Chapter II: Part 2

[24] Milton stands in his age like an oak among hazel-bushes. The nobility of his character, the sublimity of his thought, and the classic beauty of his style give him, in spite of some coldness and some lack of naturalness in his conception of the characters of Adam and Eve, the second place in English literature. His "Lycidas" is a beautiful elegy. His "Comus" is the best masque in English, and certainly a charming picture of chastity and its triumph over temptation. It should be read along with Spenser's "Britomart." His "L' Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," on mirth and melancholy, are among the best lyrics of the world. His "Paradise Lost" is the greatest epic in English, and the greatest that any literature has had since Dante's "Divine Comedy." The two books should be read together. Milton shows us Satan in all the pride and pomp and power this world oft throws around his cloven Majesty. Dante tears away the wrappings, and we see the horrid heart and actual loathsomeness of sin. (Eng., 17th cent.) See Table III. No. 2.

The writings of Stopford Brooke, Macaulay, Dr. Johnson, De Quincey, and Pattison about Milton may be profitably referred to.

[25] AEschylus was the greatest of the noble triumvirate of Greek tragedy writers. Sublimity reached in his soul the greatest purity and power that it has yet attained on earth. One can no more afford to tread in life's low levels all his days and never climb above the clouds to thought's clear-ethered heights with AEschylus, than to dwell at the foot of a cliff in New Mexico and never climb to see the Rockies in the blue and misty distance, with their snowy summits shining in the sun. Read, at any rate, his "Prometheus Bound" and his "Agamemnon." (5th cent. B. C., the Golden Age of Grecian literature.) See Table III. No. 4.

The student of AEschylus will find much of value to him in Mahaffy's "Greek Literature," "Old Greek Life," and "Social Life in Greece;" Schlegel's "Dramatic Literature;" Donaldson's "Theatre of the Greeks," and Froude's "Sea Studies." Following the "Prometheus" of AEschylus, it is a good plan to read the works of Goethe, Shelley, Lowell, and Longfellow on the same topic. We thus bring close the ideas and fancies of five great minds in respect to the myth of Prometheus.

[26] Many a selection in Table III. is of very high merit, and belongs on the world's first shelf, although the poetic works of the author as a whole cannot be allowed such honor. In the section preceding Table V. also will be found a number of short writings of the very highest merit. See explanatory note to Table I.

[27] Edmund Spenser is the third name in English literature. No modern poet is more like Homer. He is simple, clear, and natural, redundant and ingenuous. He is a Platonic dreamer, and worships beauty, a love sublime and chaste; for all the beauty that the eye can see is only, in his view, an incomplete expression of celestial beauty in the soul of man and Nature, the light within gleaming and sparkling through the loose woven texture of this garment of God called Nature, or pouring at every pore a flood of soft, translucent loveliness, as the radiance of a calcium flame flows through a porcelain globe. Spenser was Milton's model. The "Faerie Queen," the "Shepherd's Calendar," and the "Wedding Hymn" should be carefully read; and if the former is studied sufficiently to arrive at the underlying spiritual meaning, it will ever after be one of the most precious of books. (Eng., 16th cent.) See Table III. No. 6. See also Lowell's "Among my Books," Craik's "Spenser and his Poetry," and Taine's "English Literature."

[28] Lowell is one of the foremost humorists of all time. No one, except Shakspeare, has ever combined so much mastery of the weapons of wit with so much poetic power, bonhomie, and common-sense. Every American should read his poems carefully, and digest the best. (Amer., 19th cent.) See Table III. Nos. 12 and 24.

[29] Whittier is America's greatest lyric poet. Read what Lowell says of him in the "Fable for Critics," and get acquainted with his poetry of Nature and quiet country life, as pure as the snow and as sweet as the clover. (Amer., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 11.

[30] Tennyson is the first poet of our age; and though he cannot rank with the great names on the upper shelf, yet his tenderness, and noble purity, and the almost absolutely perfect music of much of his poetry commands our love and admiration. Read his "In Memoriam," "Princess," "Idylls of the King," etc. (Eng., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 11.

[31] Burns is like a whiff of the pure sea air. He is a sprig of arbutus under the snow; full of tenderness and genuine gayety, always in love, and singing forever in tune to the throbs of his heart. Read "The Jolly Beggars," "The Twa Dogs," and see Table III. No. 11. (Scot., 18th cent.)

[32] Probably nothing is so likely to awaken a love for poetry as the reading of Scott. (Scot., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 7.

[33] Byron is the greatest English poet since Milton, and except Goethe the greatest poet of his age in the world. His music, his wonderful control of language, his impassioned strength passing from vehemence to pathos, his fine sense of the beautiful, and his combination of passion with beauty would place him high on the first shelf of the world's literature if it were not for his moral aberration. Read his "Childe Harold." (Eng., 1788-1824.) See Table III. No. 13.

[34] Shelley is indistinct, abstract, impracticable, but full of love for all that is noble, of magnificent poetic power and marvellous music. Read "Prometheus Unbound," and see Table III. No. 13. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[35] Keats is the poetic brother of Shelley. He is deserving of the title "marvellous boy" in a far higher degree than Chatterton. If the lives of Shakspeare, Milton, and Wordsworth had ended at twenty-five, as did the life of Keats, they would have left no poetry comparable with that of this impassioned dreamer. Like Shakspeare, he had no fortune or opportunity of high education. Read "Hyperion," "Lamia," "Eve of Saint Agnes," "Endymion," and see Table III. No. 13. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[36] Campbell clothed in romantic sweetness and delicate diction, the fancies of the fairy land of youthful dreams, and poured forth with a master voice the pride and grandeur of patriotic song. Read his "Pleasures of Hope," "Gertrude of Wyoming," and see Table III. No. 12. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[37] Moore is a singer of wonderful melody and elegance and of inexhaustible imagery. Read his "Irish Melodies." (Eng., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 11.

