1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature

AUTHOR
SAME
THE
BY
NOVELS
FROM
MAN
A
OF
ANNA
NORTH
THE
TOWNS
FIVE
THE
LEONORA
MAN
GREAT
A
GOD
WHOM
LOVE
PROFANE
AND
SACRED
JOINED
HATH
ALIVE
BURIED
WIVES'
THE
OLD
THE
GLIMPSE
TALE
THE
WITH
HELEN
HIGH
HAND
CLAYHANGER
THE
CARD
FANTJSIJS
THE
GRAND
THE
GATES
TERESA
WRATH
WATLING
OF
THE
HOTEL
BABYLON
OF
LOOT
STREET
CITIES
OF
HUGO
THE
GHOST
THE
CITY
OF
PLEASURE
SHORT
TALES
OF
THE
GRIM
THE
STORIES
FIVE
SMILE
TOWNS
OF
THE
FIVE
TOWNS
BELLES-LETTRES
FOR
JOURNALISM
FAME
AND
HOW
TO
THE
TRUTH
THE
REASONABLE
HOW
BECOME
TO
A
THE
WOMEN
FICTION
AUTHOR
AN
ABOUT
AUTHOR
AN
LIFE
LIVE
ON
TWENTY-FOUR
HOURS
DAY
MACHINE
HUMAN
LITERARY
TASTE
DRAMA
POLITE
FARCES
CUPID
AND
COMMONSENSE
WHAT
THE
PUBLIC
(in
collaboration
THE
SINEWS
THE
STATUE
WANTS
with
OF
:
WAR
A
Romance
EDEN
:
A
PHILLPOTTS)
Romance
TASTE
LITERARY
TO
HOW
WITH
DETAILED
COLLECTING
IT
FORM
INSTRUCTIONS
A
COMPLETE
ENGLISH
LIBRARY
FOR
OF
LITERATURE
BY
ARNOLD
BENNETT
LONDON
FRANK
12-14
PALMER
RED
LION
COURT
"0
I9II
\
Published,
First
Edition,
Second
Edition,
Third
All
Rights
B35'
August
1909.
September
April
Reserved,
1910.
191
1.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
1.
THE
AIM
7
....
2.
YOUR
PARTICULAR
CASE
14
.
3.
WHY
4.
WHERE
5.
HOW
6.
THE
A
CLASSIC
TO
TO
IS
CLASSIC
A
21
28
BEGIN
READ
A
CLASSIC.
STYLE
OF
QUESTION
35
42
.
7.
WRESTLING
8.
SYSTEM
9.
VERSE
WITH
AN
AUTHOR
55
62
READING
IN
69
....
82
10.
BROAD
11.
AN
ENGLISH
LIBRARY:
12.
AN
ENGLISH
LIBRARY:
13.
AN
ENGLISH
LIBRARY
14.
MENTAL
COUNSELS
STOCKTAKING
PERIOD
:
I.
PERIOD
II.
PERIOD
III.
89
97
102
113
LITERARY
TASTE
HOW
TO
IT
FORM
I
CHAPTER
THE
At
the
beginning
from
most,
look
path.
by acquiring
themselves,
and
members
of
ashamed
of
same
of
ignorance
of
their
do
to
man
ought
literature
is
have
and
occasions
;
ride
know,
of
one
to
to
behave
they
finally fit
if
their
with
fairly
in
the
a
and
idea.
their
propriety
'*
up
that
with
themselves
or
called
about,
is
such
:
dress
7
the
in
of
things
know
to
or
as
secretly
are
suddenly
certain
are
"
are
complete
ashamed
horse
them
learnt
not
high entertainment,
a
a
moved
re-
plishment,
accom-
literature,
be
There
to
will
They
of
would
etiquette at
so.
if
themselves
society.
they
people,
they
ignorance
inabilityto
upon
They
their
be
elegant
an
as
which
make
correct
a
as
way
Many
literarytaste
on
must
misconception
a
the
AIM
priety,
proon
all
questions
LiteraryTaste
8
of the
day ; by industryand enterprisethey are
succeedingin their vocations ; it behoves them,
then, not to forget that an acquaintancewith
literature is an indispensable
ing
part of a self-respectpersonal baggage. Painting doesn't
man's
matter
"
music
;
is
everyone
Then,
doesn't
matter
literature
is such
thus
Literarytaste
certificate of
a
culture
literature.
about
charming
two
serves
correct
"
know
supposedto
distraction !
purposes
and
But
much.
very
as
a
:
as
a
private
mense
of mathematics, improfessor
and
at mathematics
dangerous at
games,
said
chess,capableof Haydn on the violin,once
after listening
chat on
to
to
some
books,
me,
take up
literature."
As though
"Yes, I must
I was
rather
forgettingliterature.
saying:
However, I've polishedoff all these other things.
I'llhave a shy at literature now."
A
pastime.
young
"
M
This
it,is
what
or
attitude,
To
wrong.
literature
is,this
any
him
is,and
attitude
attitude which
who
what
is
resembles
reallycomprehends
the function
of literature
simply ludicrous. It is
also fatal to the formation of literary
taste.
People
who
taste
plishment,
regard literary
simply as an accomand literature simply as a distraction,
will never
trulysucceed either in acquiringthe
as
accomplishmentor in using it half-acquired
a
The
Aim
9
distraction ;
is the most
though the one
perfect
of distractions,
and
passed
though the other is unsurby any other accomplishmentin elegance
in power
to impress the universal
or
snobbery of
civilised mankind.
Literature,instead of being
an
fundamental
is the
accessory,
sine qua
of
non
completeliving. I am extremelyanxious to avoid
rhetorical exaggerations.I do not
think I am
that he who
has not
guiltyof one in asserting
been
of literature
presented to the freedom
has not
wakened
of his prenatalsleep.
out
up
He
is merelynot born.
can't see ; he can't
He
hear ; he can't feel,
in any full sense.
He
can
"
"
his dinner.
only eat
else annoys
of
What
peoplewho
and
literature,
the
know
have
than
more
anything
function
true
profitedthereby,is
the
of so
thousands
of individuals
spectacle
many
going about under the delusion that they are alive,
when, as a fact,they are no nearer
being alive
than
a
bear in winter.
m:
I will tell you
I could.
wish
But
can
be thrown
no
more.
And,
to
or
history,
you
went
on
I can't.
the
to
so, I will take
forward
for
a
walk
No
one
No
can.
"
I
only
Gleams
inklingsgiven,but
give you an inkling.
secret,
will try
I
do
literature is !
what
into
with
you
it.
your
back
That
into your
own
evening when
faithful friend,
the
LiteraryTaste
lo
nothing or almost
in truth, somewhat
You
!
nothing
were,
him
the particular
inclined to hide from
matter
which
monopolisedyour mind that evening,but
contrived
somehow
to
to get on
it,drawn
you
friend from
.
whom
.
hid
you
"
.
as
overpowering fascination. And
your
and
faithful friend was
sympatheticand discreet,
flattered you
curiosity,
by a respectful
you
ceeded
pro-
by
an
further
and
growing more
you
cried
she
is
you
were
further
and
terrific
a
me
faithful friend
Your
other
keen
fairly
Troy
had
be
called
miracle,then
a
had
burnt
If
miracle.
a
she
might
you
miracle.
.
.
in
not
She
for her.
My
boy,
moment
ordinary
miraculous.
that
she
fortythousand
was
just a girl.
A girlcannot
girlis
a
the
noticed
about
to
be
called
a
call pretty
That
.
was
never
observers.
been
not
that
At
course,
had
miraculous, nor
was
"
last
at
of literature.
domain
explain. Of
of the word,
acceptation
Let
whisper:
!"
simply miraculous
in the
said matter,
the
until
confidential,
more
out, in
into
nearlyanything
is justit : you might.
ought. Amid all the miracles of
had just wakened
the universe
you
up to one.
full of your
You
were
were
discovery. You
under
a divine
impulsionto impartthat discovery.
You
of the marvellous
had a strong sense
beauty
You
can.
You
The
Aim
ii
of
and you had to share it. You
were
something,
in a passionabout something,
and you had to vent
towards
drawn
on
yourself
somebody. You were
of the
the whole
rest
of the human
effect of your mood
and utterance
friend. He knew
that she was
not
could have
other person
miracle.
a
was
of your
did for
You
blind
to
Your
unstopped,to
not
forced
enough
for
Others
had
wakened
to
up.
possible I
"
am
friend the very
at
other
some
too,
force and
the
sincerity
fervour
him
cause
to
you
you
and
of
feel that he
girl.
You
were
ears
were
part of the beauty and
see
;
to
and
tell
that
you
a
strong instinct
It
someone.
and
saw
had
Others
hear.
the
was
heard.
to
be
It is quite
they were !
faithful
that your
not
quitesure
next day,or the next
month, looked
that she,
girl,and suddenly saw
And
"
miraculous
was
believe that she
the miracle of that
some
you
No
in your vision,
participate
strangeness of the world
within
miracle.
producing literature.
unlidded,your
eyes were
were
alive.
him
the
faithful
your
a
her,and by
quitea long time
been
on
him
by the
you,
vision of
own
desire to make
your
had
But
made
Mark
race.
!
The
influence
of literature !
M
The
seen
makers
and
of literature
felt the
miraculous
are
those
who
have
of
interestingness
1
Taste
Literary
12
ture
of literathe greatest makers
vision has been the widest,
those whose
And
the universe.
are
intense.
feelinghas been the most
and
Your
was
accidental,
own
fragmentof insight
Their lives are
one
long
perhaps temporary.
ecstasyof denyingthat the world is a dull place.
that
Is it nothingto you to learn to understand
dull place
}
Is it nothing to
the world is not
a
and
you
to
whose
be led
to
have
heart
These
The
out
all your
of the tunnel
senses
by the true
beatingunder
makers
aim
of
savour
on
to
the
hillside,
be invigorto
quickened,
ated
feel your
of life,
to
necktie of yours }
of literature render you their equals.
that correct
literary
studyis
of leisure ; it is
not
to
amuse
the
it is to be
oneself,
one's capacity
for pleasure,
for
to intensify
alive,
sympathy,and for comprehension. It is not to
hours.
It is to
affect one
hour, but twenty-four
change utterlyone's relations with the world.
An understanding
of literature means
appreciation
of the world,and it
an
appreciation
understanding
means
nothingelse. Not isolated and unconnected
but all of life,
and
broughttogether
parts of life,
The
correlated in a synthetic
of
spirit
map !
literature is unifying
the candle and the
; it joins
star,and by the magic of an image shows that the
beautyof the greater is in the less. And, not
hours
to
awake
The
with
content
Aim
disclosure
the
bringing together of
focus, it enforces
its
doubly
by
and
the
is the
It
lot.
the
by
"
In
Lecture
in
studying
proof
our
Rousseau
of
means
one's
how
best
bush
for
common
discoverer,
it in
that
is
use
to
than
this
the
Extension
blackberries."
God
a
that
forget
is well
is first and
to
last
a
enterpriseof forming
had
The
"
to
It
life.
learning
People
would
intensely,will
in
afire with
is apt
live, people who
the finest passage
ing
weigh-
assertion
is for.
of
means
feel
in
enterprise of
an
single
a
George Saintsbury
one
literature
that
They
eat
the
againstthe
and
ness,
loveli-
Shakespeare's plots,or
of
literature.
eschew
and
reallyis
life,and
to
want
hibernate
lot is the
ing
trac-
consoles
It
University
scoundrel,
a
literarytaste
don't
from
of
for and
ourselves
remind
a
researches
was
literature
what
asking
the
unsuspected
of
cry
sources
evidence
the
that
the
within
by
effect.
of
attending
the
wisdom
and
cause
and
whatever
originsof English prosody, or
the
into
moral
and
beauty
things
supreme
the
on
of
revelation
offeringsympathy
gesture.
all
a
of
everywhere
13
sooner
be
wise
better, to
fine poem,
sight of
might upset
"
their
sit around
common
nerves.
to
quote
"
a
who
II
CHAPTER
The
of
attitude
of
classics
the
I
the
of
in
schools
in
(It
is
take,
a
the
juvenile
person
he
style
the
the
would
and
he
He
does
hesitate
buys
not
it, by
way
expect
to
a
mild
enchanted
to
as
read
have
is
Browne
literature^
in
a
sho]
foi
shop-window,
entering
be
to
Medici
a
of
I will
offensive
no
English
in
Religio
about
Shakespeare.
Thomas
Sir
outside
(or, rather,
he
of
anything
sees
bound
res
every
Browne,
has
is
He
by
unsurpassed
window
average
Education
Blake.)
Thomas
Sir
that
"
"
taught
"
make
of
teach
"
the
take
themsel
to
enemy
example,
memories.
somewhere
day
don't
of
bind
effort
distrust
not
is
Board
the
say,
lifelong
they
an
will
I
pedagogic
a
mercy
for
whom
One
to
of
one
Shakespeare
determined
a
land
the
in
is
authorities
together
boy
that
;
all
and
for
Shakespeare,
towards
person
is
tongue
own
said, of fear.
"
case
decent
average
his
almost
had
CASE
PARTICULAR
YOUR
a
bookshop]
experiment
by
it
Particular Case
Your
profound
is
Browne
tells
instinct
"
not
him
in his line
less enchanted
that
"
;
15
Sir
and
Thomas
in the result
he
than
expectedto be.
reads the introduction,and he glances
He
at the
of the work.
He
first page or two
sees
nothing
The
work
makes
but words.
no
appealto him
is surrounded
He
whatever.
by trees, and cannot
he is
even
the
perceive
Yes, very
has at any
Browne.
fine ! "
puts the book
He
is
Browne
Sir Thomas
"
forest.
mentioned,
Browne
vain
may,
will say,
a
get enthusiastic
or
he
of pridethat he
feeling
rate
bought and inspectedSir Thomas
Deep in his heart is a suspicionthat
with
people who
year
If
away.
are
conceited
and
has
recovered
caused
by
Sir Thomas
is young
and
Sir Thomas
poseurs.
he
so, when
if he
about
from
After
a
couragem
the dis-
Browne,
hopeful,repeat
he
the
Addison.
Same
with Congreve or
experim.ent
sequel! And so on for perhaps a decade,until
with
the classics finally
his commerce
expires!
That, magazinesand newish fiction apart, is the
of the average decent person.
history
literary
M
though you are genuinely
bears
preoccupiedwith thoughts of literature,
certain disturbingresemblances
to the drab
case
You
do not approach the
of the average person.
classics with gusto
anyhow, not with the same
And
even
your
case,
"
1
LiteraryTaste
6
gusto
as
would
you
approach a
novel
new
by
a
fancy. You
murmured
to
never
reading
yourself,when
Gibbon's
Decline and Fall in bed :
Well, I really
read one
must
more
chapterbefore I go to sleep!"
modern
author
had
who
taken
your
"
4
the
Speakinggenerally,
\ pleasure
commensurate
them
peruse
with
a
classics do
with
sense
their
of
doing the right thing,a sense
rather than with
a
yourself,"
You
do
smack
not
your
lips;
aiFord you
not
You
renown.
of
duty, a sense
of "improving
of gladness.
sense
you
say
:
"
That
You
little plans for
make
good for me."
for breaking
reading,and then you invent excuses
the plans. Something new,
something which is
will surelydraw
from a
not
a
classic,
away
you
classic. It is all very well for you to pretendto
'#is
with
agree
is
Harlowe
the
one
verdict
of the
elect that
Clarissa
of the greatest novels in the world
number
of a
new
a
Kipling,or even
to
neglect Clarissa
magazine, will cause
you
Harlowe^ just as though Kipling,
etc., could not
be kept for a few days without
turning sour !
have to ordain rules for yourself,
So that you
as
:
read anythingelse until I have read
I will not
Richardson, or Gibbon, for an- hour each day."
