, with the same freedom that the Israelites borrowed of the Egyptians, and, without suspicion of felony, make use of them as mine own. I can here, without trespassing, go into their vineyards, and not only eat my fill of their grapes for my pleasure, but put up as much as I will in my vessel, and store it up for my profit and advantage.

How doth this prospect at once set off the goodness of God to me, and discover mine own weakness? His goodness in providing these helps for the improvement of mine understanding; and my weakness in needing them. What a pitiful, simple creature am I, that cannot live to any purpose, without the help of so many other men's brains! Lord, let this be the first lesson that I learn from these silent counsellors, to know my own ignorance: other knowledge puffeth up, this edifieth.--SIR W. WALLER. _Divine Meditations._

HE THAT LOVETH A BOOK WILL NEVER WANT

The calling of a scholar ... fitteth a man for all conditions and fortunes; so that he can enjoy prosperity with moderation, and sustain adversity with comfort: he that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter.... The reading of books, what is it but conversing with the wisest men of all ages and all countries, who thereby communicate to us their most deliberate thoughts, choicest notions, and best inventions, couched in good expression, and digested in exact method? The perusal of history, how pleasant illumination of mind, how useful direction of life, how spritely incentives to virtue doth it afford! How doth it supply the room of experience, and furnish us with prudence at the expense of others, informing us about the ways of action, and the consequences thereof by examples, without our own danger or trouble!--I. BARROW. _Of Industry in our Particular Calling as Scholars._

THE COMPANY OF MUTES

I often derive a peculiar satisfaction in conversing with the ancient and modern dead,--who yet live and speak excellently in their works.--My neighbours think me _often alone_,--and yet at such times I am in company with more than five hundred mutes--each of whom, at my pleasure, communicates his ideas to me by dumb signs--quite as intelligibly as any person living can do by uttering of words.--They always keep the distance from me which I direct,--and, with a motion of my hand, I can bring them as near to me as I please.--I lay hands on fifty of them sometimes in an evening, and handle them as I like;--they never complain of ill-usage,--and, when dismissed from my presence--though ever so abruptly--take no offence. Such convenience is not to be enjoyed--nor such liberty to be taken--with the living.--L. STERNE. _Letters._

A CONSOLATION FOR THE DEAF

I read with more pleasure than ever; perhaps, because it is the only pleasure I have left. For, since I am struck out of living company by my deafness, I have recourse to the dead, whom alone I can hear; and I have assigned them their stated hours of audience. Solid _folios_ are the people of business, with whom I converse in the morning. _Quartos_ are the easier mixed company, with whom I sit after dinner; and I pass my evenings in the light, and often frivolous, _chit-chat_ of small _octavos_ and _duodecimos_.--LORD CHESTERFIELD.

SWEET UNREPROACHING COMPANIONS

I armed her [Olivia] against the censure of the world, showed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would at least teach us to endure it.--O. GOLDSMITH. _The Vicar of Wakefield._

MY DAYS AMONG THE DEAD ARE PASSED

My days among the Dead are passed;
Around me 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 bedewed
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.

My thoughts are 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 dust.

R. SOUTHEY.

A HEAVENLY DELIGHT

Talk of the happiness of getting a great prize in the lottery! What is that to the opening a box of books! The joy upon lifting up the cover must be something like what we shall feel when Peter the Porter opens the door upstairs, and says, Please to walk in, sir. That I shall never be paid for my labour according to the current value of time and labour, is tolerably certain; but if any one should offer me £10,000 to forgo that labour, I should bid him and his money go to the devil, for twice the sum could not purchase me half the enjoyment. It will be a great delight to me in the next world, to take a fly and visit these old worthies, who are my only society here, and to tell them what excellent company I found them here at the lakes of Cumberland, two centuries after they had been dead and turned to dust. In plain truth, I exist more among the dead than the living, and think more about them, and, perhaps, feel more about them.--R. SOUTHEY (Letter to S. T. Coleridge).

THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE COMPANY

Coleridge is gone to Devonshire, and I was going to say I am alone, but that the sight of Shakespeare, and Spenser, and Milton, and the Bible, on my table, and Castanheda, and Barros, and Osorio at my elbow, tell me I am in the best of all possible company.--R. SOUTHEY (Letter to G. C. Bedford).

Worthy books
Are not companions--they are solitudes;
We lose ourselves in them and all our cares.

P. J. BAILEY. _Festus._

THE FELLOWSHIP OF BOOKS

What were days without such fellowship? We were alone in the world without it. Nor does our faith falter though the secret we search for and do not find in them will not commit itself to literature, still we take up the new issue with the old expectation, and again and again, as we try our friends after many failures at conversation, believing this visit will be the favoured hour and all will be told us....