[38] Thomson is one of the most intense lovers of Nature, and sees with a clear eye the correspondences between the inner and outer worlds upon which poetry is built. Read his "Seasons" and "The Castle of Indolence." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[39] Read Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome." "Horatius" cannot fail to make the reader pulse with all the heroism and patriotism that is in his heart, and "Virginia" will fill each heart with mutiny and every eye with tears. (Eng., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 12.

[40] Dryden's song is not so smooth as Pope's, but doubly strong. His translation of Virgil has more fire than the original, though less elegance. He was the literary king of his time, but knew better _how_ to say things than _what_ to say. (Eng., 17th cent.) See Table III. No. 14.

[41] Collins was a poet of fine genius. Beauty, simplicity, and sweet harmony combine in his works, but he wrote very little. Read his odes, "To Pity," "To Evening," "To Mercy," "To Simplicity." See Table III. No. 14. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[42] Jean Ingelow's poems deserve at least tasting, which will scarcely fail to lead to assimilation. (Eng., 1862.) See Table III. No. 14.

[43] Bryant's "Thanatopsis," written at eighteen, gave promise of high poetic power; but in the life of a journalist the current of energy was drawn away from poetry, and America lost the full fruitage of her best poetic tree. He is serene and lofty in thought, and strong in his descriptive power and the noble simplicity of his language. (Amer., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 13.

[44] Longfellow's poetry is earnest and full of melody, but _as a whole_ lacks passion and imagery. Relatively to a world standard he is not a great poet and has written little worthy of universal reading, but as bone of our bone he has a claim on us as Americans for sufficient attention at least to investigate for ourselves his merits. (Amer., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 10.

[45] Lowell says that George Herbert is as "holy as a flower on a grave." (Eng., 1631.) See Table III. No. 13.

[46] Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" and "Traveller" will live as long as the language. They are full of wisdom and lovely poetry. His dramas abound in fun. Read "The Good-Natured Man" and "She Stoops to Conquer." (Eng., 18th cent.) See Table IV.

[47] Read Coleridge's "Christabel," and get somebody to explain its mysterious beauty to you; also his "Remorse," "Ode to the Departing Year," "Ancient Mariner," and "Kubla Khan." The latter is the most magnificent creation of his time, but needs a good deal of study for most readers to perceive the beautiful underlying thought, as is the case also with the "Mariner." Coleridge is difficult reading. He wrote very little excellently, but that little should be bound in gold, and read till the inner light of it shines into the soul of the reader. The terrible opium habit ruined him. Read his life; it is a thrilling story. (Eng., 1772-1834.) Table III. No. 11.

[48] Lowell says, in his "Fable for Critics," that he is always discovering new depths

"in Wordsworth, undreamed of before,--
That divinely inspired, wise, deep, tender, grand--bore."

Nothing could sum up this poet better than that. His intense delight in Nature and especially in mountain scenery, and his pure, serene, earnest, majestic reflectiveness are his great charms. His "Excursion" is one of the great works of our literature, and stands in the front rank of the world's philosophical poetry. Its thousand lines of blank verse roll through the soul like the stately music of a cathedral organ. (Eng., 19th cent.) See Table III. No. 13.

[49] Pope is the greatest of the world's machine poets, the noblest of the great army who place a higher value on skilful execution than on originality and beauty of conception. The "Rape of the Lock" is his most successful effort, and is the best of all mock-heroic poems. "The sharpest wit, the keenest dissection of the follies of fashionable life, the finest grace of diction, and the softest flow of melody adorn a tale in which we learn how a fine gentleman stole a lock of a lady's hair." Read also his "Essay on Man," and glance at his "Dunciad," a satire on fellow-writers. (Eng., 1688-1744.) See Table III. No. 13, and Table IV.

[50] Southey had great ideas of what poetry should be, and strove for purity, unity, and fine imagery; but there was no pathos or depth of emotion in him, and the stream of his poetry is not the gush of the river, but the uninteresting flow of the canal. Byron says, "God help thee, Southey, and thy readers too." Glance at his "Thalaba the Destroyer" and "Curse of Kehama." (Eng., 1774-1843.)

[51] Walton's "Compleat Angler" is worthy of a glance. (Eng., 1653.)

[52] Browning is very obscure, and neither on authority nor principle a first-rate poet; but he is a strong thinker, and dear to those who have taken the pains to dig out the nuggets of gold. Canon Farrar puts him among the three living authors whose works he would be most anxious to save from the flames. Mrs. Browning has more imagination than her husband, and is perhaps his equal in other respects. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[53] Read Young's "Night Thoughts."

[54] Jonson, on account of his noble aims, comparative purity, and classic style, stands next to Shakspeare in the history of English drama. Read "The Alchemist," "Catiline," "The Devil as an Ass," "Cynthia's Revels," and "The Silent Woman." The plot of the latter is very humorous. (Eng., 1700.)

[55] The dramas of Beaumont and Fletcher are poetically the best in the language except those of Shakspeare. Read "Philaster," "The Fair Maid of the Inn," "Thierry and Theodoret," "The Maid's Tragedy." (Eng., 17th cent.)

[56] Marlowe's "Mighty Line" is known to all lovers of poetry who have made a wide hunt. His energy is intense. Read "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus," based on that wonderfully fascinating story of the doctor who offered his soul to hell in exchange for a short term of power and pleasure, on which Goethe expended the flower of his genius, and around which grew hundreds of plays all over Europe. (Eng., 17th cent.)

[57] For whimsical and ludicrous situations and a rapid fire of witticisms, Sheridan's plays have no equals. Read "The School for Scandal" and "The Rivals." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[58] Carleton's poetry is not of a lofty order, but exceedingly enjoyable. Read his "Farm Ballads." (Amer., 19th cent.)

[60] Virgil is the greatest name in Roman literature. His "AEneid" is the national poem of Rome. His poetry is of great purity and elegance, and for variety, harmony, and power second in epic verse only to his great model, Homer. (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.) Read Dryden's translation if you cannot read the original.