Thus
proving that you regard a classic as a pill,
merits jam ! And
the swallowingof which
the
a
"
new
"
more
modern
a
classic
is,the
more
it resembles
I
Particular Case
Your
17
stuff of the year and the less it resembles
the
classics of the centuries,
more
easy
e
the
and
do you fin4that classic. Hence
enticing
you are
glad that George Eliot,the Brontes,Thackeray,
do
because you really
considered
as
classics,
are
sentiments
Your
concerningthem
enjoy them.
rattling
approachyour sentiments concerninga
good story in a magazine.
,
*
"
"
I may
I
may
have
exaggerated or,
"
characteristics of
"
probablethat in the mirror
recognisethe rough outlines
You
do
not
care
hand,
the
unsatisfactory
y6ur particular
case, but it is ^
understated
have
the other
on
to
admit
I
hold
of your
it ; but it is
up
you
likeness.
You
so.
yourself.The desire to be
feel that
You
in you.
more
persists
trulyliterary
in you, but you cannot
there is somethingwrong
the spot. Further, you feel
on
put your finger
that you are a bit of a sham.
Somethingwithin
exhibit for the
forces you
to
continually
you
which you do not sincerely
classics an enthusiasm
that you
feel. You even
try to persuadeyourself
are
you
enjoyinga book, when the next moment
it.
drop it in the mic^leand forgetto resume
You
buy classicalworks, and do not
occasionally
decide that it is
read them at all ; you practically
enough to possess them, and that the mere
are
not
content
with
2
Your
learted
your
effort.
mind
Particular Case
You
must
19
begin by making
adequately. You
must
rise
to
up
the
heightof the affair. You must
approach a grand
You
undertakingin the grand manner.
ought
the day in the calendar as a solemnity.
to mark
Human
is weak, and has need
of tricky
nature
in the pursuitof happiness.Time
will
aids,even
be necessary to you,
and
time
regularlyand
set apart.
sacredly
Many peopleaffirm that they
be regular,
that regularity
numbs
them.
cannot
of a very few people,and
I think this is true
that in the rest
the objectionto regularity
is
I am
idleness.
merely an attempt to excuse
that you
are
capable
I inclined to think
personally
of regularity.
And
I am
that if you firmly
sure
devote
and
certain specific
hours
on
constantly
certain specific
days of the week to this business
of formingyour literary
taste, you will arrive at
The
the
sooner.
simple act of
goal much
This
is the
first
resolution will help you.
preliminary.
is to surround
yourself
preliminary
for yourself a bookish
with
books, to create
atmosphere. The merelyphysicalside of books
is important more
important than it may seem
the inexperienced.Theoretically
to
(save for
of reference),
student has need for but
works
a
The
second
"
LiteraryTaste
20
of
amateur
an
Theoretically,
literature might develop his taste
by expending
penny
sixa
day, in one
sixpence a week, or a penny
edition of a classic after another
sixpenny
edition of a classic,
and
his library
he might store
in a hat-box
biscuit-tin.
in practicehe
But
or
a
book
one
would
at
time.
a
have
succeed
in
such
flattered ; the
of
be
to
must
for
the
monster
conditions.
hand
owning
a
be
must
be
flattered.
of
resolution
The
eye
be
must
flattered ; the
Sacrifices must
to
sense
be
That
of literature.
acquisition
A
which
has cost
a sacrifice is alwaysendeared.
detailed scheme
of buying books
will come
later,
further
in the light of
knowledge. For the
the
received
has
buy whatever
present, buy
imprimatur of critical authority. Buy without any
immediate
reference to what you will read.
Buy !
Surround
as
yourselfwith volumes, as handsome
affbrd.
And
for reading,all that I v/ill
can
you
now
particularly
enjoinis a generaland inclusive
in order to attain a sort of familiarity
with
tasting,
made
"
the
look
turning
Chambers's
third
for
admirable
mark
the
of
over
"literature
of
the
in all its branches."
pages
of
a
volume
A
of
the
Cyclopediaof English Literature^
be
preference,may
suggested as an
and
a
divertingexercise. You might
that flash an appealto you.
authors
j
III
CHAPTER
WHY
The
large
aeroplanes
They
do
it.
to
be
violent,
hundred
thousand
to
the
what
they
will
gather
and
that
it
would
novel
is
because
that
they
of
not
not
a
whit
because
they
have
enjoy
it
"
now
worse
their
not
taste
had
21
and
forgotten
than
has
it,
reading
Stubbs's
Select
read
because
not
you
of
did
they
ago
years
dream
Bishop
reading
two
made
now,
utterly
more
no
if
ten
novel
have
the
enthusiasm
novel
faint
is
happens
Ask
whose
that
would
Probably
they
;
of
than
again
Charters.
ago
think
it
in
spasmodic.
different
in-
quite
interest
their
popular
about
Legislature.
not
are
care
care
the
interest
persons
a
they
they
if
is
it
of
vogue
of
their
or,
;
they
as
it ;
But
perfunctory
and
fellow-citizens
our
programme
ignore
not
CLASSIC
A
literature
the
or
IS
of
majority
about
much
as
CLASSIC
A
it
was
it
said
the
ten
improved
sufficient
again
years
but
"
practice
to
Taste
Literary
22
of perrelyon their taste as a means
manent
pleasure.
They simplydon't know from
them.
dayto the next what will please
be able to
one
In the face of this
one
may
ask
:
Why
does
the great and universal fame of classicalauthors
The
is that the fame of
continue ?
answer
classicalauthors
is
of
independent
entirely
the
Do you suppose that if the fame of
majority.
in the street
Shakespeare
dependedon the man
The
fame of
it would survive a fortnight
}
classicalauthors is originally
made, and it is
Even
few.
when
maintained,
by a passionate
first-classauthor has enjoyed
immense
success
a
have never
the majority
during his lifetime,
him so sincerely
as
appreciated
ated
theyhave apprecisecond-rate men.
He
has alwaysbeen
reinforced by the ardour of the passionate
few.
And
in the case
of an author who has emerged
into gloryafter his death the happysequel
has
been due solely
to the obstinate perseverance of
the few. They could not leave him alone ; they
would
not.
him, and
They kept on savouring
about him, and buyinghim, and they
talking
behaved with such eager zeal,
and they
generally
were
that
so
at
sound
authoritative and
last the
of his
sure
of
themselves,
majority
grew accustomed to
and placidly
name
agreedto
the
the
Why
a
Classic is
that he
proposition
reallydid not care
was
a
very
a
Classic
genius;
much
the
either
23
majority
way.
M
by the passionatefew that the
of genius is kept alive from one
renown
tion
generaThese few are always at work.
to another.
They are always rediscoveringgenius. Their
that
and enthusiasm
so
are
exhaustless,
curiosity
of genius being ignored.
there is little chance
And, moreover,
they are always working either
for or
againstthe verdicts of the majority.
but it is
The
a
reputation,
majoritycan make
the
it. If,by accident,
careless to maintain
too
passionatefew agree with the majority in a
instance,they will frequentlyremind
particular
and
such
the majoritythat such
a
reputation
will idlyconcur
has been made, and the majority
:
must
not
forget
"Ah, yes.
By the way, we
out
exists." Withsuch a reputation
that such and
that persistent
memory-jogging the reputation
would
quicklyfall into the oblivion which
The
is death.
passionatefew only have their
of the fact that they are genuinely
way by reason
And
it
is
interested in
by their
conquer
of the
their eternal repetition
them.
by
Do
that literature
literature,
you
They
suppose
in the street
that
matters
to
obstinacyalone,
same
statements.
they could prove to the man
Shakespearewas a great artist }
LiteraryTaste
24
The
said
would
man
not
the
understand
even
they employed. But when he is told ten
thousand
times,and generationafter generation,
the said man
that Shakespearewas
a
great artist,
terms
by faith. And he
a
great artist,
repeats that Shakespearewas
of Shakespeare
he buys the completeworks
his shelves,and he goes to
on
puts them
believes
too
and
and
see
the
"
by
not
reason,
marvellous
but
which
stage-efFects
Hamlet^ and
King Lear or
convinced
religiously
comes
pany
accom-
back
that
Shakespearewas a great
few could not
artist. All because
the passionate
of Shakespeare to themselves.
keep their admiration
This is not
cynicism; but truth. And
form
it is important that those
who
wish
to
should
their literary
taste
grasp it.
What
a
the
causes
fuss about
literature .'* There
reply. They
in literature.
few
passionate
find
a
keen
and
make
to
such
be
only one
lastingpleasure
can
They enjoyliterature
as
some
men
The
of this pleasure
recurrence
enjoy beer.
keeps their interest in literature very
naturally
much
alive.
They are for ever
making new
themselves.
researches,for ever
practisingon
themselves.
They learn to understand
They
learn
what
Their
know
to
taste
they want.
becomes
and
their experience
surer
surer
as
Why
Classic is
a
They do not
^^Rngthens.
^^Kill tedious to them
book
find
tedious,
^^"iey
clatter will
and
when
of the
that
have
the
When
to-morrow.
of
popular
pleasurable
;
amount
no
persuade them that it is
they find it pleasurableno
is
book
faith
and
good
conviction
They
permanent.
What
themselves.
in
chill silence
will affect their
street-crowds
25
enjoy to-day what
seem
a
Classic
a
the
are
which
in a book
give keen and lasting
qualities
is a
This
pleasure to the passionatefew ?
question so difficult that it has never
yet been
talk lightly
You
completelyanswered.
may
about truth,insight,
knowledge,wisdom, humour,
and
beauty. But these comfortable words do
not
reallycarry you very far,for each of them
last.
the first and
has to be defined,especially
It is all very well for Keats in his airymanner
that beauty is truth,truth beauty,and
to
assert
that that is all he
for one,
shall
need
to
Sainte-Beuve, has
lines that
and
come
I say
theygive
to
a
The
woods
And
over
And
more.
not
I,
know.
I
never
Hazlitt
even
the
I take
nor
he
first fine
"
Arcady are dead,
is their antiquejoy
that those
me
lot
to
explainedwhy
finally
ever
hand
needs
or
beautiful.
book
a
know
Nobody,
know.
thought
knows
of
"
lines
are
beautiful because
pleasure.But why
?
No
answer
!
Why
It does
not
It
survive
or
canons,
because
it
the
it than
passionate
because
few
they
before
the
is
bee
do
read
That
right.
are
"The
horse.
right things solely because
reading
point
a
hot
all the
you
will
in
fail
to
The
driving impulse
you
to
teach
You
that
the
do
is
not
all.
A
I
you
experience
Green
or
to
may
as
via
be
will
of
of
ways
interest
keenest
at
force
pleasure.
yourself :
must
joys.
will
evitably
in-
But, of
acquired judiciously or
Putney
St
that
experience
means
of
that,
classics.
certain
interest
and
my
have
you
nothing
in
at
literarytaste
to
If
secret
the
arrive
now
your
continuance
injudiciouslly,
just
Walham
like
the
the
know
bring
course,
few
passionate
pleasure
of
use
cart
the
acquire experience,
you
the
put
"
the
essential
of
The
right things
to
It matters
find
flower.
are
literature.
come.
more
no
right things"
and
primary
one
interest
rest
present
Hence
is
"
the
"
is
them.
the
"
it.
pleasure,
can
neglect a
can
not
of
few
certain
kill
not
source
a
27
to
would
passionate
a
Classic
a
it conforms
because
neglect
because
neglect
is
because
survives
and
Classic
a
may
be
Petersburg.
reached
via
IV
CHAPTER
T
intimidated
this
It
taste.
There
is
is
of
thoughts
and
nor
in
of
himself
perts
Ex-
split
or
poetry
such
sub-divisions
as
elegiac, heroic, lyric
etc.,
ad
is all
the
fostered
of
literature
in the
head.
All
passion,
of
feeling,
"tion'
of
of 'the
historian
to
historical
;
profane,
and
is
that
of
idea
The
indivisible.
should
well
be
literature
emotion,
of
interestingness
write
prose
truth
greater
up
"
of
unity
the
and
one
religious
or
;
But
infinitum.
literature
philosophic,
imaginative,
or
;
have,
literature
"
and
with
branches."
its
convenience,
and
it looks.
as
(chiefly pedagogues)
pedagogues
purpose
all
literary
inexperienced
the
frighten
and
literature
"
complex
for
plexity
com-
the
forming
so
whatever
confuse
divisions
into
vast
need
to
of
be
not
and
vastness
apparent
so
should
readers
my
enterprise
not
no
enthusiast
the
the
by
of
for
that
particularly
WISH
BEGIN
TO
WHERE
history
}
planted
is the
caused
life.
Nothing
expression
by
What
but
and
a
sensa-
drives
the
over-
a
where
whelmingimpressionmade
of past times.
Begin
to
is forced
He
him
upon
29
by the
into
survey
attempt
an
to
picture for others. If hitherto
failed to perceivethat a historian is a
have
you
being in strong emotion, trying to convey his
emotion
in the
to
others, read the passage
of Gibbon, in which he describes how he
Memoirs
reconstitute
the
finished the
againlook
never
"
Decline
dry
"
and
You
Fall,
the
upon
Decline
will
probably
and
Fall
as
a
work.
M
What
"
"
appliesto historyappliesto the other
branches.
Even
Johnson's Dictionaryis
dry
packed with emotion.
of the preface
to it :
Read
"
be
found
that
much
In
is
this
last
the
paragraph
it shall
work, when
omitted,let
it not
be forgotten
likewise is
It
performed.
may repress the triumph of malignantcriticism to
that if our
observe
languageis not here fully
I have only failed in an
displayed,
attempt which
have hitherto completed.
.'*
human
no
powers
I have protracted
the close ;
And
to
on
so
my
I wish to please
of those whom
till most
work
that much
...
.
.
"
have
sunk
into
the
grave,
soun
are
carriage
empty
with frigid
tranquil'
hope "ffom cehsiire ol
fr
quillity
; but not
and
and
'success
mis-,
iniss it
...
^
^c", waxv
"
"
'e
passage,
one
LiteraryTaste
30
of the
heat
finest in
of
emotion.
in
quality
You
may
from
the
such
You
books
For
the
the
same
is
as
of Swinburne,
begintillemotion
between
discover
may
by
Spencer'sFirst Principles.
discover
it everywhere in literature,
cold fire of Pope'sironyto the blasting
temperatures
There
is marked
English prose,
has
even
does
not
begun.
definable difference
essential,
no
those two
Literature
great branches,prose and poetry.
may have rhythm. All that can be said
is that verse
will scan, while prose will not.
The
prose
difference is
succeeded
in
Browne,
and
only be
purelyformal. Very few poets have
Sir Thomas
as Isaiah,
beingso poetical
Ruskin
stated
that,as
instinctive
an
literature
achievements
been
in prose.
It
rule,writers have
a
tendencyto choose verse
the very
highest emotion.
expressionof
supreme
have
is in
in prose
finest achievements
decidingbetween
but
verse,
in
them.
In
the
for the
the
The
finest
the
it is ill work
that
verse
shown
nearlyto
approach so
can
in which
sense
poetry is best understood,all literature is poetry
"
or
is,at
in
any rate, poetical
ill-informed and
his
his
are
unjustdenunciations
genuine emotion
Lays of Ancient
not
the
quality.Macaulay's
made
Rome
them
expression of
into poetry, while
dead
are
a
live because
because
genuine
they
eniotion.
where
taste
literary
the
As
emotion, restrained
Begin
to
31
develops,this qualityof
and
loosed,will be more
or
widely perceived at large in literature.
be looked
for. It
It is the qualitythat must
is the qualitythat unifies literature (and all
the arts).
more
M
It is not
to
out
map
with
literature into
different
is
harmful,for
divisions and
laws, rules,or
you
branches,
The
canons.
first
possessionof literature.
felt some
have actually
of the emotion
you
great writers have striven to impart to you,
thing is
When
which
and
merely useless,it
obtain
to
when
some
emotions
your
become
so
numerous
puzzling that you feel the need of arranging
and calling
them
them
and not
by names, then
before
can
begin to study what has been
you
and
attemptedin the way of classifying
ticketing
and
"
"
literature.
Manuals
and
treatises
are
excellent
things in their kind, but they are simply dead
You
can
weight at the start.
onlyacquirereally
useful generalideas by first acquiringparticular
ideas together.
ideas,and puttingthose particular
You
worry
theories
about
literature
to
literature.
as
literature in the
bone.
bricks
make
cannot
If you
concrete
ask
me
without
in
the
Get
as
where
a
at
straw.