One must be rich in thought and character to owe nothing to books, though preparation is necessary to profitable reading; and the less reading is better than more;--book-struck men are of all readers least wise, however knowing or learned.--A. B. ALCOTT. _Tablets._

A COMPANY OF THE WISEST AND THE WITTIEST

There are books which are of that importance in a man's private experience, as to verify for him the fables of Cornelius Agrippa, of Michael Scott, or of the old Orpheus of Thrace,--books which take rank in our life with parents and lovers and passionate experiences, so medicinal, so stringent, so revolutionary, so authoritative,--books which are the work and the proof of faculties so comprehensive, so nearly equal to the world which they paint, that, though one shuts them with meaner ones, he feels his exclusion from them to accuse his way of living.

Consider 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 inaccessible, solitary, impatient of interruption, fenced by etiquette; but the thought which they did not uncover to their bosom friend is here written out in transparent words to us, the strangers of another age.--R. W. EMERSON. _Books._

We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.--C. C. COLTON. _Lacon._

A MAGNATE IN THE REALM OF BOOKS

One, with his beard scarce silvered, bore
A ready credence in his looks,
A lettered magnate, lording o'er
An ever-widening realm of books.
In him brain-currents, near and far,
Converged as in a Leyden jar;
The old, dead authors thronged him round about,
And Elzevir's grey ghosts from leathern graves looked out.

He knew each living pundit well,
Could weigh the gifts of him or her,
And well the market value tell
Of poet and philosopher.
But if he lost, the scenes behind,
Somewhat of reverence vague and blind,
Finding the actors human at the best,
No readier lips than his the good he saw confessed.

His boyhood fancies not outgrown,
He loved himself the singer's art;
Tenderly, gently, by his own
He knew and judged an author's heart.
No Rhadamanthine brow of doom
Bowed the dazed pedant from his room;
And bards, whose name is legion, if denied,
Bore off alike intact their verses and their pride.

Pleasant it was to roam about
The lettered world as he had done,
And see the lords of song without
Their singing robes and garlands on.
With Wordsworth paddle Rydal mere,
Taste rugged Elliott's home-brewed beer,
And with the ears of Rogers, at fourscore,
Hear Garrick's buskined tread and Walpole's wit once more.

J. G. WHITTIER. _The Tent on the Beach._

CHOOSE an author as you choose a friend.--W. DILLON,
EARL OF ROSCOMMON. _Essay on Translated Verse._

MY BOOKS

All round the room my silent servants wait,--
My friends in every season, bright and dim;
Angels and seraphim
Come down and murmur to me, sweet and low,
And spirits of the skies all come and go
Early and late;
From the old world's divine and distant date,
From the sublimer few,
Down to the poet who but yester-eve
Sang sweet and made us grieve,
All come, assembling here in order due.
And here I dwell with Poesy, my mate,
With Erato and all her vernal sighs,
Great Clio with her victories elate,
Or pale Urania's deep and starry eyes.
Oh friends, whom chance and change can never harm,
Whom Death the tyrant cannot doom to die,
Within whose folding soft eternal charm
I love to lie,
And meditate upon your verse that flows,
And fertilizes whereso'er it goes....

B. W. PROCTER. _An Autobiographical Fragment._

TO MY BOOKS

Silent companions of the lonely hour,
Friends who can never alter or forsake,
Who for inconstant roving have no power,
And all neglect, perforce, must calmly take,--
Let me return to _you_, this turmoil ending,
Which worldly cares have in my spirit wrought,
And, o'er your old familiar pages bending,
Refresh my mind with many a tranquil thought;
Till, haply meeting there, from time to time,
Fancies, the audible echo of my own,
'Twill be like hearing in a foreign clime
My native language spoke in friendly tone,
And with a sort of welcome I shall dwell
On these, my unripe musings, told so well.

THE HON. CAROLINE NORTON.

ON PARTING WITH MY BOOKS

Ye dear companions of my silent hours,
Whose pages oft before my eyes would strew
So many sweet and variegated flowers--
Dear Books, awhile, perhaps for ay, adieu!
The dark cloud of misfortune o'er me lours:
No more by winter's fire--in summer's bowers,
My toil-worn mind shall be refreshed by you:
We part! sad thought! and while the damp devours
Your leaves, and the worm slowly eats them through,
Dull Poverty and its attendant ills,
Wasting of health, vain toil, corroding care,
And the world's cold neglect, which surest kills,
Must be my bitter doom; yet I shall bear
Unmurmuring, for my good perchance these evils are.

J. H. LEIGH HUNT.

TO MY BOOKS ON PARTING WITH THEM

As one who, destined from his friends to part,
Regrets his loss, yet hopes again erewhile,
To share their converse and enjoy their smile,
And tempers as he may affliction's dart,--
Thus, loved associates! chiefs of elder Art!
Teachers of wisdom! who could once beguile
My tedious hours, and lighten every toil,
I now resign you; nor with fainting heart;
For pass a few short years, or days, or hours,
And happier seasons may their dawn unfold,
And all your sacred fellowship restore;
When, freed from earth, unlimited its powers,
Mind shall with mind direct communion hold,
And kindred spirits meet to part no more.--W. ROSCOE.