[61] The Odes of Horace combine wit, grace, sense, fire, and affection in a perfection of form never attained by any other writer. He is untranslatable; but Martin's version and commentary will give some idea of this most interesting man, "the most modern and most familiar of the ancients." (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.)

[62] Lucretius is a philosophic poet. He aimed to explain Nature; and his poem has much of wisdom, beauty, sublimity, and imagination to commend it. Virgil imitated whole passages from Lucretius. (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.)

[63] Ovid is gross but fertile, and his "Metamorphoses" and "Epistles" have been great favorites. (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.)

[64] The "Antigone" and "OEdipus at Colonus" of Sophocles are of exquisite tenderness and beauty. In pathos Shakspeare only is his equal. (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[65] Euripides is the third of the great triumvirate of Greek dramatists. His works were very much admired by Milton and Fox. Read his "Alcestis," "Iphigenia," "Medea," and the "Bacchanals." (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[66] Aristophanes is the greatest of Greek comedy writers. His plays are great favorites with scholars, as a rule. Read the "Clouds," "Birds," "Knights," and "Plutus." (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[67] Pindar's triumphal odes stand in the front rank of the world's lyric poetry. (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[68] Hesiod's "Theogony" contains the religious faith of Greece. He lived in or near the time of Homer.

[69] Heine is the most remarkable German poet of this century. He has written many gems of rare beauty, and many sketches of life unmatched for racy freshness and graphic power.

[70] Schiller is the second name in German literature; indeed, as a lover of men and as a poet of exquisite fancy, he far excels Goethe. He was a great philosopher, historian, and critic. Read his "Song of the Bell," and his drama of "Wallenstein," translated by Coleridge. (Germany, 18th cent.)

[71] Corneille, Racine, and Moliere are the great French triumvirate of dramatists. Their object is to produce one massive impression. In this they follow the classic writers. A French, Greek, or Roman drama is to a Shakspearean play as a statue to a picture, as an idea carved out of Nature and rendered magnificently impressive by its isolation and the beauty of its modelling, to Nature itself. The historical and ethical value of the French plays is very great. Corneille is one of the grandest of modern poets. Read "The Cid" ("As beautiful as the Cid" became a proverb in France), and "Horace" (which is even more original and grand than "The Cid"), and "Cinna" (which Voltaire thought the best of all). Racine excels in grace, tenderness, and versatility. Read his "Phedre." Moliere was almost as profound a master of human nature on its humorous side as Shakspeare. He hates folly, meanness, and falsehood; he is always wise, tender, and good. Read "Le Misanthrope," or "The Man-Hater," and "Tartuffe," or "The Impostor." (17th cent.)

[74] Alfred de Musset is a famous French poet of this century, and is a great favorite with those who can enjoy charming and inspiring thoughts though mixed with the grotesque and extravagant.

[75] Calderon de la Barca is one of the greatest dramatists of the world. His purity, power, and passion, his magnificent imagination and wonderful fertility, will place him in company with Shakspeare in the eternal society of the great. Read Shelley's fragments from Calderon, and Fitzgerald's translation, especially "Zalamea" and "The Wonder-Working Magician," two of his greatest plays. (Spain, 17th cent.)

[76] Petrarch's lyrics have been models to all the great poets of Southern Europe. The subject of nearly all his poems is his hopeless affection for the high-minded and beautiful Laura de Sade. His purity is above reproach. He is pre-eminent for sweetness, pathos, elegance, and melody. (Italy, 14th cent.)

[77] Ariosto is Italy's great epic poet. Read his "Orlando Furioso," a hundred-fold tale of knights and ladies, giants and magicians. (Italy, 1474-1533).

[78] Tasso is the second name in Italian epic poetry; and by some he is placed above Ariosto and named in the same breath with Homer and Virgil. Read his "Jerusalem Delivered," and "Aminta," and glance at his minor poems composed while in confinement. (Italy, 16th cent.)

[79] Camoens is the glory of Portugal, her only poet whose fame has flown far beyond her narrow borders. Read his grand and beautiful poem, the "Lusiad," a national epic grouping together all the great and interesting events in the history of his country. (16th cent.)

[80] Omar Khayyam, the great astronomer poet of Persia, has no equal in the world in the concise magnificence with which he can paint a grand poetic conception in a single complete, well-rounded, melodious stanza. Read Fitzgerald's translation. (12th cent.)

[81] Firdusi, the author of the "Shah Nameh," or Poetic History of the great deeds of the sultans. Hafiz, the poet of love, and Saadi are other great Persian poets deserving at least a glance of investigation. (11th-14th cents.)

[82] Arnold's "Light of Asia" claims our attention for the additions it can make to our breadth of thought, giving us as it does briefly and beautifully the current of thinking of a great people very unlike ourselves. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[83] Pushkin is called the Byron of Russia. Russian songs have a peculiar, mournful tenderness. "They are the sorrows of a century blended in one everlasting sigh." (19th cent.)

[84] Lermontoff is the Russian Schiller. (19th cent.)

SCIENCE.

The most important sciences for the ordinary reader are Physiology, Hygiene, Psychology, Logic, Political Economy, Sociology and the Science of Government, Astronomy, Geology, and Natural History; but an elementary knowledge of all the sciences is very desirable on account of the breadth of mind and grasp of method which result therefrom. The International Scientific Series is very helpful in giving the brief comprehensive treatment of such subjects that is needed for those who are not specialists. The best books in this department are continually changing, because science is growing fast, and the latest books are apt to be fuller and better than the old ones. The best thing that can be done by one who wishes to be sure of obtaining the finest works upon any given subject in the region of scientific research, is to write to a professor who teaches that subject in some good university,--a professor who has not himself written a book on the subject,--and get his judgment on the matter.