Do
not
abstract,about
it.
Get
hold
of
dog gets hold of a
you ought to begin,
LiteraryTaste
32
I shall gaze at you as I might gaze at the faithful
he
end of the bone
if he inquiredwhich
animal
ought to attack. It doesn't matter in the slightest
the
degree where you begin. Begin wherever
is a
to
begin. Literature
fancy takes you
whole.
There
begin
with
eschew
restriction for you.
is onlyone
acknowledged
an
modern
The
works.
You
must
classic ; you
must
reason
for this does
of the present age at
depreciation
of past ages.
the expense
Indeed,it is important,
if you
wish
ultimatelyto have a wide, catholic
the too common
assumption
taste,to guard against
imply any
not
that
will stand
nothing modern
the classics.
In every
age there
comparisonwith
have been people
Fiftyyears ago we had a
But
few great writers.
they are all dead, and no
are
ones
arisingto take their place." This
young
if not silly,
is deplorable,
and is
attitude of mind
It is a surety
taste.
a certain
proof of narrow
that in 1959 gloomy and egregiouspersons will be
Ah, yes. At the beginning of the
saying:
to
sigh:
"
Ah,
yes.
"
century
there
were
great poets like Swinburne,
Great
Thompson, and Yeats.
Great historians
novelists like Hardy and Conrad.
like Stubbs
and Maitland, etc., etc.
But they are
Meredith, Francis
all dead
now,
and
whom
have
we
to
take
their
Where
"
?
It
place
and
history,
from
Begin
33
is not
until
all its
mediocrityhas dropped away
it,that
of
to
we
can
an
it as
see
age
has receded
it is
"
as
a
into
group
of
amount
forgetthe immense
of twaddle that the great epochs produced. The
of fine literature created in a given
total amount
periodof time diflFersfrom epoch to epoch,but it
differ much.
does not
And
we
may be perfectly
men
that
sure
We
genius.
our
own
dwell upon
as
much
contained
idea that its chaff contains
the
wheat
favourable
judge,posterity.
of disparaging
the present in
While
temporarily
ignoringit,
mind.
own
a
that excellent
impressionupon
Therefore,beware
your
will make
age
as
any
similar
of
quantity
about
chaif has
wheat.
M
The
why you must avoid modern works
in a
at the beginningis simplythat you
not
are
modern
body
Nochoose
works.
to
position
among
with
at all is quitein a position
to choose
sift the
modern
To
works.
certainty
among
wheat
reason
from
the
chaif is
exceedingly
long
pass
before
the
time.
bar
process that takes
Modern
works
have
a
of the
taste
of
an
to
successive
which
have
Whereas, with classics,
generations.
almost the reverse
is the
been through the ordeal,
the bar of the
Tour taste has to pass before
case.
classics. That
is the point. If you differ with a
3
CHAPTER
HOW
Let
begin
us
Lamb.
is
TO
for
wide
in
matters,
will
as
will
tendency
is
extremely
literarystudy
behind
man
the
expression
but
the
impart
to
student
book,
is, of
will
course,
of
some
you
understand
will
logically proper.
35
not
the
man
is
you,
feelings.
But
in
the
but
nothing
trying
An
from
man
by
of
nothing
book
the
book.
a
idea
a
being
beginner
is
to
as
of
stage
book
divine
the
Lamb
an
his
he
natural
your
iorm
talk
to
ments
achieve-
complex
man,
The
man.
highly-
a
more
that
He
Moreover,
the
a
of
finest
Charles
at
The
trying
man
of
always
the
his
Now,
was
book.
of
appeal,
and
important
the
:
arrived
Lamb
should
reasons
later.
think
has
Charles
classic.
It
he
various
other
to
to
Charles
short.
very
appear
be
because
book,
a
lead
usefully
may
with
and
;
and
simple
reading
his
sympathetic temperament
are
CLASSIC
A
Lamb
writer,
great
READ
experimental
I choose
a
V
to
perienced
ex-
the
the
book,
the
beginner
as
LiteraryTaste
36
will do well
book
the
by
to
means
He
man.
aid
of
understandingthe
independentinformation about
will thus
something human,
essential notion
and
at
strengthenin
between
earliestliterature
the artist to the
was
was
speakingto us.
to feel
as
imagination
We
the
man
the
ture
litera-
delivered
recipient.In some
ideal. Changes
of
artist
to
his mind
societyhave rendered
we
can
still,
Nevertheless,
by the
the accents
hear mentally
imagination,
constitution
of the
relate the book
once
respects this arrangement
the
in
of the connection
and life. The
direct by
orally
himself
must
so
behind
in
it impossible
exercise
of the
exercise
our
the book.
Lamb
about
information
biographical
excellent
short
should be acquired. There
are
biographiesof him by Canon
Ainger in the
in Chambers^s
Dictionaryof National Biography-^
Encyclopedia^and in Chambers's
Cyclopedia of\
of these (but!
EnglishLiterature, If you have none
there are
E. V.
Mr
ought to have the last),
you
Lucas's exhaustive
Life (Methuen, ys. 6d.),and,,
Lamb
cheaper,Mr Walter Jerrold's
(Belland Son^
studies prefixed
to varioiJ
IS.); also introductory
Some
editions
for
Lamb
you
of Lamb's
works.
Indeed, the facilitiei
materials for a pictureof Charlesii
collecting
human
as
a
beingare prodigious. Whenf,
have made for yourself
such a picture,
read the?
How
Read
to
EssaysofEliaby the lightof
Dream
of the most
celebrated.
At this
point,kindlyput
Dream
Children,
Do
Children
book
to
say
it,you
You
are
it.
line,that
Lamb,
was
consider
to
Lamb
document.
wrote
proceedto
may
read
yourselfthat
you
You
the
see,
of
death
fresh and
will recollect that
in
love-affair
Simmons,
Bartrum.
You
housekeeper of
at
which
his
Blakesware
sister
he
his
He
appointi
disAnn
named
ences
influ-
shire,
in Hertford-
was
who
will
see
spent his
a
was
expressionof
life.
a
grandmotherField,
that he
you
You
of the
one
sometimes
Mary,
And
a supreme
primarily,
human
a
man
a
House,
will know
mania.
loneliness of
that
was
mansion
holidays.You
livingwith his
homicidal
married
will know
of his childhood
as
heavy on his mind.
youth he had had
with
a
girl named
afterwards
who
paragraph.
next
he
nearing fiftywhen
from
the last
especially
his elder brother,John
was
can
have
you
Children
Dream
A Reverie,
:
When
my
one
down, and
but read it now.
will read it later,
read
37
I will choose
it.
my
not
Classic
a
bachelor,
subjectto
in this essay,
the
constructed
increasing
all that
tableau of paternal
preliminary
pleasurein order
in the most
to you
to bringhome
poignant way
his feeling
of the solitude of his existence,his
sense
of
all that he
had
missed
and
lost in the
LiteraryTaste
38
The
world.
sadness.
of the essay is
key
But
"
bachelor
:
"
Yes,
beautiful."
Charles
arm-chair,"and
it
sad,
was
When
Lamb,
him
watch
You
resides in sadness.
in his
the
rather,he shows
beautiful ; or,
far
as
it
to
say
you
self
your-
somehow
was
yourself,
concerned, has
are
you
sadness
beauty that
sittingthere
said that to
have
you
so
but
profound
his
makes
he
that
note
of
one
accomplishedhis chief aim in writingthe essay.
be
How
he produces his effect can
never
exactly
of his success
is
fullyexplained.But one reason
He does not falsely
his regardfor truth.
certainly
idealise his
He
does
not
Not
said,
"
relations
Being a
told
you
what
he
Another
does
nor
sane
all his
does
Bridgetwas
tell you
reason
regard for
of
have
darkened
our
common-sense
once.
He
a
homicidal
is that
his
would
ever
much
too
at
woes
them.
exaggerate his solitude.
he
he has
man,
that
sentimentalist
a
cloud
slightest
"
;
as
say,
the
assemble
to
the relations between
brother,nor
success
she
might
maniac
;
faithful.
was
is his
have
continual
beautiful
things and fine actions,as
illustrated in the major characteristics of his grandmother
and his brother,and in the detailed description
of Blakesware
House
and the gardensthereof.
M
Then,
the
subordinate
machineryof
to
the main
the main
purpose,
purpose,
is the
part of
picture
How
of the
Read
to
children
real children
"
Classic
a
until
39
the
moment
when
The
traits of childhood
they fade away.
and humorously put in again and
are
accurately
Here
John
to
again:
as
smiled, as much
say,
"
"
That
Alice
would
be
spread
her
foolish indeed.'
hands."
'*
Here
little
Alice's
little
"
"Here
till,
rightfoot playedan involuntarymovement,
Here
looking grave, it desisted."
upon
my
John expanded all his eyebrows,and tried to look
courageous." Here John slily
deposited back
of grapes."
Here
the
upon the platea bunch
children fell a-crying
tell
and prayed me
to
"
"
"
.
them
And
their pretty dead
stories about
some
the
:
exquisite
"
her dear
mother's
.
.
Alice
Here
out
put
tender
looks,too
to
mother."
one
be
ing."
upbraid-
while preparinghis
Incidentally,
solemn
Lamb
has inspired
effect.
you with
intensified vision of the wistful beauty of
"
their facile
imitativeness,
their
be
emotions, their anxietyto
can
see
haste
to
these
children
as
tenderly
you
will
Lamb
not
will have
saw
beauty.
If you
renewed
for you
with
possess
the
a
new,
children
generous
correct, their
genuous
in-
griefinto joy. You
almost
and
as
as
clearly
For days afterwards
them.
a
upon
of the
portrayal
shared
ultimate
from
be able to look
Lamb's
recalling
He
escape
and
of
child
without
grace of childhood.
perceptionof
children,he will have
charm
you
his
which
custom
does
LiteraryTaste
40
stale.
decidedly
very
that the
measure
children
is the
effect.
The
It is further
of his
of his
measure
real
more
in his main
the
ing
touch-
more
fact that
they do
if you
And
existed.
have
never
noticed
the
picturing
success
they seem,
is the revelation of the
exist,and
in
success
be
to
by the reference to their "pretty
moved
when
mother," you will be stillmore
been
have
would
learn that the girlwho
moved
mother
is not
dead
and
is not
will
reflect upon
its emotional
how
see
from
the
were
dead
you
their
Lamb's.
As, having read the essay, you
you
not
sincere
power
over
it,
you
and
unexaggerated
remembered
expressionof actual emotions exactly
who
had
an
by someone
always open for
eye
indeed, obsessed
beauty, who
by beauty.
was,
The
beauty of old houses and gardens and aged
virtuous
the beauty of children,the
characters,
the softening
beautyof companionships,
beauty of
dreams
in an
all these
arm-chair
are
brought
togetherand mingled with the griefand regret
which
the origin of the mood.
were
Why is
has
sprung
"
Dream
Children
it transmits
a
to
classic }
as
you,
to
It is
and
justly,
the
throb
more
classic because
generationsbefore
emotion, because
distinguished
to
a
of life
nobly.
more
And
it makes
you
you,
spond
re-
more
intensely,
it is capableof
How
doing this
because
a
mind.
his
And
that
a
neither
weakened,
classic.
Either
he
so
processes
exaggerate
lacked
narrowed
become
felt
relief in imparting
his appealwould
qualities,
and
honest
He
of these three
and
tinguish
dis-
very
his mental
If he had
the truth.
41
very
find
could
he
a
noble.
were
emotions.
diminish
nor
had
obligedto
was
sincere
so
Lamb
sensitive,and
emotions
he
Classic
a
Charles
very
His
keenlythat
were
Read
to
one
any
h^ve
been
not
have
would
his
have
feelingswould
been
deficient in supreme
beauty,and therefore
less worthy to be imparted,or he would
have
not
had sufficient force to impart them
; or his honesty
would
have been equalto the strain of impartnot
ing
them
accurately.In any case, he would not
have
a
set
in
up
that
you
vibration
which
call
we
and
which
is supereminentlycaused
pleasure,
by
in high emotion.
As Lamb
participation
vitalising
sat in his bachelor
arm-chair,with his brother in
the
his
and
grave,
did
side,he really
beautiful.
Sorrow
is beautiful.
I
must
makes
I
faithful homicidal
the
seem
famous
them
make
you
to
Life
think
"
This
is
Disappointment
is beautiful.
/
understand.'*
he
"
you
himself,
to
by
is beautiful.
understand
hear
maniac
say,
literary
style?
is
But
Where
a
tell them.
must
Because
classic.
what
And
about
does that
he
come
still
now
Lamb's
in } "
I
The
This
is
Question of
Style
misapprehension.Style cannot
from matter.
When
a writer
distinguished
an
That
form
a
idea he conceives
of words
it in
constitutes
governed by
absolutely
only exist in words, and
the
form
his
idea.
ceives
con-
of words.
and
style,
The
be
idea
it is
can
only exist in one
form of words.
You
the same
cannot
say exactly
alter the
thingin two different ways.
Slightly
alter the idea.
and you slightly
expression,
Surely
it is obvious that the expressioncannot
be altered
without
the thing expressed
! A writer,
altering
havingconceived and expressedan idea,may, and
probablywill, polishit up." But what does he
polishup ? To say that he polishesup his style
is merelyto say that he is polishing
up his idea,
in
faults or imperfections
that he has discovered
his idea,and
it. An
idea exists
is perfecting
in proportionas it is expressed; it exists when
It expresses
before.
it is expressed,and
not
and a
itself. A clear idea is expressedclearly,
but take your
need
idea vaguely. You
vague
and your
own
case
own
speech. For just as
science is the developmentof common-sense,
so
is literature the development of common
daily
and
difference
between
science
speech. The
of degree; similarly
is simplyone
common-sense
with
speech and literature. Well, when
you
what
know
think,"you succeed in saying
you
"
"
it
a
43
can
LiteraryTaste
44
what
you
When
you
think,in making yourselfunderstood.
"don't
what
know
to
think," yoi
halts.
expressivetongue
life
mood
violent when
tender,how
said
have
"If
tender
how
;
yourselfin
to
could
only I
You
wrong.
could think
of
,"
have
to
are
you
You
violent.
moments
write
ought
is when
are
you
daily
style follow
your
it
in
how
note
of
characteristics
the
your
And
etc.
said
:
emotion
:
You
were
If
only I
"
this
high plane." When
you
have
have
had any
never
thought clearly
you
in saying what
difficulty
thought,though
you
had
have
some
occasionally
difficulty
you
may
in keepingit to yourself.And
when
you cannot
depend upon it that you have
express yourself,
modes
nothingpreciseto express, and that what incomon
"
is
not
the vain desire
to
you
the
think
vain
styleand
and alike.
inseparable,
and
You
cannot
Examine
to
the
a
convey
form
fine
in what
has
idea
That
say
to
you.
form
:
therefore
"
He
achieved
imaginablecircumstances
style.
wishes
employs a
is his style.
of words
Yes, this
just
co-existent,
are
good matter with bad
point more
closely.A man
of words.
writer
matter
this
have
Having read, you
The
express, but
to
clearly.All
more
illustratehow
to
desire
idea
is fine."
his end.
can
you
But
say
:
The
Yes, this
"
The
md
The
idea is
fine,but
the
Style
styleis
sole medium
of communication
the
has
author
fine idea
words, by
be
Question of
in
the
has
reached
words.
the
words.
You
between
form
of
you.
How
?
Hence
fine
not
the
been
45
the
"
?
you
words.
In the
fineness
must
superiorly:
has expressedhimself clumsily,
He
but I can
he means."
thing
see what
By what light? By somein the words, in the style. That
something
is fine.
is clumsy,are
Moreover, if the style
you
may
say,
"
that
sure
be
cannot
cannot
see
can
you
what
see
And,
quite sure.