TRUE FRIENDS THAT CHEER

It is a beautiful incident in the story of Mr. Roscoe's misfortunes, and one which cannot fail to interest the studious mind, that the parting with his books seems to have touched upon his tenderest feelings, and to have been the only circumstance that could provoke the notice of his Muse. The scholar only knows how dear these silent, yet eloquent, companions of pure thoughts and innocent hours become in the season of adversity. When all that is worldly turns to dross around us, these only retain their steady value. When friends grow cold, and the converse of intimates languishes into vapid civility and commonplace, these only continue the unaltered countenance of happier days, and cheer us with that true friendship which never deceived hope nor deserted sorrow.--W. IRVING. _The Sketch Book._

MY BOOKS

Sadly as some old mediaeval knight
Gazed at the arms he could no longer wield,
The sword two-handed and the shining shield
Suspended in the hall, and full in sight,
While secret longings for the lost delight
Of tourney or adventure in the field
Came over him, and tears but half concealed
Trembled and fell upon his beard of white,
So I behold these books upon their shelf,
My ornaments and arms of other days;
Not wholly useless, though no longer used,
For they remind me of my other self,
Younger and stronger, and the pleasant ways,
In which I walked, now clouded and confused.

H. W. LONGFELLOW.

TO SIR HENRY GOODYER

When I would know thee, Goodyer, my thought looks
Upon thy well-made choice of friends, and books;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends:
Now must I give thy life and deed the voice
Attending such a study, such a choice;
Where, though it be love that to thy praise doth move,
It was a knowledge that begat that love.

BEN JONSON.

OUR BEST ACQUAINTANCE

While you converse with lords and dukes,
I have their betters here--my books;
Fixed in an elbow chair at ease
I choose my companions as I please.
I'd rather have one single shelf
Than all my friends, except yourself;
For after all that can be said
Our best acquaintance are the dead.

T. SHERIDAN.

THE TRUE ELYSIAN FIELDS

In my garden I spend my days; in my library I spend my nights. My interests are divided between my geraniums and my books. With the flower I am in the present; with the book I am in the past. I go into my library, and all history unrolls before me. I breathe morning air of the world while the scent of Eden's roses yet lingered in it, while it vibrated only to the world's first brood of nightingales, and to the laugh of Eve. I see the pyramids building; I hear the shoutings of the armies of Alexander; I feel the ground shake beneath the march of Cambyses. I sit as in a theatre,--the stage is time, the play is the play of the world. What a spectacle it is! What kingly pomp, what processions file past, what cities burn to heaven, what crowds of captives are dragged at the chariot-wheels of conquerors! I hiss or cry 'Bravo' when the great actors come on shaking the stage. I am a Roman Emperor when I look at a Roman coin. I lift Homer, and I shout with Achilles in the trenches. The silence of the unpeopled Syrian plains, the out-comings and in-goings of the patriarchs, Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac in the fields at eventide, Rebekah at the well, Jacob's guile, Esau's face reddened by desert sun-heat, Joseph's splendid funeral procession--all these things I find within the boards of my Old Testament. What a silence in those old books as of a half-peopled world--what bleating of flocks--what green pastoral rest--what indubitable human existence! Across brawling centuries of blood and war, I hear the bleating of Abraham's flocks, the tinkling of the bells of Rebekah's camels. O men and women, so far separated, yet so near, so strange, yet so well-known, by what miraculous power do I know ye all! Books are the true Elysian fields where the spirits of the dead converse, and into these fields a mortal may venture unappalled. What king's court can boast such company? What school of philosophy such wisdom? The wit of the ancient world is glancing and flashing there. There is Pan's pipe, there are the songs of Apollo. Seated in my library at night, and looking on the silent faces of my books, I am occasionally visited by a strange sense of the supernatural. They are not collections of printed pages, they are ghosts. I take one down and it speaks with me in a tongue not now heard on earth, and of men and things of which it alone possesses knowledge. I call myself a solitary, but sometimes I think I misapply the term. No man sees more company than I do. I travel with mightier cohorts around me than ever did Timour or Genghis Khan on their fiery marches. I am a sovereign in my library, but it is the dead, not the living, that attend my levees.--A. SMITH. _Dreamthorp._

BOOKS AND FRIENDS

One drachma for a good book, and a thousand talents for a true
friend;--
So standeth the market, where scarce is ever costly:
Yea, were the diamonds of Golconda common as shingles on the shore,
A ripe apple would ransom kings before a shining stone:
And so, were a wholesome book as rare as an honest friend,
To choose the book be mine: the friend let another take.