[85] Physical health is the basis of all life and activity, and it is of the utmost importance to secure at once the best knowledge the world has attained in relation to its procurement and preservation. This matter has far too little attention. If a man is going to bring up chickens, he will study chicken books no end of hours to see just what will make them lay and make them fat and how he may produce the finest stock; but if he only has to bring up a few children, he will give no time to the study of the physical conditions of their full and fine development. Some few people, however, have a strange idea that a child is nearly as valuable as a rooster. There is no book as yet written which gives in clear, easily understood language the known laws of diet, exercise, care of the teeth, hair, skin, lungs, etc., and simple remedies. Perhaps Dalton's "Physiology," Flint's "Nervous System," Cutter's "Hygiene," Blaikie's "How to get Strong," and Duncan's "How to be Plump," Beard's "Eating and Drinking," Bellows' "Philosophy of Eating," Smith on Foods, Holbrook's "Eating for Strength," "Fruit and Bread," "Hygiene for the Brain," "How to Strengthen the Memory," and Kay's book on the Memory, Walter's "Nutritive Cure," Clark's "Sex in Education," Alice Stockham's "Tokology" or "Hygiene for Married Women," and Naphy's "Transmission of Life" will together give some idea of this all-valuable subject, though none of these books except the first are in themselves, apart from their subject, worthy of a place on the first shelf.

[86] Dr. Strong's little book, "Our Country," is of the most intense interest to every American who loves his country and wishes its welfare. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[88] The "Federalist" was a series of essays by Hamilton, Jay, and Madison, in favor of the Federal Constitution, and is the best and deepest book on the science of government that the world contains. (Amer., 1788.)

[89] Bryce on the American Commonwealth is a splendid book, a complete, critical, philosophic work, an era-making book, and should be read by every American who wishes to know how our institutions appear to a genial, cultured, broad-minded foreigner. Mr. Bryce has the chair of Political Economy in Oxford, and is a member of Parliament. His chief criticism of our great republic is that it is _hard to fix responsibility_ for lawlessness under our institutions, which is always an encouragement to wrongdoers. His book should be read with De Tocqueville. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[90] Montesquieu's "Spirit of Laws" is a profound analysis of law in relation to government, customs, climate, religion, and commerce. It is the greatest book of the 18th century. Read with it Bagehot's "Physics and Politics."

[91] Mill's "Logic" and "Political Economy" are simply necessities to any, even moderately, thorough preparation for civilized life in America. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[92] Read Bain on the "Emotions and the Will," "Mind and Body," etc. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[93] Herbert Spencer is the foremost name in the philosophic literature of the world. He is the Shakspeare of science. He has a grander grasp of knowledge, and more perfect _conscious_ correspondence with the external universe, than any other human being who ever looked wonderingly out into the starry depths; and his few errors flow from an over-anxiety to exert his splendid power of making beautiful generalizations. Read his "First Principles," "Data of Ethics," "Education," and "Classification of the Sciences," at any rate; and if possible, all he has written. Plato and Spencer are brothers. Plato would have done what Spencer has, had he lived in the 19th century.

[94] Darwin's "Origin of Species" stands in history by the side of Newton's "Principia." The thought of both has to a great extent become the common inheritance of the race; and it is perhaps sufficient for the general reader to refer to a good account of the book and its arguments, such as may be found in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[95] Read Herschel and Proctor in Astronomy, to broaden and deepen the mind with the grand and beautiful conceptions of this most poetic of the sciences. Proctor's books are more fascinating than any fiction. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[96] For a knowledge of what has been going on in this dim spot beneath the sun, in the ages before man came upon the stage, and for an idea about what kind of a fellow man was when he first set up housekeeping here, and how long ago that was, read Lyell's "Geology;" Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times," "Origin of Civilization and Primitive Condition of Man," and Lyell's "Antiquity of Man" (Eng., 19th cent.); and Dawson's "Chain of Life." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[97] Read Wood's beautiful and interesting books on Natural History; especially his "Evidences of Mind in Animals," "Out of Doors," "Anecdotes of Animals," "Man and Beast," "Here and Hereafter." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[98] Whewell's "History of the Inductive Sciences" is a very broadening book.

[99] De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" is one of the great books, and is superior in depth and style even to Bryce. The two books supplement each other. See note 89: (France, 18th cent.)

[100] "Constitutional History of the United States." (Ger., 19th cent.)

[101] "Wealth of Nations," "Moral Sentiments." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[102] "Principles of Population." One of the most celebrated of books. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[103] "Principles of Social Philosophy." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[104] "Essays on Political Economy," "Leading Principles of Political Economy." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[105] "Comparative Politics." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[106] "The Theory of Political Economy," "The Logic of Statistics." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[107] "The Nation, the Foundation of Civil Order and Political Life in the United States." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[108] "Leviathan." See note 190. (Eng., 16th cent.)

[109] "The Prince." (Italy, 1469-1527.)

[110] "Chips from a German Workshop," and various works on Philology. (Ger., 19th cent.)

[111] "Study of Words," etc. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[112] "Words and Places." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[113] "Natural History of Selborne." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[114] "Animal Kingdom." (France, early 19th cent.)

[115] "Voyages." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[116] "Heat as a Mode of Motion," "Forms of Water," etc. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[117] "On Sound." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[118] "Scientific Researches." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[119] "Conservation of Energy." In a book on this subject edited by E. L. Youmans. (Ger., 19th cent.)

[120] "Man's Place in Nature." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[121] Botany. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[122] "Methods of Study in Natural History." (U. S. 19th cent.)

[123] Physics. (U. S., 19th cent.)

BIOGRAPHY.

Biography carefully read will cast a flood of light before us on the path of life. Read Longfellow's "Psalm of Life," and try to find the teachings he refers to in the lives of great men. The world still lacks what it very much needs,--a book of _brief_ biographies of the greatest and noblest men and women of every age and country, by a master hand. The aim should be to extract from the past what it can teach us of value for the future; and to do this biography must become a comparative science, events and lives must be grouped over the whole range of the years, that by similarities and contrasts the truth may appear. Smiles's "Self-Help" is a partial realization of this plan.