The
distinctly.
reaches
actually
you, and
aflFected by the style.
he
at
"
?
means
rate, you
any
"
matter
it must
You
is what
be
necessarily
M
Still further
me
you
ask you
would
to
comprehend
think
to
think
of
of the
a
writer's
gestures and
know
acquaintance.You
is
demeanour
alwayscalm,"
an
"
are
arc
some
styleis,let
as
styleexactly
what
the
of
manners
man
whose
but whose
passions
do you know
that his passions
strong. How
he
gives them away
strong ? Because
by
small,but important,part of his demeanour,
"
"
of a lipor the whiteningof
twitching
the knuckles
caused
In
by clenchingthe hand.
other
is
words, his demeanour, fundamentally,
calm.
know
the man
You
who
is always
not
such
as
the
LiteraryTaste
46
but
who
agreeable,'*
smoothly polite and
affects you
unpleasantly.Why does he affect
?
Because
he is tedious,and
unpleasantly
you
and because
therefore disagreeable,
his politeness
is not
real politeness.You
know
the man
who
is awkward, shy, clumsy, but who, nevertheless,
of dignity
and force.
impressesyou with a sense
Why .? Because mingled with that awkwardness
and so forth is dignity. You
know
the blunt,
rough fellow whom
instinctively
you
guess to be
affectionate because
there is "something in his
tone'' or
"something in his eyes." In every
instance the demeanour, while perhaps seemingto
be contrary to the character,
is really
in accord
"
"
with
The
it.
demeanour
character.
It is
contradicts
another
after
man
all,the
is
blunt
awkward,
defects.
The
is shown
in the
part of
one
part of
man
contradicts the
never
the
the
character
character.
is blunt,and
and
these
that
For,
the awkward
characteristics
are
demeanour
merelyexpresses them.
The
would be better if,while conserving
two
men
their good qualities,
they had the superficial
attributes of smoothness
and
agreeableness
possessed
by the gentleman who is unpleasantto
And
it is not his
as
regards this latter,
you.
attributes which are unpleasantto
superficial
you,
but his other qualities.
In the end the character
demeanour
; and
the
demeanour
The
Is
a
Question of
of
consequence
the
character.
may
argue
So
his
painful,even
tenderness.
tenderness
forgetit.
The
I do
annoys
for
for
you
style.You
his matter
"
will
ten
are
style
His
and
pages
must
not
come
out."
clearly
you
more
think
her
make
his character.
must
tender
churlish,
not
and
faults and
much
demeanour
So, when
then
is
writer
a
enchants
you
explode againsthis
that his style
won't
let
not
say
You
The
man.
will
so.
you
is churlish,
and
really
man
lines,you
ten
resembles
reallyvery trying and
man's
wife, though a
often than he is tender.
merelyjust to
of
is
the
to
moment's
more
and
You
styleand matter.
blunt,rough man's demeanour
his churlishness
For
character
47
with
that the
is unfair to
the
Style
see
remember
must
more
you
that faults and
excellences
of
the
the
reflect,
excellences
matter
itself.
illustrations of this
striking
truth is Thomas
often
Carlyle.How
neglected
is marred by
has it been said that Carlyle's
matter
and the eccentricities of his style
the harshness
}
is harsh and eccentric to preBut Carlyle's
matter
cisely
the same
degree as his styleis harsh and
eccentric.
Carlylewas harsh and eccentric. His
if it were
behaviour was
not
ridiculous,
frequently
often extremely
His judgmentswere
abominable.
read one
of Carlyle's
fierce
bizarre. When
you
One
of
the
most
LiteraryTaste
48
This is splendid.
:
yourself
truth
is
for justiceand
The
man's
enthusiasm
He
is a little
glorious."But you also say :
far.
He
unjustand a little untruthful.
goes too
diatribes,
you
"
say to
"
lashes
He
too
style; theyare
the
once,
you
Kindly notice
No
matter.
:
say
"
This
not
as
real
is the
or
eccentricities
!
now
the
in his
restrained
and
perfectthe stylehas
how
harshnesses
things are
And
when,
he is emotional
greatest moments,
at
These
hard."
Carlyle.'*
become
!
And
if
"
real
is the
then
matter
Carlyle,
particular
that particular
styleis Carlyle'sreal style. But
when
more
properly
say "real** you would
you
"This
is the
best Carlyle."If
say "best."
Carlylehad always been at his best he would
counted
have
the supreme
geniuses of
among
mixture.
the world.
But he was
His
a
styleis
The
the expressionof the mixture.
faults are
only in the stylebecause they are in the matter.
that
"
"
"
M
You
will find
the
that, in classical literature,
style always follows the
Charles
Lamb's
Thus,
of
mood
essay
the
on
matter.
Dream
Children
tive
begins quite simply,in a calm, narraenlivened by a certain quippishness
manner,
The
concerning the children.
style is grave
when
and
great-grandmotherField is the subject,
when
the
author
passes
to
a
rather
elaborate
The
Question of
impressionof
Style
49
the
old mansion
it
picturesque
it were
becomes
beautiful. This
as
consciously
of the still
beautyis intensified in the description
beautiful garden. But
the real dividing
more
Lamb
when
pointof the essay occurs
approaches
his elder brother.
He
unmistakablymarks the
a
Then^ in somewhat
point with the phrase:
forward
Hencemore
heightened
tone^ I told how," etc.
the styleincreases in fervour
and
in
solemnityuntil the culmination of the essay
is reached :
And
while I stood gazing,both
the children gradually
view,
grew fainter to my
tillnothingat last but
recedingand stillreceding
"
"
two
mournful
features
distance,which,
be
you
otherwise.
be ridiculous.
in the
seen
most
utter-
without
speech,strangely
the effects of speech.
."
me
styleis governed by the matter.
impressedupon
Throughout,the
"Well,"
were
.
say, "of
If it
A
man
course
It couldn't
it is.
otherwise
were
made
who
.
would
it
love
though
as
who
a
man
or
preachinga sermon,
as
though he were
teasing
preacheda sermon
who
described
death as
or
a
man
a
schoolboys,
a practical
though he were
describing
joke,must
be either an
or
ass
a lunatic."
Just
necessarily
he
so.
were
You
have
put it in
a
nutshell.
disposedof the problem of styleso
of.
be disposed
You
far
as
4
have
it can
The
Question of
it live in the
does
as
memory
great Tennysonian lines ?
charm, but the charm
A
whole
poem
than
merely
or
curious
who
pretty woman
this
It does
would
connection
that line has
It would
not
how
be
as
live.
the
One
pretty.
or
better
no
remain
not
manently
per-
insipidas a
her prettiin
remark
may
merely
rare
It has
would
nothingbehind
had
the
would
It
51
not.
is
pretty.
interest.
It
of
one
merelycurious
composed of lines with
recommendation
ness.
Style
verbal
felicities
of
will
Who
Tennyson have lost our esteem.
now
proclaim the Idylh of the King as a
of lines written
? Of the thousands
masterpiece
by him which pleasethe ear, only those survive
emotion.
of which the matter
is charged with
who
No ! As regardsthe man
to read
professes
inclined to
for his stylealone," I am
author
an
"
think
either
that
he
will
soon
get sick
author, or that he is deceivinghimself
and
of
that
means
the
not
general temperament
which
but a peculiar
author's verbal style,
quality
runs
throughall the matter written by the author.
for somethingwhich is
Just as one may like a man
alwayscoming out of him, which one cannot define,
author's
the
and
which
is of the very
"
essence
of the
man.
judging the styleof an author, you must
in judging
as
use
canons
employ the same
you
In
Taste
Literary
52
this you will not be tempted
to triflesthat are
to attach importance
negligible.
If you
men.
do
without respect.
friendship
lasting
is such that you cannot
If an author's style
respect
it,then you may be sure that,despite
any present
which you may obtain from that author,
pleasure
there is something
wrong with his matter, and
will soon
that the pleasure
cloy.You must
There
can
be
no
your sentiments towards an
you have read an author you
examine
when
If
author.
pleased,
are
beingconscious of aughtbut his melliwould
fluousness,
justconceive what your feelings
with a merely
be after spending
a month's
holiday
If an author's style
has pleased
mellifluous man.
you giggle,
you, but done nothingexcept make
without
then reflectupon
who can do
man
hand,if you
are
the ultimate tediousness of the
but jest.On
nothing
impressed
by what an
said to you, but are aware
need
in his work, you
much
as
style"exactly
to
worry
and
about
friend's antics in
a
a
but you
regrettable,
his
manners
styledazzles
were
of
you
was
littleas
a
kind-
dangerous
tea-cup in his hand.
are
drawing-room
would
not
The
somewhat
say of him
Again,if an
and blinds
instantly
bad.
has
his "bad
as
exactly
would
carpets with
author
of verbal clumsinesses
worry about the manners
keen-brained friend who
hearted,
you
the other
that
author's
you
to
The
Question
of
Style
53
ask your
soul,
everything
except its brilliant self,
before
his matter, what
begin to admire
you
would be your final opinionof a man
who
at the
first meetingfired his personality
like a
into you
broadside.
Reflect
that, as a rule, the people
whom
you
themselves
beginthe
look
at
have
to
to
come
you
that they did
gradually,
entertainment
literature
fail
as
communicated
esteem
with fireworks.
would
you
look
In
at
not
short,
and
life,
the
perceivethat, essentially,
assert
styleis the man.
Decidedlyyou will never
that you care
that your
nothingfor style,
ment
enjoyof an author's matter
is unaffected by his
will never
style.And
assert, either,that
you
stylealone suffices for you.
you
cannot
to
m:
If you
whether
are
undecided
leaningto
the
that
most
the
upon
a
questionof style,
favourable
or
the
to
favourable,
un-
forget
For, indeed, as style
have
not
people who
prudent course
is
to
styleexists.
literary
is understood
by most
analysedtheir impressionsunder the influence
there is no
such
of literature,
thing as literary
divide literature into two
cannot
style. You
and that style.
elements and say : This is matter
ature
of literand the worth
Further, the significance
assessed in the
to be comprehended and
are
and the worth of any
same
way as the significance
other
phenomenon
not
even
and
distinguished,
and
to
set
and
style
is
contradictions
absurd.
When
contradiction,
If
life,
will
be
you
in
of
of
or
to
a
ignore
would
think
no
less
in
an
fine
graceful
fundamental
of
your
a
which
esteem.
a
of
deportment
When
of
matter
individual.
mere
trait
vacuity.
think
the
standards
weighing
against
and
than
decide
once
of
a
superficial
a
the
to
heaviest
letting
try
matter
importance
at
danger
to
dicting
mutually-contra-
two
manner
style,
is
or
And
that
you
literature
count
harsh.
there
will
should
character,
doubt,
far
refer
you
maladroitness
blind
of
is
ugly,
between
the
common-sense
quality
You
of
one
qualities
other.
tell
vital
up
vulgar
and
and
therefore
will
common-sense
nobody,
simultaneously
tender
or
common-
that
you
beautiful
or
vague,
tell
be
can
of
exercise
will
genius,
a
precise
you
the
by
:
Common-sense
sense.
of
Taste
Literary
54
the
in
as
CHAPTER
WRESTLING
[aving
of
beginning
of
end
the
culture,
nothing
is
kindling
than
specialise
to
particularly on
"
"
human
as
should
I
for
of
until
in
the
your
you
his
are
work
complete
and
for
I
yourself
should
learned
with
in
his
prose
55
that
mean
read
the
and
devote
a
you
is
else.
tion
propor-
of
study
Lamb
important
(You
verse
and
complete
nothing
all that
work.
alight,
curiously
Lamb's
to
with
and
of
way
author,
frankly
leisure
about
works
well
regularly
acquainted
and
it
not
an
literary
keeping
and
months,
of
the
one
a
make
in
do
of
made
to
stages
on
on
cause
helpful,
so
is.
you
well
us
essay
have
we
be
time
a
Lamb
three
that
mean
more
author
an
imprison
works
As
sary,
neces-
style, let
whose
preliminary
interest
an
of
originating
will
it
and
possible
Lamb,
style.
In
him.
is
as
the
Lamb,
AUTHOR
question
was
into
inquiry
our
far
so
Charles
to
Children
Dream
AN
formidable
that
return
now
WITH
disposed,
of
VII
may
of
buy
Charles
LiteraryTaste
56
Mary Lamb, edited by that unsurpassed
expei
Thomas
Mr
Hutchison, and publishedby th|
Oxford
UniversityPress,in two volumes for foi
is no reason
the pair!) There
why yoi
shillings
and
should
He
become
not
is the very
a
for you
man
in Laml
specialist
modest
; neither
voluminou!
uncomfortablylofty
; always
either amusing or
most
ant
importtouching; and
literature.
himself passionately
addicted
to
You
without
like Lamb
cannot
likingliterature
without
in general. And
read Lamb
you cannot
learningabout literature in general; for books
his hobby, and he was
critic of the first
a
were
nor
difficult,
nor
"
"
rank.
letters
His
are
full of literariness.
You
should not
read
his letters ; you
naturally
diverted by them
(thereare no
only be infinitely
better epistles),
but you should receive from them
much
lighton the works.
will
It is
you.
effort.
a
course
It
means
It
of
a
study that
certain
I
am
amount
suggestingto
of
sustained
more
resolution,more
slightly
and more
pertinacity,
expenditureof brain-tissue
than
It
are
requiredfor readinga newspaper.
in fact,"work."
Perhaps you did not
means,
I do
But
bargainfor work when you joinedme.
be satisfactori
not think that the literary
taste
can
formed unless one
is preparedto put one's back
means
Wrestlingwith
into the afFair. And
of
way
Author
an
I may
57
prophesy to
you,
that, in addition
encouragement,
to
by
the
of increased
with masterpieces,
advantagesof familiarity
duction
knowledge, and of a^wide introliterary
feel
bookish atmosphereand
to the true
"
"
things,which you will derive from a comprehensive
studyof Charles Lamb, you will also be
portant
conscious of a moral
advantage the very imand very
inspiringadvantage of really
"knowing something about something." You
of
"
achieved
will have
that you
proudly aware
a
positionto judge as
be
in
may
you
Charles
of
definite
a
hear
read
or
This
Lamb.
step
have
yourself
whatever
concerning
pride and sense
legitimate
stimulate
the direct
I shall not
will
future
further ; it will generate steam.
moral
this indirect
advantage
Now,
put
expert
an
in the
accomplishmentwill
for the moment,
you
;
shut
to
go on
I consider that
you
outweighs,
advantages.
literary
my
even
eyes
to
a
possible
with Charles
intercourse
diligent
that you may be disappointed
It is possible
Lamb.
shall I say ^ almost probable
It is
with him.
with him, at any
will be disappointed
that you
will have expectedmore
You
rate partially.
joy
result of your
"
"
in him
in
a
than
you
have
received.
previouschapter to
the
I have
referred
feelingof disap-
I
Wrestlingwith
mb
an
Author
59
in
are
we
particular,
coming into the society
of a mental superior. What
happens usuallyin
such a case ?
We
what
can
judge by recalling
of a mental
happens when we are in the society
inferior. We
he misses the
say thingsof which
import ; we joke,and he does not smile ; what
him laughloudlyseems
makes
to us
horseplayor
childish ;
us
he
is blind
; he is ecstatic
over
beauties
to
what
strikes
which
us
as
ravish
crude ;
places.
profoundtruths are for us trite commonHis
coarse
perceptionsare relatively
;
We
subtle.
are
relatively
perceptions
try to
and
his
our
him
make
he is
aware
understand, to
of his
success.
But
we
hold
soon
we
inferiority
if he is
our
make
not
aware
tongues and
him
see, and
may
have
of his
if
some
inferiority
leave him
alone
that there is
convinced
self-satisfaction,
Every one of us
nothing to be done with him.
has been through this experiencewith a mental
inferior
for there is always a mental
inferior,
happy
unhandy,justas there is alwaysa being more
the
In approachinga classic,
than we
are.
in the position
wisdom
is to placeourselves
true
of mental inferiority
of the mental inferior,
aware
off all conceit,anxious
to rise
humbly stripping
Recollect that we
out of that inferiority.
always
regardas quitehopelessthe mental inferior who
Our attitude
does not suspect his own
inferiority.
in
his
LiteraryTaste
6o
Lamb
towards
eyes for
follow
his
powerful, and with
brace myself to
must
that of
one
To
That
catch
is
to
faculties
and
and
a
sever
per
is worth
to
the
read
must
we
We
watch.
ingly. A classic has to
the wooing. Further, we
I
in favour
not
am
notion
a
is to
classical
ought
of
beginning,
allowed
to
make
to
be put
the book.
his
own
wooed
dain
dis-
must
of
ing
study-
studythe work and
writer together,
and
read criticism afterwards.
"
be
selves.
classics them-
the
I think
of the classics the customary
the
all
listen.
reallymust
with our
carefully,
read slowly
must
we
criticism of classics before
My
biographyof
resemble
listens with
and
ear
sound
the
assistance.
no
his
must
distant sound.
say,
on
attitude
Our
cocks
who
his soul for
I
beauty.
lead.*'
a
was
subtler,
cleverer,sharper,
more
finer, intellectually
keener
Lamb
"Charles
:
I am,
than
greater man
be
must
at
the
The
"
that
the
then
in
prints
re-
criticalintroduction
end, and
not
at
classic should
be
however
impression,
faint,
mind
of the reader.
But
wards
aftervirginal
let explanatory
criticism be read as much
as
criticism is very useful ;
you please.Explanatory
nearlyas useful as ponderingfor oneself on what
has read ! Explanatory
criticism may
throw
one
one
single
gleam that lights
up the entire subject.
on
the
Wrestlingwith
My second
gulf)touches
derived
from
pleasure.
but
the
consideration
the
It is
the
It
is
is
crossingthe
pleasureto be
a
in
wax
foreignto
pleasuresof an uncultivated
violent.
They proceed from
generally
artistic
in treatment,
from
a
lack
6i
of
never
it will
subtle,and
of violence
idea
(in aid
qualityof
classic.
a
Author
an
of
violent
intensity,
it.
mind
The
are
exaggeration
balance, from
attachingtoo great an importance to one
aspect
while quiteignoringanother.
superficial),
(usually
sauce
on
They are gross, like the joy of Worcester
the palate. Now, if there is one
to
point common
of exaggeration. The
all classics,
it is the absence
balanced sanityof a great mind
makes
impossible
The
exaggeration,and, therefore, distortion.
beauty of a classic is not at all apt to knock
you
rather.
It will steal over
down.
Many
you,
serious students are, I am
convinced, discouraged
in the earlystages because
they are expecting a
of pleasure.They have
abandoned
kind
wrong
and
Worcester
they miss it. They miss
sauce,
realise that indulgence
the
coarse
tang. They must
in the tang
sensitiveness
They
cannot
They
must
"
means
the
sensitiveness
have
crudeness
sure
even
and
and
to
total loss of
the tang itself.
fineness
together.
ness
choose, remembering that while crude-
fineness
kills pleasure,
ever
intensifies it.
CHAPTER
VIII
SYSTEM
You
have
I
You
think
I
and
have
be
have
inclined
Lamb,
of
image
hear
him
him
condition
letters,
to
direction
which
caught
to
in
of
with
mind,
your
your
heaven
then
terrified
he
you
and
And
and
you
want
proceed.
to
are
isn't
you
which
62
to
will
you
may
if
if
have
you
know
you
formed
have
it
as
are
in
to
know
Yes,
prescribe
were,
read
you
I
protesting whisper
going
I
short.
you
can,
while
certainly
proceed.
you
;
if
;
wary
un-
writers, together
Lamb
him
in
that
But
printing.
brilliantlystuttering
or
essays
hope
of
half
even
or
all
perdition
to
really friendly
become
an
send
to
it
which
during
woe,
the
the
enterprise
is
up.
of
await
facile, nor
not
of
inventor
the
The
is
warning
which
of
sea
anchor
your
sufficiently predicted
hours
your
with
is
the
on
adequate
sanguine.
engaged
I
and
disappointments
the
are
think
given
sail
set
afloat,
are
have
and
dangers
you
definitely
now
literature.
READING
IN
a
his
fit
a
in
have
"
:
Course
I
System
of
in
Reading
because
EnglishLiterature,
be able
life was
it ! "
do
to
be
I
not.
am
63
I feel I shall
If your
never
objectin
in
Lecturer
UniversityExtension
then I should
thing
Englishliterature,
prescribesomedrastic and desolating.
But as your object,
far as I am
so
concerned,is simplyto obtain the
of
highestand most tonic form of artistic pleasure
which
I shall not prescribe
are
capable,
you
any
to dissuade
regularcourse.
Nay, I shall venture
from
No
and
regularcourse.
you
any
man,
a
assuredlyno
beginner,can
possiblypursue
historical course
of literature without
wasting a
lot of weary
time in acquiring
mere
knowledge
which
will yieldneither pleasurenor
advantage.
In the choice of reading
the individual must
count
;
is often the truest
capricemust count, for caprice
index to the individuality.
Stand defiantly
on
your
own
feet,and do not excuse
yourselfto yourself.
You
do not exist in order to honour
literature by
of literature. Literature
becoming an encyclopaedia
exists for your service.
Wherever
you happen to
to
be, that,for
for
Still,
for
system
you,
your
is the
centre
sake you
own
of literature.
must
confine
self
your-
for
long time to recognisedclassics,
though you
alreadyexplained. And
a
reasons
should
a
not
or
follow
a
course,
principle.Your
you
native
must
have
will
sagacity
a
tell
LiteraryTaste
64
will end by
left quite unfettered,
caprice,
mend
beingquiteridiculous. The system which I recomin this counsel : Let one
is embodied
thing
you
that
lead
to
In the
another.
with
communicates
It
part
with
was
Lamb, if
Lamb.
be
useful
intimate,and
Among these are
Coleridge,Southey, Hazlitt, and
to
cannot
men,
and
know
of them
some
go
to
drawn
off
at
your
tangent
a
towards
And
a
Wordsworth
Wordsworth
understood
Wordsworth's
Ballads^and
will be
in
start
to
a
number
you
can
in
particularly
Leigh Hunt.
knowing these
highestimportance.
own
work
you
ing
points,accordinstance,you are
If,for
better
a
this
to
various
at
cannot, in all
poetry, you
comprehension of
influence
of the
are
inclination.
make
literature,
to
without
the circle of Lamb's
From
may
Lamb
arc
Wordsworth,
you.
You
there
intimate,has
will be
who
part
eye
alreadybrought you into relations with
of other prominentwriters with whom
turn
every
you
his
are
you
;
an
recommended
originally
system that I
with
other
every
lakes.
land-locked
no
of Hterature
sea
start
than
will send
the
you
worth.
Words-
backwards
poets againstwhose
fought.
and
Wordsworth's
with
English
When
you
have
Lyrical
Coleridge's
defence
of
them,
positionto judge poetry in
general. If,again,your mind hankers after an
earlier and
romantic
Lamb's
more
literature.
you
a
System
in
Reading
65
of EnglishDramatic Poets Contemporary
Specimens
with
Shakspere has already,in an
enchanting
the sea
fashion,piloted
you into a vast gulf of
which is Shakspere."
"
Again, in Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt
you will
inferior only to Lamb
discover essayists
himself,
and critics perhaps not inferior. Hazlitt is unsurpassed
critic. His judgments are
as
a
vincing
conand his enthusiasm
of the most
catching
nature.
Having arrived at Hazlitt or Leigh
Hunt,
of
And
ten
thousand
thus
centuries
If you
you
as
once
points into
continue
may
far you
chance
ofF
branch
can
you
to
like,yea,
read
Hazlitt
more
at
stillwider
and
up
even
on
any
circles.
down
to
one
the
Chaucer.
Chaucer
will
and
probably put your hat on
and
and
instantly
buy these authors ;
go out
such
is his communicating fire !
I need
not
further.
particularise
Commencing with Lamb,
and allowing
one
thing to lead to another,you
fail to be more
and more
cannot
impressedby
needs of the Lamb
the peculiar
to your
suitability
period. For Lamb lived
entourage and the Lamb
in a time of universal re-birth in Englishliterature.
and
Wordsworth
Coleridgewere
re-creating
the novel ; Lamb
I poetry ; Scott was re-creating
document
the human
i was re-creating
; and Hazlitt,
Spenser^you
5
System in Reading
which
67
the
inspiring
quality
predominates is Ivanhoe ; and
an
example in which the informing
speare's
quality
predominatesis Hazlitt's essays on Shakecharacters.
You
avoid
givingundue
the inspiring
to the kind in which
preference
quality
predominatesor to the kind in which the informing
of the one
is
qualitypredominates. Too much
much
of the other is desiccating.
enervating
; too
If you stick exclusively
to the one
you may become
a
debauchee
mere
of the
to the
exclusively
any full sense.
the balance
Your
taste
other
I do
will
is
an
more
who
or
demand
you
between
be
must
of
instance
on
and
On
us
The
here ; it can
perseverance.
two
kinds.
What
I say
the
whom
in
on
both
majorityof
a
makes
however, there lie literatures
recondite.
hold
great writer whom
a
the intellect or
sympatheticemotion.
live in
neglected.
appreciate.He
either
stick
should
scale.
interest themselves
less
to
cease
may
into the
come
if you
;
say that you
not
understand
anybody can
those
emotions
even
exactly
is that neither kind
Lamb
must
literature
no
excessive
the
of
faculty
sides
more
can
of
Lamb,
more
difficult,
"knowledge" side need not detain
be mastered
by concentration and
But
the supreme
the
"
"
power
side,which
prises
com-
demands
of genius,
productions
consideration.
special
You
may
have
arrived
at
point
the
entirely
as
for
of
Khan
tale
the
the
yield
the
supreme
them
has
full
of
been
of
nature
when
of
are
and
the
pass-key
poetry.
yet
ings
writ-
such
;
be
and
as
but
it
a
Nevertheless
which
This
acquired.
the
in
quotations."
pleasures
"
in
Comus
pleasures,
supreme
and
nothing
see
productions
supreme
yielding
Milton's
or
may
"
anything
see
you
Lamb
enjoying
"
to
Kubla
Hamlet
is
keenly
unable
sanguinary
it
Taste
Literary
68
capable
which
will
pass-key
is
of
a
to
prehension
com-
IX
CHAPTER
VERSE
There
is
of
the
will
the
The
the
have
Even
plague.
to
historical
dare
had
the
or
I
been
more
rumour
incur
solitude,
starvation,
That
show.
examples
it.
crowd
a
possibly
against
up
that
scatter
to
The
affront
to
it is
valiant
word.
buildings
and
disdain,
probably
not
murmur
majority
backs
hose-pipe, hornets,
a
rouses
most
that
their
it will
that
I know
than
quickly
of
it empty
seen
The
put
will
which
educated
race.
will
rash
fear,"
vast
utterance
mere
most
full ; and
"
of
broad-minded
myself
of
name
English-speaking
fly at
most
it.
a
heart
the
in
terror
of
"
word,
a
as
is
word
poetry."
M
The
poetry
say
the
sensual
of
the
profound
can
scarcely
be
do
not
"
man
omnibus
;
I
who
man
any
"
mean
the
the
69
mean
gets
And
average
I
when
the
on
to
man
average
exaggerated.
I
man,
average
of
objection
"
average
to
lettered
the
top
man,
LiteraryTaste
yo
the average
does
care
a
littlefor books
the classics by
enjoysreading,and knows
and the popularwriters by havingread them.
and
name
I
who
man
reads,reads
am
that
convinced
am
poetry
not
at
"
one
convinced,further,that
who
far
reads it.
not
one
You
as
widely in
"No,
callously,
but
prose,
very
poetry
who
ever
read
will say
who
I
in ten
man
knowingly to huy
will find everywheremen
so
goes
knowingly.
rate,
any
who
in ten
man
quite
poetry." If the
sales of modern
labelled as such,
poetry, distinctly
to
not
to-morrow
were
cease
a
publisher
entirely
would fail ; scarcely
would be affected ;
a publisher
and
that
on
not
I
poet would
a
die
for I do
"
singlemodern Englishpoet
the current
proceeds of his
a
country
which
possesses
literature in the world
at
read
never
least
odd.
the
is
livingto-day
a
greatest poetical
of affairs is
it odder
makes
For
verse.
this condition
What
believe
not
is
that,
the average lettered
occasionally,
very occasionally,
for a fine poet,
will have a fit of idolatry
man
stowing
buying his books in tens of thousands,and behim
upon
Tennyson.
after
all,the
And
what
;
he
He
is not
makes
lettered
average
dislike poetry
a certain form.
providedhe
immense
only
riches.
it odder
man
stillis
does
dislikes it when
will read poetry and
aware
that
As
not
with
that,
truly
it takes
enjoyit,
it is poetry. Poetry
Verse
exist
:an
Give
it.
either
authentically
poetry concealed
him
that,taken ofF
chance
But
7
show
him
his
a
in prose
in prose
guard,he
and
will
of verse,
page
in
or
1
verse.
there is
a
appreciate
and
he
will
of
ready to send for a policeman. The reason
this is that,though poetry may
to
come
pass
cither in prose or in verse, it does actually
happen
in prose ;
far more
than
frequentlyin verse
nearlyall the very greatest poetry is in verse ;
be
is identified
verse
and
the very
and
Hence
very
can
greatest poetry,
only be
by people who
savoured
To
The
the
greatest poetry
themselves
the average
of verse.
with
through
a
considerable
stood
under-
have
mental
put
cipline.
dis-
ness.
exasperatingwearichieflythe fearful prejudiceof
form
lettered man
againstthe mere
others
formation
it is
an
be
taste
cannot
literary
has been conquered.
prejudice
of
completeduntil that
My very difficult task is to suggest a method of
to
conqueringit. I address myself exclusively
the largeclass of peoplewho, if they are honest,
will declare that,while they enjoynovels,essays,
The
"stand"
verse.
and
history,they cannot
like all nervous
is extremelydelicate,
cases.
case
for
It is useless to employ the arts of reasoning,
has got beyond logic
the matter
; it is instinctive.
LiteraryTaste
72
futile to assure
will yield
Perfectly
you that verse
than prose ! You
a higher
percentage of pleasure
will reply:
We
believe you, but that doesn't
I shall
help us." Therefore I shall not argue.
treatment
venture
to prescribe
a curative
(doctors
do not argue); and I beg you to follow it exactly,
and
of
calm.
Loss
keeping your nerve
your
self-control might lead to panic,
and panicwould
"
be
fatal.
M
First
Forgetas completelyas
:
about
present notions
Take
poetry.
mind.
In
General."
and
metre
William
entitled
sponge
This
Lectures
Hazlitt's
essay
on
the
nature
and
do
particular,
thoughts of
Read
a
the
you can all your
of verse
and
wipe the
harass
not
yourselfby
forms.
verse
essay
is the
slate of your
"On
Second
:
Poetry
in
first in
the
EnglishPoets,
It
book
can
be
bought in various forms-. I think the cheapest
edition is in Routledge's New
versal
Unisatisfactory
Library" (priceis. net). I might have
the real harmless
on
composed an essay of my own
of poetry in general,but it could
nature
only have been an echo and a deterioration of
"
Hazlitt's.
in
He
has
put
the
truth
about
poetry
clear,and reassuringas
interesting,
is ever
I do not
to put it.
likely
anyone
expect,
however, that you will instantly
gather the full
a
way
as
Verse
lessage and
of
enthusiasm
probablyseem
to
73
not
you
the
to
"hang together."
it will leave brightbits of
Still,
mind.
essay
more
Third
:
After
again. On a
persuasiveto
week's
a
second
It will
essay.
ideas
in
your
interval read
perusalit
the
will appear
you.
JX
Fourth
:
chapterof
Bible
the
Open
Isaiah.
and
read the fortieth
It is the
chapterwhich begins,
Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,"
and ends,
They shall run and not be weary, and they shall
walk and not
faint." This chapterwill doubtless
"
"
be
more
or
less familiar
(whateveryour
to
It
you.
ism) to
particular
generate in your
to
recognise
to
be of
mind
fail
cannot
impress you,
sensations
which
you
loftyand unusual order,and
which you will admit to be pleasurable.