The manner of reading should be: R. D.

[124] Plutarch's "Lives" comes nearer to a comparative biography than any other book we have. He contrasts his characters in pairs, a Greek and a Roman in each couplet. It is one of the most delightful of books, and among those most universally read by cultured people of all nations. Dryden's translation revised by Clough is the best. (Rome, 1st cent.)

[125] In Wendell Phillips's oration on "Toussaint L'Ouverture," there is a fascinating comparison of the noble negro warrior with Napoleon. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[126] Boswell's "Johnson" is admittedly the greatest life of a single person yet written. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[127] Lockhart's "Life of Scott" is a favorite with all who read it. Wilkie Collins especially recommends it as finely picturing genius and nobility of character. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[128] Marshall's "Life of Washington" is an inspiring book. Gladstone said to Mr. Depew: "Sixty years ago I read Chief-Justice Marshall's 'Life of Washington,' and I was forced to the conclusion that he was quite the greatest man that ever lived. The sixty years that have passed have not changed that impression; and to any Englishman who seeks my advice in the line of his development and equipment I invariably say, 'Begin by reading the Life of George Washington.'" (U. S., 19th cent.)

Franklin's "Autobiography" is brief, philosophic, and delightfully frank and clear. (U. S., 18th cent.)

[129] "The Life of Lincoln," by Nicolay and Hay, is a book that has very strong claims to the attention of every American, and every lover of liberty, greatness, nobility, and kindliness. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Grant's "Memoirs" deserves reading for similar reasons. The great General lived an epic, and wrote a classic. (U. S. 19th cent.)

[130] Read Carlyle's "Life of John Sterling," "Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches," and "Heroes and Hero Worship." (Eng., 19th cent.)

Renan's "Life of Christ." (France, 19th cent.)

[131] Canon Farrar's little "Life of Dante" is, considering its brevity, one of the best things in this department. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[132] Emerson's "Representative Men" most strongly stirs thought and inspires the resolution. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[133] "The Portrait Collection of the Hundred Greatest Men," published by Sampson, Low, & Co., 1879.

[134] Read Parton's "Sketches of Men of Progress." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[135] "Lights of Two Centuries." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[136] "Our Great Benefactors." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[137] "Book of Martyrs." (Eng., early 16th cent.)

[138] "The Life and Times of Goethe," and "Michaelangelo." Most interesting books. (Germany, 19th cent.)

[139] "English Statesmen." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[140] "Life of Napoleon." (France, 19th cent.)

[141] "Lives of the Poets." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[142] Walton's "Lives." (Eng., 17th cent.)

[143] "Life of Dr. Arnold." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[144] "Life of Washington." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[145] "Life of Nelson." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[146] "Life of Pitt." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[147] "Life of Byron." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[148] "Lives of Female Sovereigns and Illustrious Women." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[149] "Lives of the Saints." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[150] "Memories of many Men." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[151] "Reminiscences." (U. S., 18th cent.)

The Life and Letters of Darwin, Talleyrand, and Macaulay; the Journals of Miss Alcott, Marie Bashkirtseff, and Eugenie de Guerin; the Autobiography of Joseph Jefferson; the "American Statesmen" series, edited by John T. Morse, Jr., and the "English Men of Letters" series are all valuable books. The Journals of Miss Alcott and Marie Bashkirtseff are stories of heart struggles, longings, failures, and triumphs, and are of exceeding interest and great popularity. The Journal of Eugenie de Guerin deserves to be better known than it is, for the delicate sweetness of feeling that fills its pages.

HISTORY.

Remarks may be made about History very similar to those in the special remarks concerning Biography. The field is too vast for an ordinary life, and there is no book that will give in brief compass the net results and profits of man's investment in experience and life,--the dividends have not been declared. Guizot and Buckle come nearer to doing this than any other writers; but _the_ book that shall reduce the past to principles that will guide the future has not yet been written. The student will be greatly assisted by the "Manual of Historical Literature," by C. K. Adams. It is an admirable guide. Putnam's series, "The Stories of the Nations," and Scribner's "Epoch" series are very useful, especially for young people.

The manner of reading the best history should be: R. D. G.

[152] Green's "History of the English People" has probably the first claims on the general reader. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[153] Bancroft's "History of the United States" should be read by every American citizen, along with Dr. Strong's "Our Country." (U. S., 19th cent.) The only trouble with Bancroft is that he does not bring the history down to recent times. Hildreth for the student, and Ridpath for practical business men supply this defect. Doyle's "History of the United States" is perhaps the best small book, and his "American Colonies" is also good. McMaster's "History of the People of the United States" is a brilliant work, given largely to an account of the social life of the people.

[154] Guizot's "History of Civilization" and "History of France" (France, 19th cent.) are among the greatest books of the world; and with Buckle's "History of Civilization" (Eng., 19th cent.) will give a careful reader an intellectual breadth and training far above what is attained by the majority even of reading men.

[155] Parkman is the Macaulay of the New World. He invests the truths of sober history with all the charms of poetic imagination and graceful style. His literary work must take its place by the side of Scott and Irving. Read his "France and England in North America," "Conspiracy of Pontiac," and "The Oregon Trail."

Freeman, Fiske, and Fyffe are also great historians, who require notice here. Freeman's "Comparative Politics," "History of the Saracens," "Growth of the English Constitution," "History of Federal Government," and "General Sketch of History" are all great works,--the last being the best brief account of general history that we possess. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Fiske's "Civil Government," "War of Independence," and "Critical Period of American History" are standard books. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Fyffe's "Modern Europe" is called the most brilliant picture of the Revolutionary Period in existence. It is certainly one of the best of histories.

[155a] "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[156] "History of England in the 18th Century," "History of European Morals." These books take very high rank in respect to style, accuracy, and completeness. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[157] "Ten Great Religions," by James Freeman Clarke. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[158] "Comparative History of Religion."