You
will
probablyagree that the result of reading this
ism is opposed
chapter(even if your particular
ing
is finer than the result of readto its authority)
short
a
even
an
story in a magazine or
Lamb.
Now, the pleasurable
essay by Charles
sensations
induced
by the fortieth chapterof
the sensations
Isaiah are
usuallyinduced
among
writer of it was
a
by high-class
poetry. The
very
great poet, and
great poem.
back
a
to
Fifth
:
Hazlitt,and
what
After
see
he
wrote
having
if you
can
is
read
a
very
it,go
find any-
Verse
have
finished
you
sensations.
.
.
the
75
perusal,examine
your
.
M
Your
perhaps one
Wordsworth,
from
after
sensations
the
or
other
two
such
readingthis
narrative
Michael^ will
as
and
poem,
of
poems
be
different
sensations
produced in you by reading
short
an
or
a
even
ordinary,
very extraordinary,
They may not be so sharp,so
story in prose.
clear and piquant,but they will probablybe, in
their mysteriousnessand
their vagueness,
more
ing.
impressive. I do not say that they will be divertI do not go so far as to say that they will
strike you as pleasing
sensations.
bered
(Be it rememthat I am
myselfto an imaginary
addressing
qualifythem as being
tyro in poetry.) I would
is one
disturbing."Well, to disturb the spirit
"
of the greatest aims of art.
And a disturbance of
of the finest pleasures
is one
that a highlyspirit
can
organisedman
enjoy. But this truth can
of experilearnt by the repetitions
ence.
onlybe really
As
an
aid
of your
order
was
he
that
you
to
may
poet, was
better
direct you
in
as
unsurpassed
a
in
Wordsworth,
understand
in you, and
Wordsworth,
nation
exami-
exhaustive
more
feelingsunder
tryingto effect
employed,I must
himself.
the
the
to
addition
what
he
which
means
Wordsworth
to
being
critic of poetry.
What
a
LiteraryTaste
76
Hazlitt
for poetry in
does
enthusiasm
the
does
Wordsworth
of
way
creating
of philosophic
tions
explana-
in the way
explanation.And Wordsworth's
of poetry are written
of the theoryand practice
for the plainman.
They pass the comprehension
of nobody,and their direct,
unassuming,and calm
is extremely
persuasive.Wordsworth's
simplicity
chief essays in throwinglighton himself are
the
and
Advertisement," Preface,"
Appendix to
and
LyricalBallads ; the letters to Lady Beaumont
"
"
"
the Friend
dated
"
and
the
of immense
and
"
Preface
"
All this matter
18 15.
"
"
is
to
Poems
the
ing
intereststrangely
educational
value.
It is the
first-class expert
The
essays
talkingat ease about his subject.
relatingto Lyrical Ballads will be
useful for you.
the most
You
will discover these
in a volume
entitled Wordspreciousdocuments
wortKs
Literary Criticism (publishedby Henry
Frowde, 2s. 6d.),edited by that distinguished
Wordsworthian
Nowell
Mr
essential that
the
student
C.
of
There
is,by
prose
in
have
no
not
idea
radiance
or
of the
the way,
the
read
Scott
a
the
jof
his
matter
volume
poetry should
which
na'ive
is
come
be-
it contains.
of Wordsworth's
Library (is.). Those
Wordsworth
of
It
either
dishonestly,
possessed,honestlyor
of this volume
Smith.
on
charm
expounding.
poetry
can
and
the
I
feel
who
have
helpful
that
I
Verse
too
cannot
strongly
press
Wordsworth's
Wordsworth
and
Between
learn all that it behoves
aims,and
of my
of
scheme
Hazlitt
know
to
you
the results of poetry.
dot the
to
and
Wordsworth
i's
"
"
and
Hazlitt.
I
urgentlyreferring
you
have only a singlepoint of my own
of the
detail.
One
psychological
purpose
to
man
At
criticism
you.
upon
the
77
in
of the nature,
It is
absurdlyinflated
the bottom
notion
of that man's
also
part
no
t's "
cross
the
best
fulfil my
to
to
main
the cultivation of poetry in the average
is an
will
you
"
I
them.
make
"
a
obstacles
sensible
of the ridiculous.
mind
finds
is the idea
that
it
exaggerated
accusations
and artificial
against
; but these two
The
answered.
charge
poetry can be satisfactorily
of being ridiculous,
of silliness,
however, cannot
There
is no
be refuted by argument.
logical
of the ridiculous
sense
to a guffaw. This
answer
is merelya bad, infantile habit,in itselfgrotesquely
it particularly
in the
You
ridiculous.
see
may
poetry is
theatre.
"
silly."He
Not
the
greatest composer,
an
audience
greatest dramatist,not
not
from
the greatest actor
can
the
vent
pre-
at
laughinguproariously
the stage.
if a cat walks across
tragicmoment
?
But
by laughter
Simply
why ruin the scene
is artisticall
of any audience
because the majority
a
LiteraryTaste
78
This
childish.
crushed
a
If you
cowed.
onlybe
of
exercise
the
by
of the ridiculous
sense
poet expresses
force.
moral
inclined
are
himself
only be
can
It
can
laughwhen
powerfullythan
more
to
when
a
yourself,
poet talks about
mentioned
in daily
which are not usually
feelings
words
when
and
a
images
poet uses
papers,
which lie outside your vocabularyand range of
thought, then you had better take yourselfin
express
you
hand.
the
on
You
have
side
of the
decide
to
whether
angelsor
you
the
on
will be
side of
the
is no
perfect
surer
nincompoops. There
sign of imdevelopment than the impulse to snigger
is unusual,na'lve, or exuberant.
And
if
at what
choose
you
to
do so, you
the
across
literature.
detect
can
the
stage in the sublimest
But
advanced
more
cat
ing
walk-
of
passages
souls will
grieve
for you.
jr
The
study
the seventh
of
Wordsworth*s
step in my
eighthis to
return
which
have
to
criticism
of
course
those poems
makes
The
treatment.
of Wordsworth's
alreadyperused,and read them
againin the full lightof the author's defence and
Wordsworth
explanation.Read as much
as
you
you
find you
of his
come
can
but
assimilate,
long poems.
for a long
The
poem.
do
not
attempt either
time, however,
I
is
now
began by advising
Verse
narrative
poetry for the
persevere
with
poetry in the
79
neophyte,and I shall
I mean
narrative
the prescription.
restricted sense
; for epic poetry
is narrative.
Paradise
The
I
Prelude,
is narrative
Lost
of
suggest neither
;
these
is
so
great
My choice falls on Elizabeth Browning's
work
Aurora
once
yourself
Leigh. If you
"into'* this poem,
yourselfprimarily
interesting
of the story,
(aswith Wordsworth) in the events
be obsessed
and not allowingyourself
to
by the
fact that what you
are
readingis "poetry" if
not
are
finished.
likelyto leave it unyou do this,you
works.
"
before you
And
the end
reach
you
will
nearlyall the
of poetry that exist : tragic,
moods
humorous,
ironic,
elegiac,
lyric everything.You will have
with a poet'smind.
a comprehensive acquaintance
I guarantee that you will come
safelythrough if
have
encountered
route
en
pretty
"
you
the
treat
work
is,and
effectively
a
Charlotte BrontS
or
well
to
would
be
passages
then
to
which
compare
selected for
as
novel.
a
better
mark,
give you
these
a
than any
one
George
For
Eliot.
or
the
passages
take
most
with
novel
it
written
by
In reading,
it
note
of, the
and
pleasure,
the
passages
authoritative critic.
praiseby some
be
Aurora
"Temple
Leigh can
got in the
in the "CanterburyPoets"
Classics" (is.6d.),
or
information
biographical
(is.).The indispensable
LiteraryTaste
8o
Browning can be obtained from Mr
J. H. Ingram*sshort Life of her in the "Eminent
from Robert Brownings
Series (is.6d.),
Women"
or
Series,is.).
by William Sharp ("Great Writers"
Mrs
about
This
your
accomplished,
begin to
you
may
poets. Going back to Hazlitt,you
that he deals
with,among
choose
will
see
others,Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare,Milton, Dryden, Pope, Chatterton,
School.
You
Burns, and the Lake
might select
his guidance. Said
of these,and read under
one
Wordsworth
I was
:
impressedby the conviction
four English poets whom
I must
that there were
before me
have continually
as
examples Chaucer,
"
"
(A word to
Shakespeare,Spenser,and Milton."
fifth to these
makes
the wise !) Wordsworth
a
enthusiastic
four.
with the careful,
Concurrently
modern
studyof one of the undisputed classics,
should be read.
verse
(I beg you to accept the
: that if the study of classical
followingstatement
poetry inspiresyou with a distaste for modern
wrong
poetry, then there is something seriously
of your development.) You
in the method
may
quiry
inat this stage (and not
an
before)commence
into questionsof rhythm, verse-structure,
and rhyme. There
no
is,I believe,
good, concise,
to English prosody; yet such
a
cheap handbook
is greatlyneeded.
manual
The
only one with
Verse
which
I
Rules
of
Rhyme
'Dictionary
of
the
gives
a
on
of
and
spirit
up."
clear
also
the
the
It
business
greatest
is
not
Rhyming
elementary
account
written
of
in
hours
the
business
appreciating
verse
something
is
in
which
The
rooted.
of
manual
couple
a
lent
excel-
an
a
principles
is
verse
But
of
formal
the
younger's
Walker's
in
1
Versification,
With
acquire
can
you
the
English
has
verse-rhythms.
English
lifelong.
got
to
to
Ruskin
of
trifling.
inmost
"
you,
knowledge
music
is
of
Hood
Guide
fairly
a
subject.
essay
front
A
:
Tom
introduction
the
Again,
is
acquainted
am
8
the
tremendous
that
can
be
Counsels
Broad
which
finally
you
book
that your
Does
the
does, then
need
you
that counts
literature
first and
be
to
you
every
as
counts
not
and
1
about
i
sincere
worry
future
possible
You
will ultimately
in liking
be justified
in life,
is the quality]
or
feelings,
Honesty,in
by
test
must,
you
of the book.
consequences
like the book, and you will
it.
touchstone
capableof comprehending.
to
seem
immediate
your
and
can,
brain is
book
If it
?
true
yourselfa
within
have
You
83
the
last.
beware
But
of j
feelings.Truth is not always
pleasant.The first glimpse of truth is,indeed,
to be positively
as
pleasant,
unusuallyso disconcerting
and our
impulse is to tell it to go away,
immediate
your
for
we
arouses
will have
truck
no
genuine contempt,
your
Take
mind.
your
confuse
contempt with
it from
you
with
If
it.
you
a
book
dismiss
may
heed, however,
If
anger.
a
lest
book
that
to anger, the chances
are
reallymoves
you
Most
it is a good book.
good books have
begun by causing anger which disguiseditself
as
Demanding honesty from your
contempt.
authors,you must see that you render it yourself.
with oneself is not
And
so
to be honest
simple
as
it appears.
be
must
When
you
One's
have
listen whether
you
sensations
examined
and
with
flung
violently
can
hear
a
one's
ments
senti-
detachment.
down
a
faint voice
book,
saying
LiteraryTaste
84
within
whisper,better
catch the
For
can.
you
"
sooner
later the
or
if you
And
though !
yieldto it
It's true,
"
:
you
quicklyas
as
will win.
voice
hugging a book, keep
for the secret warning:
Yes,
your ear cocked
but it isn't true."
For bad books, by flattering
by appealingto the weak or
you, by caressing,
what
the base in you, will often persuade you
hne
and
(Of course,
splendidbooks they are.
when
Similarly,
are
you
"
I
the
use
in
"true"
word
I do
significance.
not
literalfact ; I
mean
true
in which
book
moves.
the
Ivanhoe^ for
the
by
Stubbs's
essential
and
to
true
mean
necessarily
to the planeof experience
truthfulness
The
example,
standards
same
wide
a
the
as
estimated
be
cannot
of
truthfulness
of
Constitutional
History.) In
reading
of oneself, Is it
a
book, a sincere questioning
.? and a loyalabidingby the answer,
will
true
help more
surely than any other process of
"
"
ratiocination
that
A
form
the
taste.
I will not
this
are
questionand answer
book
is not always great.
true
book
to
is
assert
all-suflicient.
But
a
great
untrue.
never
M
My
must
other
second
have
counsel
in view
than
that to
the
is
In
your
definite aim
some
wish
:
derive
reading you
"
some
aim
ceive
pleasure.I congive pleasureis the highestend of
to
Counsels
Broad
of art, because
work
any
from
any
which
art
is
the
85
pleasureprocured
tonic,and transforms
it enters.
But
the
life into
of
the
maximum
the
measurement
pleasure
and regular
can
only be obtained by regularefFort,
of that efFort.
effort implies the
organisation
Open-airwalkingis a gloriousexercise ; it is the
walking itself which is glorious.Nevertheless,
when
settingout for walking exercise,the sane
aim in view.
has a subsidiary
He
man
generally
says to himself either that he will reach a given
point,or that he will progress at a given speed
for a given distance,or that he will remain
on
He
his feet for a given time.
organiseshis
some
efFort,
partlyin order that he may combine
other
advantagewith the advantageof walking,
in order to be sure
but principally
that the efFort
with
shall be an
same
adequate efFort. The
aim
in poring over
reading. Your
paramount
will not
literature is to enjoy, but you
fully
achieve that aim unless you have also a subsidiary
necessitates
which
aim
of your
be aesthetic,
aim
subsidiary
may
erudite ; you
scientific,
moral, political,
religious,
to a man,
an
a
epoch,
topic,
may devote yourself
Your
energy.
a
branch
nation,a
have
the
have.
In
but
my
an
literature,
latitude
widest
objective
;
of
a
definite
in
the
idea
choice
of
objectiveyou
earlier remarks
as
to
you
"
method
an
must
in
86
Taste
Literary
I advocated,without
insisting
reading,
on, regular
hours for study. But I both advocate and insist
of
of a date for the accomplishment
the fixing
on
it is not enough
allotted task.
As an instance,
an
I will inform
to
myselfcompletelyas to
say :
"
the
School."
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will inform
School
It is necessary
to
myself completelyas
before I
say
Lake
the
to
year older.'* Without
of the resolution the
precautionarysteeling
of
am
I
"
:
a
this
risk
is enormously
into futility
humiliating
collapse
magnified.
a
counsel
third
My
obvious
that
books.
I
is
Buy
:
unless
read
cannot
you
library.It
a
is
have
you
began by urging the constant
purchase
of books
without
any books of approved quality,
reference to their immediate
bearingupon your
The
has now
moment
to
case.
come
particular
inform
is,amongst
plainlythat a bookman
you
other things,a man
who
books.
possesses many
"
A
a
who
man
does
bookman.
been
For
the
favouring
selected
lists of
novels, the
best
or
not
works
the
best
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is not
authorities have
literary
literary
publicwith wondrously
"the
best
books"
the
histories,
"
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books
many
years
philosophy
fiftybest
of
possess
of
all
or
best
the
sorts.
lists is that
the
best
poems,
the
"
hundred
The
they
best
advantag
fatal dis-
leave
out
Broad
of
largequantities
first-class. The
Counsels
87
literature which
bookman
cannot
is
admittedly
himself
content
selected
library.He wants, as a minimum,
a
reasonablycompletein all departments.
library
afterwards
he can
With
such
basis acquired,
a
wander into those special
byways of book-buying
which
happen to suit his specialpredilections
is interested in any
Every Englishman who
with
a
of his native
branch
and
literature,
who
respects
a
himself,ought to own
comprehensive and
in comely
of English literature,
inclusive library
that
and
adequate editions. You
suppose
may
this counsel is a counsel of perfection.It is not.
Mark
desired the
per cent,
does
laid down
Pattison
not
of book-lover
name
of his income
five the
short
become
space
of
the
a
he
that
who
spend five
The
proposal
on
even
average
owner,
time, of
must
books.
on
extravagant, but
seem
percentage than
pages may
rule
a
reader
a
smaller
of these
comparatively
reasonablycomplete
taining
a
mean
libraryconin
a
by which I
Englishlibrary,
of the
the
complete works
supreme
of all
important works
representative
geniuses,
all departments, and
in
first-class men
the
of the second
specimen works of all the men
is really
a
rank whose
livingreputation
reputation
which I
to-day. The scheme for a library,
now
present,
begins before
Chaucer
and
ends
with
George
that
the
the
at
I
Taste
Literary
88
am
printed
Gissing,
majority
total
aware,
before.
of
and
such
scheme
fairly
am
will
people
inexpensiveness
no
I
of
it.
has
be
sure
startled
So
ever
far
been
as
CHAPTER
XI
*
AN
For
ENGLISH
the
LIBRARY
of
purposes
literature,
English
but
epochs,
into
have
view,
shelves
from
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the
From
II.
to
From
III.
the
and
the
is
prices
Young,
head
I
make
seventeenth
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Walter
Dryden,
or
century.
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to
Austen,
century.
Scott
as
to
last
the
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a
deceased
roughly,
century.
III.
will
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much
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recognised
nineteenth
For
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will
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John
to
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Sir
who
Period
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William
From
author
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:
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while
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demands
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to
historical
historical
the
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into
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which
space
and
the
on
strictly
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to
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book-buying,
three
scarcely arbitrary
PERIOD
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of
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firm
largest
the
in
correction
old
to
my
of
Lamley
and
"
the
valued
cost
of
editions
friend, Charles
Co., booksellers,
Kensington.
,
89
matter
and
South
"rouder
it is.
To
constrained
to
than
been
Lve
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Period
EnglishLibrary:
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make
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the masterpieceof
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exceptions.
written in Latin,
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Utopiawas
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rule, however,
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does
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that the world
greatestphysicist
one
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ever
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powerfulsentimental interest for us.
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the
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the Bible, in
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I
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first
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place it
As
to
translation,
a
that
assume
93
already
you
copy.
Poets.
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London
Beowulf^ Routledge's
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Chaucer,
Library
Works
Udall, Ralph
:
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Robert
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neglected
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not
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library.It
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meet
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volumes
three
included
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anthologiesare full of
comprise admirable
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Arber*s
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Daniel,
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Raleigh, Thomas
of
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the
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Philip Sidney,
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Frances
Randolph,
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of
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last
pieces,and
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Sackville, Sir
George Wither,
the
Fletcher, Countess
I., George
James
95
Professor
list.
above
the
on
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Quarles,
and
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lesser
poets.
dramatists
of
so
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and
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the
standard
quiteproperlyraised,and certain
thus
are
cluded,
relegatedto the third, or exin a less fertile period would
class who
is
as
at
Summary
29
the
researches,are
my
plentifulthat
extraordinarily
counted
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Marston, all
print.
of excellence
authors
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works, according to
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John
except
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out
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included
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poets in
least second-class.
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96
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at
is
the
any
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anthologies.
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per
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bookseller's.
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to
CHAPTER
AN
ENGLISH
XII
LIBRARY
I
PERIOD
II
of
library
authors
to
John Dryden, I must
logically
up
for the period covered
scheme
next
a
arrange
roughly by the eighteenthcentury. There is,
however, no reason
why the student in quest of
order.
a
libraryshould follow the chronological
After
dealingwith
I should
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century
that,
reason
formation
the
advise
him
before
unless
the
his
peculiarly Augustan,"
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immediate
in
satisfaction and
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nineteenth
eighteenth. There
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for the purposes
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of
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teenth
nine-
eighteenth,for
taste
happens to
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than
century
a
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ture
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proportionof what I may term
is in
excellence,"which
one
have
must
of
but which
completeness,
may
await actual perusaluntil more
pressingand more
I have particularly
human
books have been read.
authors of the century.
in mind the philosophical
97
7
An
English Library
:
Henry
Fielding, Joseph
Andrews
Period
"
Routledge's
:
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.
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Hume,
Laurence
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Essays
Sterne,
.
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:
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World's
:
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Laurence
010
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Sentimental
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of Otranto
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:
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016
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Library
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New
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Life of Johnson
Globe
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Works
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Edition
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man's
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William
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Pocket
Library (2 vols.)
George Henry Borrow,
.
.
Lord
W.
M.
.
.
.
Everyman's Library(2 vols.)
W. M. Thackeray,
Barry Lyndon,
Papers, etc.:
Library
Nelson's
:
.0
.020
Esmond:
Vanity Fair,
Thackeray,
s.
.020
.
.
and
about
Round-
Century
New
020
.
Charles
Dickens,
Works
Everyman's Library
:
(18 vols.)
o
Charles
Reade, T/ie Cloister
Everyman's Library
Anthony Trollope,Barchester
New
Parsonage: Lane's
(2 vols.)
Charles Kingsley, Westward
Library
.
Henry Kingsley,Ravenshoe
Charlotte
Bronte, Jane
Professor,and
(4 vols.)
Emily Bronte,
Hearth:
010
Towers, Framley
Pocket
.
.
the
and
.
.
Hoi
Library
.020
.
Everyman's
:
010
Everyman's Library
:
Eyre, Shirley, Villette,
Classics
World's
Poems:
040
Wuthering
.
World's
Heights:
Classics
QIC
Elizabeth
Gaskell, Cranford :
Elizabeth
Gaskell, Life of Charlotte
George
Mill
Eliot,Adam
the
on
World's
Bede, Silas
Floss:
Classics
Bronte
.060
Marner,
Everyman's
.010
The
Library
(3 vols.)
G.
J. Whyte
010
-
030
Melville, The
Gladiators:
New
Universal
Library
Alexander
Smith, Dreamthorpe
Library
George Macdonald, Malcolm
.
.
.
010
:
.
.
New
Universal
.
.
.
.
.010
.016
18
o
Period
:
EnglishLibrary
An
III
105
"
Walter
Pater, Imaginary Portraits
Wilkie
R.
D.
Collins, The
Woman
Blackmore,
Lorna
in White
Doone
:
Fifield's Edition
.026
Laurence
Oliphant,Altiora Peto
.036
Chapel: Everyman's
Margaret Oliphant,Salem
o
Library
Richard
"S/^ry^wjj'.^ar/
.020
Jefferies,
.
.
.
Carroll,Alice in Wonderland
Cheap
:
.
Macmillan's
Edition
010
John Henry Shorthouse, John Inglesant:
Classics
Pocket
Stevenson, Master
R. L.
Puerisque:
Edition
.
millan's
Mac-
.
.
.020
of Ballantrae^ Virginibus
Edition
(2 vols.)
.040
Pocket
.
Odd
Gissing, J'he
George
Women:
Popular
(bound)
007
"^
Names
Dinah
such
Cra^k
are
as
those
omitted
Prose-writers
:
6
of Charlotte
7
and
Yonge
intentionally.
^
Non-imaginative.
"
World's
WilliamHazlitt,^/n/^M"?^^^;
William
o
Everyman's
:
010
Butler, Erewhon
Lewis
i
.026
.
Library
Samuel
d.
.060
.
.
s.
Hsizlitt,
English Poets and
Comic
Classics
s.
010
Writers:
Bohn's
036
Library
Francis Jeffrey,
Essays from Edinburgh Review :
New
Universal Library
.010
Thomas
de Quincey, Confessionsof an
English
.010
Opium-eater,etc. : Scott Library
Scott Library .010
Sydney Smith, "Stf/(?^/^^/*(a/tfrj..
.
.
.
.
d.
EnglishLibrary:Period
An
III
107
"
F. W.
Robertson, On Religion and
Library
s.
d.
Life : Everyman's
010
Benjamin
Jowett, Interpretationof Scripture:
.026
Library
Routledge'sLondon
George Henry Lewes, Principlesof Success in
Literature : Scott Library
.010
and
Alexander Bain, Mind
Body
.040
James Anthony
Froude, Dissolution
of the
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Monasteries^etc. : New Universal Library .010
Mary Wollstonecraft,Vindication of the Rights of
Women
:
Scott
Library
.
.
John Tyndall, Glaciers of the Alps
Library
Sir Henry
Library
Lilies
Herbert
Herbert
S.
.
Seven
.010
.
.
(5 vols.)
.
.050
.
.
.076
.
.
.
Education
Principles
.026
.
Burton, Narrative
Edition
Bohn's
Universal
(i). Sesame and
Lamps
of Venice (3): George
Spencer,
Speke,
o
.
First
:
.010
Everyman's
:
New
:
.
Spencer,
Sir Richard
Mecca
Law
(i), Stones
Cheap Edition
Allen's
J.
.
Ruskin,
John
Ancient
Maine,
.
of a Pilgrimage to
(2 vols.)
.070
.
Sources
of
the
Nile
:
Everyman's
Library
Thomas
010
Henry
Huxley, Essays:
Everyman's
Library
010
E. A. Freeman,
William
Walter
Europe
Stubbs, Early Plantagenets
Street
Bagehot, Lombard
Richard
Holt
Sir John
Ecce
Masson, Thomas
of Letters
.
Hutton, Cardinal
Seeley,
Library
David
Primers
Macmillan's
:
Series
Homo:
.
.020
,
.036
.
.036
Newman
New
.010
Universal
010
de
Quincey : EnglishMen
016
i
o
LiteraryTaste
io8
"
John Richard
Short
Green,
History of the
English
08
People
Sir LesHe
Stephen, Pope
:
EnglishMen
of Letters
Series
\jytd.
01
KoXon^ On
Mandell
F. W.
the
Study of History
.026'
.
Creighton,The Age of Elizabeth
H.
s.
Myers,
Letters
Wordsworth
English
:
.026
.
Men
of
Series
016
"4
6
19
followingauthors are omitted, I think
:
Hallam, Whewell, Grote, Faraday,
justifiably
The
"
Herschell,Hamilton, John Wilson, Richard
Owen,
StirlingMaxwell, Buckle, Oscar Wilde, P. G.
Hamerton, F. D. Maurice, Henry Sidgwick,and
Richard
Jebb.
of
here is the
Lastly,
priceper volume
all the lists. This
list of poets.
it is the
is due
to
In the
expensiveof'
most
the
matter
fact that it
tains
con-
largerproportion of copyright works.
Where
I do not
the edition of a book, the
specify
edition is meant
:
original
copyright
a
Poets.
"
William
Wordsworth,
Poetical
Works:
ford
Ox-
Edition
William
Nowell
036
Wordsworth,
Smith's
s.
Criticism:
Literary
Edition
.
.
.
.026
d.
Period
:
EnglishLibrary
An
III
109
Robert
.010
Southey,Poems:
CanterburyPoets
Everyman's
^Robert Southey, Life of Nelson:
Library
.010
.
S. T.
.
Coleridge,
.
.
Poetical
.
Works:
.
Newnes's
Thin
Paper Classics
S. T. Coleridge, Biographia
036
Literaria
man's
Every-
:
Library
3. T.
010
Lectures
Coleridge,
Shakspere: Everyman's
on
Library
John Keats,
Percy
010
Poetical
Bysshe
Works
Shelley,
:
Edition
Oxford
Poetical
Works:
.036
ford
Ox-
Edition
Lord
036
Poems:
Byron,
E.
Hartley Coleridge's
Edition
Lord
060
Letters
Byron,
Thomas
Hood,
fames
and
New
Poems
Universal
The
Library
.
:
.
.010
.
.010
Classics
World's
Smith, RejectedAddresses
Horace
[ohn Keble,
Scott
:
Library
.
.
Christian
:
.010
.
Canterbury
Year:
Poets
010
George Darley, Poems:
r. L.
Muses'
.010
Library
.010
Beddoes, Poems : Muses' Library
Selected
Poems:
Moore,
Canterbury
.
.
Thomas
Poets
fames
010
Clarence
Poems
Mangan,
:
D.
J. O'Dono-
ghue'sEdition
W.
Mackworth
R.
S.
036
Praed, Poems
Hawker,
Cornish
Canterbury Poets
C. E. Byles's
Ballads:
:
Edition
Edward
010
050
FitzGerald,
Omar
Khayydm:
Golden
026
Treasury Series
P. J. Bailey,Festus : Routledge'sEdition
.036
Arthur Hugh Clough, Poems
010
: Muses'
Library
.
Lord
Tennyson,
Poetical Works
:
Globe
Edition
036
LiteraryTaste
no
"
Robert
Poetical
Browning,
Classics
Elizabeth
(2 vols.)
Browning, Aurora
02
Leigh:
Temple
Classics
Elizabeth
.01
Poems
Browning, Shorter
Canterbury
:
Poets
01
: Canterbury Poets
Marston, Song-tide
P. B.
Aubrey
de
s.
World's
Works:
Vere, Legends of St Patrick
National
Library
Matthew
Arnold,
Matthew
Arnold,
.
.
Poems
:
.
Essays
:
i
o
2
o
i
o
i
Cassell's
.
.
.00
Treasury Series
Everyman's Library
Golden
:
o
Coventry Patmore, Poems : Muses' Library
.01
Sydney Dobell, Poems : Canterbury Poets
Eric Mackay, Love-letters of a Violinist : Canterbury
.
.
Poets
T.
E.
.
.
.
.01
Brown, Poems
07
C. S. Calverley,Verses
D.
.
.
G.
.
RossETTi, Poetical
Christina
Rossetti,
Translations
and
Works
.
Selected
Poems:
William
:
Red
Letter
.03
Golden
Treasury Series
JsLUiesThomson, City of Dreadful JVight
Jean Ingelow,Poems
.
.01
02
.
Library
.
.03
.01
.06
Morris, The Earthly Paradise
Morris, Early Romances:
Everyman's
.
William
Library
.
Augusta Webster,
.
.
.
.
.01
,
.
.04
.
.
.
.
Selected Poems
Henley, Poetical Works
Francis Thompson, Selected Poems
W.
.
E.
.
.06
.05
"5
Poets
whom
Ebenezer
I have
omitted
Elliott,Thomas
after hesitation
Woolner,
are
William
:
EnglishLibrary:Period
An
III
iii
Massey, and Charles Jeremiah
Wells.
tion
the other hand, I have had no hesitaOn
about omittingDavid
Moir, Felicia Hemans,
Sir Lewis
Arnold, and
Aytoun, Sir Edwin
Barnes, Gerald
Morris.
enlightened
opinion,but againstmy
much
to
inclination.
which
of
There
be
may
Dark
My
few
a
Omar
many
Mangan is the author
piece,
acknowledged master-
prose-
fame.
Khayydim is
FitzGerald
included
I have
less
much
a
translation
work.
original
an
Summary
83
to
list
every
far wider
because
than
the
T. E.
contain.
librarymust
such
is a great poet, recognisedas
by
hundred
people, and assuredly destined
Brown
to
in
names
unfamiliar
somewhat
%osaleen^an
which
a
two
are
James Clarence
readers.
in deference
John Keble
included
I have
of
writers,in
38 poets
the
140
,,46
Century.
Nineteenth
volumes, costing
"
"
.
.
"
.
"is
186
121
Grand
Summary
;"io 6
5^6
of
Complete
226
Library.
335
"2^
14
i
7
Taste
Literary
112
I think
it will
be
agreed
of
sixpence
become
the
which, for
of
and
literature, will
far
of
possessor
range
years
bear
more
mayi
of
books
all branches
in
libraries
with
comparison
the^'
out
you
collection
a
completeness
imposing,
more
three
thil
of
cost
laying
By
for
day
a
total
the
small.
library is surprisingly
sum
that
and
numerous,
more
expensive.
I
The
have
mentioned
discount
which
bookseller
in
sufficient
the
to
small
a
pay
English Literature^
This
is
work
I
of
volumes,
with
you
may
which
calm
do
these
that
any
read,
three
a
than
more
price
of
net.
30s.
bookman.
wholly
sonally,
Per-
the
of
bar
that, though
rate
know
what
you
to
on
your
err
are
part,
to
whisper
is formed
;
and
modern
works
opinion
in
is
a
thirty-five
begin
may
judgment
in
or
and
hundred
literarytaste
your
before
assurance
at
to
a
Cyclopedia
volumes,
enjoyment^you
pronounce
come
Chambers's
three
have
you
yourself
be
from
it much.
majority
to
for
discount.