[159] "Intellectual Development of Europe." A work of great power. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[160] "Middle Ages." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[161] "Constitutional History of England." Bagehot's "English Constitution" should be read with the works of Hallam, Freeman, and May on this topic, because of its brilliant generalizations and ingenious suggestions. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[162] "History of England." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[163] "History of England." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[164] "History of England." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[165] "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." (Eng., 18th cent.)

[166] "History of Greece." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[167] "History of New England." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[168] "Conquest of Mexico," "Peru," "Ferdinand and Isabella," etc. Prescott's style is of the very best, clear, graphic, and ever interesting. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[169] "Rise of the Dutch Republic." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[169a] "Rise of the Republic of the United States." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[170] "Ancient Egyptians." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[171] "History of Rome." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[172] "History of the Germans." (Ger., 1798.)

[173] "Latin Christianity." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[174] "History of the Papacy in the 16th and 17th Centuries." Ranke is one of the strongest names in history. (Ger., 19th cent.)

[175] "Italian Republics." (France, 1773-1842.)

[176] "History of France." (France, 19th cent.)

[177] "French Revolution." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[178] "History of France," "Norman Conquest of England." (France, 19th cent.)

[179] "Germania." His "Life of Agricola" is also worthy of note for the insight into character, the pathos, vigor, and affection manifested in its flattering pages. (Rome, 1st cent.)

[180] "History of Rome." (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.)

[181] "The War of Catiline." (Rome, 1st cent. B. C.)

[182] History of nearly all the nations known at the time he wrote. (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[183] "Anabasis, the Retreat of the Greek Mercenaries of the Persian King." (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[184] "History of the Athenian Domination of Greece." (Greece, 5th cent. B. C.)

[185] "History of the Jewish Wars." (Jerusalem, 1st cent.)

Mackenzie's "History of the Nineteenth Century" is the best English book on the subject.

Rawlinson's "Five Great Monarchies" is strongly recommended.

PHILOSOPHY.

There have been, since the waters of thought began to flow, two great streams running side by side,--Rationalism and Mysticism. Those who sail upon the former recognize Reason as king; those upon the latter enthrone some vague and shadowy power, in general known as Intuition. The tendency of the one is to begin with sense impressions, and out of these to build up a universe in the brain corresponding to the outer world, and to arrive at a belief in God by climbing the stairway of induction and analogy. The tendency of the other is to start with the affirmed nature of God, arrived at, the thinker knows not how, and deduce the universe from the conception of the Divine Nature. If this matter is kept in mind, the earnest student will be able to see through the mists sufficiently to discover what the philosophers are talking about whenever it chances that they themselves knew. Spencer, Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Locke, are all worthy of a thorough reading; and Comte's philosophy of Mathematics is of great importance.

The manner of reading good philosophic works should be: R. D. G.

[186] Spencer's Philosophy is the grandest body of thought that any one man has ever given to the world. No one who wishes to move with the tide can afford to be unfamiliar with his books, from "First Principles" to his Essays. He believes that all ideas, or their materials, have come through the avenues of the senses. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[187] Plato and Socrates are a double star in the sky of Philosophy that the strongest telescopes have failed to resolve. Socrates wrote nothing, but talked much. Plato was a pupil of his, and makes Socrates the chief character in his writings. Ten schools of philosophy claimed Socrates as their head, but Plato alone represented the master with fulness. Considering the times in which he lived, the grandeur of his thought, the power of his imagination, and the nobility, elegance, originality, and beauty of his writings, Plato has no superior in the whole range of literature. With Plato, ideas are the only realities, things are imperfect expressions of them, and all knowledge is reminiscence of what the soul learned when it was in the land of spirit, face to face with ideas unveiled. Read his dialogues, especially "Phaedo" and the "Republic." (Greece, 429-348 B. C.)

[188] A most acute idealist, whose argument against the existence of matter is one of the great passages of literature. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[189] Kant argues that the _forms_ of _thought_, _time_, and _space_ are necessarily intuitive, and not derived from sensation, since they are prerequisites to sensation. Read the "Critique of Pure Reason," "Critique of Practical Reason," in which he treats moral philosophy, and "Observations on the Sublime and Beautiful." (Germany, 18th cent.)

[190] Locke bases knowledge on sensation. His "Essay on the Conduct of the Understanding" is one of the most valuable books in the language. Spencer, Mill, and Locke have so fully imbibed all that was good in Hobbes that it is scarcely necessary to read him. (Eng., 17th cent.)

[191] Comte's "Positive Philosophy" rejects intuitive knowledge. It is characterized by force of logic, immense research, great power of generalization (which is frequently carried beyond the warrant of facts), and immense bulk. (France, 19th cent.)

[192] Sensationalist. A very strong writer. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[193] "Limits of Religious Thought." A very powerful exposure of the weakness of human imagination. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[194] "Matter and Force." A powerful presentation of Materialism. (Ger., 19th cent.)

[195] "Freedom of the Will." A demonstration of the impossibility of free will. (Amer., 18th cent.)

[196] A very acute English philosopher. (Eng., 1748-1832.)

[197] Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[198] A deep, clear thinker, of sceptical character, who laid bare the flaws in the old philosophies. (Eng., 1711-1776.)

[199] One of the most profound metaphysicians the world can boast, and inventor of quaternions, the latest addition to Mathematics. (Scot., 19th cent.)

[200] Aristotle was the Bacon of the Old World. His method was the very opposite of Plato's. He sought knowledge chiefly by carefully looking out upon the world, instead of by introspection. No one has exerted a greater influence on the thought of the world than this deep and earnest thinker. (Greece, 4th cent. B. C.)

[201] A very beautiful writer of the idealist school, though he claims to be eclectic. (France, 19th cent.)

[202] Hegel endeavored, by the method set forth in his "Absolute Logic," to reduce all knowledge to one science. (Ger., 1770-1831.) Schelling, in his "Philosophy of Identity," tries to prove that the same laws hold in the world of spirit as in the world of matter. Schelling bases his system on an _intuition_ superior to reason, and admitting neither doubt nor explanation. (Ger., 1775-1854.)

[203] Fichte carries the doctrines of Kant to their limit: to him all except the life of the mind is a delusion. (Ger., 18th cent.)

[204] A great German philosopher of the time of Luther (16th cent.), very learned, refined, and witty. Read his "Familiar Colloquies."

[205] "Cosmic Philosophy." (Amer. 19th cent.)

[206] "Rational Cosmology, or the Eternal Principles and Necessary Laws of the Universe." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[207] Scottish Philosophy. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[208] Theologico-politico-moral, voluminous dissertations. (Amsterdam, 17th cent.)

ESSAYS.

Next to Shakspeare's Plays, Emerson's Essays and Lectures are to me the richest inspiration. At every turn new and delightful paths open before the mind; and the poetic feeling and imagery are often of the best. Only the music and the power of discriminating the wheat from the chaff were lacking to have made one of the world's greatest poets. To pour into the life the spirit of Emerson, Bacon, and Montaigne is a liberal education in itself. Addison's "Spectator" is inimitable in its union of humor, sense, and imagination. A number of eminent men, Franklin among them, have referred to it as the source of their literary power.

Read these essays: R. D. C. G.

[209] Emerson's Essays and Lectures certainly deserve our first attention in this department, because of their poetic beauty and stimulating effect upon the imagination and all that is pure and strong and noble in the character. (Amer., 19th cent.)

[210] Nowhere can be found so much wit and wisdom to the square inch as in Bacon's Essays. (Eng., 1600.)

[211] Montaigne is the most popular of all the world's essayists, because of his common-sense, keen insight, and perfect frankness. The only author we certainly know to have been in Shakspeare's own library. (France, 1580.)

[212] Ruskin's "Ethics of the Dust," "Crown of Wild Olives," "Sesame and Lilies," while somewhat wild in substance as well as in title, are well worthy of reading for the intellectual stimulus afforded by their breadth of view, novelty of expression and illustration, and the intense force--almost fanaticism--which characterizes all that Ruskin says. Ruskin is one of three living writers whom Farrar says he would first save from a conflagration of the world's library. Carlyle is another of the same sort. Read his "Past and Present," a grand essay on Justice. (Eng., 19th cent.)

So far as style is concerned, Addison's Essays in the "Spectator" are probably the best in the world.

FICTION.

In modern times much that is best in literature has gone into the pages of the novel. The men and women of genius who would in other days have been great poets, philosophers, dramatists, essayists, and humorists have concentrated their powers, and poured out all their wealth to set in gold a story of human life. Don't neglect the novels; but be sure to read _good_ ones, and don't read too many.

In fiction, England, America, and France are far ahead of the rest of the world. Scott may well be held to lead the list, considering the quantity and quality of what he wrote; and Dickens, I presume, by many would be written next, though I prefer the philosophic novelists, like George Eliot, Macdonald, Kingsley, Hugo, etc. Fielding, Richardson, Goldsmith, Sterne, and Defoe, Jane Austen, Cooper, and Marryat all claim our attention on one account or another.

The United States can boast of Hawthorne, Tourgee, Wallace, Hearn, Aldrich, Warner, Curtis, Jewett, Craddock, and many others.

France has a glorious army, led by Victor Hugo, George Sand, Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, Merimee, etc. But the magnificent powers of these artists are combined with sad defects. Hugo is the greatest literary force since Goethe and Scott; but his digressions are sometimes terribly tedious, his profundity darkness, and his "unities," his plot, and reasons for lugging in certain things hard to find. Balzac gives us a monotony of wickedness. George Sand is prone to idealize lust. "Notre Dame" and "Les Miserables," "Le Pere Goriot" and "Eugenie Grandet," "Consuelo" and "La Mare au Diable," "Capitaine Fracasse" and "Vingt Ans Apres," are great books; but they will not rank with "Tom Jones" artistically, nor with the "Vicar of Wakefield," "Ivanhoe," "Adam Bede," "Romola," or "The Scarlet Letter," considering all the elements that go to make a great novel.

Germany, Italy, and Spain have no fiction that compares with ours.

No doubt many will be surprised to find Fielding, Balzac, Tolstoi, and others placed so low in the list as they are. The reason is that the moral tone of a book is, with us, a weightier test of its claims on the attention of the general reader, than the style of the author or the merit of his work from an artistic point of view. There might be some doubt whether or no we ought not to exclude from our tables entirely all books that are not noble enough in character to admit of their being read aloud in the family. The trouble is that much of the finest literature of the world would have to be excluded. So there seems to be no course but to admit these men, with a note as to their character.

One who wishes to make a study of the novel will be interested in Dunlop's "History of Fiction," Tuckerman's "History of English Prose Fiction," Hazlitt's "English Novelists," Lanier's "Novel," Masson's "British Novelists and their Styles," and Jeaffreson's "Novels and Novelists."

The best fiction should be read: R. D. G.

[213] "Heart of Midlothian," "Waverley," "Ivanhoe," "Kenilworth," "Guy Mannering," "The Antiquary," "Rob Roy," "Old Mortality," "Red Gauntlet," etc. Scott is by very many--and among them some of the greatest--loved more than any other novelist. The purity, beauty, breadth, and power of his works will ever place them among the most desirable reading. (Eng., 19th cent.) Hutton's "Sir Walter Scott," Carlyle's "Essay on Scott," Hazlitt's Essay in "The Spirit of the Age," and other books referred to in the head notes to Poetry and Fiction will be useful to the student of Scott.

[214] "Adam Bede," "Mill on the Floss," "Romola," "Silas Marner," etc. Deep philosophy and insight into character mark all George Eliot's writings. (Eng., 19th cent.) Lanier's "Development of the Novel" is practically only an enthusiastic study of George Eliot.