(even
will
town)
indispensable
owe
When
will obtain
you
of
question
human,
the
you
talking about.
CHAPTER
MENTAL
Great
books
accidental
They
STOCKTAKING
do
in
the
of
literature
the
great
be
until it has been
purpose
life of him
who
reads.
it becomes
the
vehicle
the
gradualresult
human
of their
said
and
reason
the
have
to
It does
of the
not
human
the
core,
authors.
served
pression
ex-
And
its true
into the actual
succeed
vital.
unending
them.
wrote
very
translated
of the
something
who
men
life itself of
cannot
from
spring
not
the effluence
are
XIV
until
Progress is
battle
in
instinct,
between
which
the
former
vast
The
most
slowlybut surelywins.
ful
powerengine in this battle is literature. It is the
reservoir of true ideas and
high emotions
and
life is constituted
"
of
ideas and
emotions.
In
the intellectual and
deprivedof literature,
emotional
activityof all but a few exceptionally
would
giftedmen
quicklysink and retract to a
a
world
narrow
circle.
would
tend
to
The
broad, the noble,the
disappearfor
113
want
of
generous
accessible
S
Mental
m
animated
are
by
all that
|;erature
It
aim
hairs
)pingof
what
to
make
a
But, amid
do
reservoir,
have
acquired?
valuation,in
that which
terms
to
Do
of
out
And
in
after year, and
all this steady
take
ever
you
115
get
give.
reading,
year
com-e.
the
you
real desire
a
literature will
keep on
you
ie grey
Stocktaking
ever
you
of your
own
stock
pause
of
life,
or
imagine
dailyabsorbing,
?
Do you ever
satisfy
yourself
you are absorbing
by proofthat you are absorbinganythingat all,
that the livingwaters, instead of vitalising
you,
not
are
a
running off you as though you were
duck
in
a
you
storm
are
?
Because,if you
omit
this
mere
business
it may
well be that you, too,
precaution,
without knowing it,are littleby littlejoiningthe
is so long.
triflerswho read only because eternity
well be that even
It may
allegedsacred
your
passionis,after all,simply a sort of drug-habit.
You
disturbs and worries you.
The suggestion
dismiss it impatiently
; but it returns.
How
can
a man
perform
(you ask, unwillingly)
?
he put a value
How
can
a mental
stocktaking
on
what
gets from
he
books
?
How
can
he
test, in cold blood, whether
effectively
receivingfrom literature all that literature
to give him ?
The
test
is not
might appear.
so
vague,
nor
so
he
is
has
as
difficult,
LiteraryTaste
ii6
If
nature
with
:
originand
the
forms
If he
If he
the
of his
arouser
troubled
by
is his
earth,which
emotions
acutest
the
with
contact
"
sightof beauty in
"
of
is devoid
fellow-men
by intimate
with
the sun,
If he is not
many
thrilled
is not
man
a
his fellow-animals
and
does
concerninghis^
curiosity
have
not
"
glimpsesof
all
unity of
the
thingsin an orderlyprogress
and
If he is chronically
"querulous,dejected,
envious
"
"-
If he is
pessimistic
"
If he is of those
shams,"
"
age,"and
who
this age without
talk about
this age
"
"
ideals,"
this
this
of
hysterical
heaven-knows-what-age
Then
that man,
though he reads undisputed
classics for twenty hours a day,though he has a
in
of steel,though he rivals Porson
memory
in judgment,is not
and Sainte Beuve
scholarship
literature has to
from literature what
receiving
give. Indeed, he is chieflywasting his time.
better for
Unless
it were
he can
read differently,
him if he sold all his books, gave to the poor, and
playedcroquet.
"
He
fails because
siriilated into his existence
geniusput
into the books
the vital
that have
has
essences
not
as-
which
merelypassed
genius has offered him
vision, noble passion,curiosity,
before his eyes ; because
faith,courage,
he
Mental
Stocktaking
117
thirst for
beauty,and he has not taken the
gift; because geniushas offered him the chance of
and he is onlyhalf alive,
for it is only
fully,
living
love,a
of fine ideas and
in the stress
emotions
trulysaid to live. This
which
invention,but a simplefact,
by all who know what that stress
be
may
What
!
!
sonnets
shout
You
talk
Have
you
is
that
not
a
man
moral
a
will be attested
is.
about Shakespeare's
learnedly
heard
terrific
Shakespeare's
:
Full many
glorious
morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-topswith sovereign
eye,
Kissingwith goldenface the meadows
green.
with heavenlyalchemy.
Gildingpalestreams
And
yet
can
a
you
see
the
sun
rtOughboroughJunction of
over
the
viaduct
at
morning, and catch
off Dewar's
s rays in the Thames
whisky monuIf so,
ttient,and not shake with the joy of life ?
and Shakespeare
not yet in communication.
are
rou
"What 1 You
pride yourselfon your beautiful
of
dition
durelius^and
translation
savour
you
the
of
cadences
Marcus
of
the
;
amous
This
vith
Casaubon's
a
an
nvious
day I
shall have
unthankful
man.
man,
do with
to
a
an
idle,curious
man,
or
a
railer,
false,
crafty,
All these ill qualities
have
happened
an
unto
LiteraryTaste
ii8
But
trulybad.
is
good, that
is bad, that
know,
is my
it
and
only is to be desired,
only is trulyodious and
kinsman, not
of the
participation
particle how
with
And
a
would
You
Now
.
.
cabman
of
thingsthat
what,
shall
me
from
he
be,
seed,but by
divine
same
ears
and
go
you
!
well
any
forth
come
who
:
.
in your
self
literary
of your
be ashamed
understand
shameful
and
caughtin ignoranceof Whitman,
be
which
of that
of the
and
reason
same
these cadences
quarrelwith
blood
same
I be hurt ?
can
"
the
by
and
of that which
this transgressor,whosoever
that
moreover,
trulygood
the nature
I that understand
it
is
that which
him, throughignoranceof
"
who
wrote
it is providedin the
fruition
of
something
success,
make
to
to
:
essence
no
a
matter
greater
struggle
necessary.
And
your
a
yet,
having achieved
temper
when
a
it breaks
motor-car, you
down
lose
half-wayup
hill 1
You
know
tryingto
your
teach you
Wordsworth,
about
who
has
:
soul
tranquil
of Time
tolerates the indignities
That
And, from the centre of Eternity
lives
All finite motions over-ruling,
In gloryimmutable.
The
Upholder
of the
been
Mental
But
when
suburban
your
repose
119
capableof being seriously
unhappy
are
you
Stocktaking
train selects
for its
tunnel
a
I
M
And
not
as
Bible,which
forefathers
your
aesthetic
You
of the
the A.V.
read
remember
with
it, but
in
delight,especially
the
read,
now
you
an
Apocrypha !
:
Whatsoever
and
broughtupon thee,take cheerfully,
For
be patientwhen
thou art changed to a low estate.
in the furnace
goldis tried in the fire and acceptablemen
of adversity.
And
a
yet you
You
think
ludicrous
do.
They
And
they are no more
they illustrate in
how
you
its function
of
They
than
do
to
so.
life itself.
workaday fashion
most
literature
your
informingand
approachthe
meant
are
ludicrous
the
die because
1
to
instances
whether
test
can
and
Go
1
you
of my
some
?
lie down
readyto
are
has scorned
woman
But
is
fulfils
transforming
your
existence.
jr
I say
that
if
dailyevents
recall and
constantly
contained
are
not
in the
and
scenes
utilise the ideas and
books
which
you
have
do
not
emotions
read
or
of these books
does
reading; if the memory
quicken the perceptionof beauty,wherever
LiteraryTaste
I20
happen to be, does not help you to correlat"
the particular
trifle with the universal,does not
irritation and give dignityto sorrowsmooth
out
then you
or
not, unworthy o\
are, consciously
You
say1
may
your high vocation as a bookman.
fact is,1 am.
The
that I am
preachinga sermon.
moral
mood.
For when
My mood is a severely
you
I reflect upon
have
offer
to
difference
the
and
what
readers take the trouble
between
books
earnest
relatively
even
to
what
accept from
them, I
am
did I not
know
appalled(or should be appalled,
that the world is moving) by the sheer inefficiency
reader.
the bland,complacentfailure of the earnest
of inefficiency
1 am
like yourself,
the spectacle
rouses
holy ire.
my
M
Before
begin
you
in
another
upon
masterpiece,
which you
are
masterpieces
proud of having read duringthe past year. Take
the first on
the list,
that book which you perused
set
out
a
the
row
in all the zeal
of your
systematicstudy.
your
mind.
which
you
Think,
and
that
your
book
own
history
"
the compartments
for the
to
dailycommerce
when
did
ideas
garnered
recollect when
recurred
for
resolutions
Year
Examine
Search
have
New
from
last
your
it throw
a
emotions
that
something
memory
with
and
of
book.
from
apropos
of
humanity. Is it
lightfor you on
Mental
?
politics
modern
show
order
you
to
you
influence your
affair between
did
it
it
conduct
it
"
Is
forgiveall ?
magnifyingglassto
it
help
separab
in-
an
when
"
?
"
to
it
did
did
it
twopenny-halfpenny
a
man
help you
when
"
disorder,and
ethics
in
and
121
togetherinto
two
Is
man
science
apparent
and
two
put
Is
in
four ?
when
Stocktaking
novel
a
understand
poetry
disclose
Is it
when
"
"
all and
was
beauty to
you,
it
a
or
a
cooling faith ? If you can
these questions
taking
answer
satisfactorily,
your stockas
regardsthe fruit of your traffic with
be reckoned
that book
If you
satisfactory.
may
them
then either you
cannot
answer
satisfactorily,
chose the book
that you
badlyor your impression
fire
to
warm
read it is
a
your
mistaken
the result of this
When
to
the conclusion
as
you
about
them
for
causes
the
be
may
reading
should
at
Habitual
happen
and
to
of
of
confirmed
is
not
so
vast
necessary
to
look
are
misfortune.
The
have
been
You
books.
once,
the
you
may
This, however,
1
extremely unlikely.
readers,unless they
reviewers,seldom
read
worthless
they are so busy with
place,
proved value that they have onlya small
In
books.
be
riches
be, it is
to
several.
worthless
say
forces
stocktaking
that your
thought
causes
books
one.
the
first
Mental
his
when
feelings
key ; imagine
Similar
is what
The
choice
He
thus
results in
life of the
no
books, it
other's
they
aid.
no
pursues
Books
;
when, spreading
of faint
muddle
a
blurringthe rest.
help one another
each
has
bad
relatively
of
number
a
to
in the eventful
occur
is
over
in
comes
key, and never
there exists such a thing as a key.
bad.
I call a choice absolutely
suspects that
That
the
reader.
123
along with the
light flooding his brain.
someone
incidents
constant
Stocktaking
impressionseach
And
allowed
be
must
must
order,and
be
to
called
skilfully
that
this may
be
is necessary.
guiding principle
should that guiding
And
what," you demand,
?
do
I know
How
be ?
Nobody,
principle
for you.
make
can
principles
fortunately,
your
for yourself.But I will
them
You
have to make
that in
this generalobservation
:
venture
upon
accomplishedsome
"
"
"
the mental
world
As
co-ordination.
great mistake
reader
what
made
is that
he
counts
is not
numbers
but
regardsfacts and ideas,the
by the average well-intentioned
is content
with
the
names
of
things instead of occupying himself with the
the
to
seeks
of things. He
answers
causes
questionWhat ? instead of to the questionWhy ?
all
studies history,and
He
never
guesses that
historyis caused by the facts of geography. He
LiteraryTaste
124
is
botanical
a
the
Sibthorpia
europaa
wonder
to
expert, and
cloak
what
of
will
constellations
from
if you
but
name
why
Venus
bothered
the
learned
that
names
are
of the lust of the
its
starlit
all the
Scorpion;
be
never
can
that
will tell you
the scientific details.
with
of
unction
has
he
midnight, he
at
without
forth
to
where
troubles
be
with
you
to
never
would
Andromeda
him
ask
and
wanders
He
plants.
evenings and
grows,
earth
the
take you
can
He
has
seen
not
not
tion
nothing,and the satisfaceye a trifle compared to the
vision
of which
imaginative
the indispensable
basis.
are
scientific
"
details
"
convinced, is unphiloreading,I am
sophical
; that is to
say, it lacks the element
which
than
more
anything else quickens the
Most
poetry of life. Unless
a
of
scheme
readingmust
must
of
before
he
in which
outline
map
knowledge
which
every
he
the
to
can
other
has formed
man
notion
some
various
branches
of the
of
properlycomprehend
If he has not
specialises.
can
he
a
skeleton,his
knowledge,be it a mere
be unphilosophical.
He
necessarily
attained
have
until
and
upon
comes
which
him,
to
trace
part, he
he
can
as
relations
inter-
knowledge
the
branch
drawn
an
fill in whatever
it comes,
and
on
of every part with
affinity
is assuredly
frittering
away a
the
Mental
Stocktaking
125
largepercentage of his efforts. There are certain
works which, once
theyare mastered,
philosophical
to have
seem
performedan operationfor cataract,
forward
that he who was
blind,having read them, henceso
and effect working in and out
cause
sees
everywhere. To use another figure,they leave
stamped on the brain a chart of the entire province
of knowledge.
M
is
Spencer'sFirst Principles.I
that it is nearlyuseless to advise people to
First Principles,They are intimidated
by the
Such
know
read
work
a
of it ; and
sound
the
it costs
But
much
as
a
dress-circle
if
they would, what
brilliant stocktakingsthere might be in a few
Why, if they would
only read such
years !
and Fashion,"
Manners
detached essays as that on
of Science
The
Genesis
or
(in a sixpenny
of Spencer'sEssays^ publishedby Watts
volume
the necessary
and
Co.),the magic illumination,
safed
of
might be vouchsynthetisingthings,
power
at
seat
theatre.
as
"
"
"
"
"
to
them.
In
any
case,
the
lack
of
some
will
disciplinary,
co-ordinatingmeasure
disastrous
stocktakings.
amply explain many
in which
The
manner
one
singleray of light,
and energise
one
singleprecioushint,will clarify
such
the whole
among
mental
the
most
life of him
wonderful
who
and
receives
it,is
heavenly of
LiteraryTaste
126
intellectual
that
Some
phenomena.
lightand
find it.
never
search
men
But
most
for
never
men
for it.
search
M
The
of disastrous
cause
superlative
remains,and
it is much
stocktakings
simplethan
more
the
one
just dealt. It consists in the
absence of meditation.
People read, and read,
and
of their effrontery
read,blandlyunconscious
in assuming that they can
assimilate without any
with
which
further
I have
effort the
has breathed
vital
into them.
proof that they do
their lives.
least
as
time
thinkingabout
in reading,
he
he
does
not
They
what
is
in
he
a
the author
And
cannot.
all the
is shown
not
I say that if
much
which
essence
does
man
not
activelyand
has read
as
he
his
simplyinsulting
submit
himself
time
the
in
spend at
definitely
has spent
author.
If
intellectual and
to
emotional
in classifying
the communicated
fatigue
the imprint
ideas,and in emphasisingon his spirit
of the communicated
emotions
then
reading
with him is a pleasant
pastime and nothing else.
This is a distressing
fact. But it is a fact. It is
for the reason
that meditation is not
distressing,
If a friend asks you what
a
popularexercise.
I was
ing,"
readyou did last night,you may answer,
and he will be impressed and you will be
I was
proud. But if you answer,
meditating,"
"
"
"
Mental
Stocktaking
127
tendency to smile and you will
this.
1 know
I feel
have a tendency to blush.
offer any explanation.)
But
it myself. (I cannot
he
will have
it does
not
of meditation
a
shake
my
conviction
is the main
that
the absence
originof disappointing
stocktakings.
PRINTED
BY
NEILL
AND
CO.,
LTD.,
EDINBURGH