[215] "Pickwick," "David Copperfield," "Bleak House," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Old Curiosity Shop," etc. Dickens needs no comment. His fame is in every house. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[216] Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," "Marble Faun," "Great Stone Face," etc., are by universal consent accorded the first place in the lists of American novels, and are among the best to be found anywhere. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[217] "Vicar of Wakefield." One of Goethe's earliest favorites. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[218] "Rienzi," "Last Days of Pompeii," "Last of the Barons," etc. Most powerful, delightful, and broadening books. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[219] "Malcolm," "Marquis o' Lossie," "David Elginbrod," etc. Books of marvellous spiritual helpfulness. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[220] "Esmond," "Vanity Fair," etc. Very famous books. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[221] "Westward, Ho!" "Two Years Ago," etc. Among the best and most famous pictures of true English character. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[222] "Ben Hur." This book has been placed close to the Bible and Bunyan. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[223] "Hot Plowshares," "The Fool's Errand," "The Invisible Empire," "Appeal to Caesar," etc. Books widely known, but whose great merit is not fully recognized. Tourgee, though uneven, seems to us a writer of very great power. His "Hot Plowshares" is a powerful historical novel; and few books in the whole range of literature are so intensely interesting, and so free from all that is objectionable in subject or execution. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[224] "Les Miserables," "Notre Dame de Paris," "Les Travailleurs de la Mer," etc. Wraxall's translations of these great French novels are most excellent. (France, 19th cent.)

Some critics think that no characters in Shakspeare are better drawn than those of Dumas. "Monte Cristo," "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" (Stevenson's favorite), "The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "The Marie Antoinette Romances," etc., are powerful and intensely interesting novels. (France, 19th cent.)

[225] "Robinson Crusoe." There are few persons who do not get delight and inspiration from Defoe's wonderful story. (Eng., 1661-1731.)

"Tom Brown at Rugby" and "Tom Brown at Oxford," by Thomas Hughes, are delightful books for boys. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[226] Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was God's bugle-call to the war against slavery. Her "Oldtown Folks" and "Sam Lawson's Fireside Stories" are very humorous sketches of New England life. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Cooper's "The Spy," "The Pilot," "Leather Stocking," "Deerslayer," "Pathfinder," etc., are books that interfere with food and sleep, and chain us to their pages. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[227] "Prue and I," by George William Curtis, is one of the most suggestive stories in print, and is in every way a delightful book. "Potiphar Papers," "Our Best Society," "Trumps," "Lotus Eaters,"--in fact, everything Mr. Curtis writes, is of the highest interest, and worthy of the most careful attention. (U. S., 19th cent.)

The same may be said of the works of Charles Dudley Warner,--"Being a Boy," "A Hunting of the Deer," "In the Wilderness," "Backlog Studies," "My Summer in a Garden," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[228] T. B. Aldrich, while perhaps not destined to rank with Scott, Eliot, and Hawthorne, is nevertheless one of the most wholesome and interesting of living authors. "The Stillwater Tragedy" is his strongest book. "Prudence Palfrey," "The Story of a Bad Boy," "Margery Daw," and "The Queen of Sheba" will doubtless be read by those who once become acquainted with the author. (U. S., 19th cent.)

The first part of Hearn's "Chita" exceeds in beauty and strength any other piece of descriptive writing with which we are familiar. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[229] Ebers' "Homo Sum," "Uarda," and "An Egyptian Princess" are very powerful studies of Egyptian life and history. (Ger., 19th cent.)

"With Fire and Sword," and its sequels, "The Deluge" and "Pan Michael," by Henryk Sienkiewicz, are among the greatest books of modern times. They are historical romances of the conflict between Russia, Poland, and Sweden; and their power may be guessed from the fact that critics have compared the author favorably with Scott, Dumas, Schiller, Cervantes, Thackeray, Turgenieff, Homer, and even Shakspeare. (Poland, 19th cent.)

[230] Miss Austen's "Emma," "Pride and Prejudice" (Eng., 19th cent.), and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" (Eng., 19th cent.), are all noble and renowned novels.

[231] Louisa Alcott's "Little Women" is a lovely story of home life; and its exceeding popularity is one of the most encouraging signs of the growth of a taste for pure, gentle, natural literature. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Mrs. Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy" deservedly met at once a high reward of popularity, and was placed in the front rank among stories of child-life. As a teacher of gentleness and good manners it is invaluable. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[232] Cable's "Grande Pointe," "The Grandissimes," etc., should be read by all who wish to know the best living novelists. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Craddock's "Where the Battle was Fought," "Despot of Broomsedge Cove," "Prophet of Great Smoky Mountain," "Story of Keedon Bluffs," and "Down the Ravine" are fascinating stories, the last two being fine books for children. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[233] Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's "Sights and Insights," though somewhat too wordy for this busy world, is worthy a place here, because of its spiritual beauty and its keen common-sense in respect to marriage and courtship. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Sarah Orne Jewett has won a good name by her excellent stories, "Deephaven," "Betty Leicester," etc. Her "Play Days" is a fine book for girls. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[234] Fielding, Le Sage, and Balzac are writers of great power, whose works are studied for their artistic merit, their wit, and the intense excitement some of them yield; but the general moral tone of their writings places them below the purer writers above spoken of in respect to their value to the general reader, one of whose deepest interests is character-forming.

Fielding's "Tom Jones" is by many considered the finest novel in existence; and it undoubtedly would be, if along with its literary skill it possessed the high tone of Curtis or Scott. "Jonathan Wild" is also a powerful story. (Eng., 18th cent.)

"Gil Blas," by Le Sage, is one of the most famous and widely read books in the world. (France, 1668--1747.)

Balzac's best are "Le Pere Goriot" (and especially the magnificent preface to this book), "La Recherche de l'Absolu," "Eugenie Grandet," "La Peau de Chagrin," etc. (France, 19th cent.)