c/ooZ BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HentQ W. Sage iSqx .A.Zl^.AZ.^. JL^/^/^.^.:. Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029541947 Cornell University Library Z1003 .K82 Mastery of books: hints on reading and t olin 3 1924 029 541 947 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS HINTS ON READING AND THE USE OF LIBRARIES BY HARRY LYMAN KOOPMAN, A.M. LIBRARIAN OF BROWN UNIVERSITY NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:■ CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY tT A. ] 0Z2 1. 1 Copyright, 1896, by American Book Company. koop. mast. of books. TABLE OF CONTENTS. iNTRODUgXION ... . . Why and "How Much to read . What to read How TO READ . . .... Reference Books and Catalogues . Periodicals ... .... ... Memory and Note-taking . . Language Study .... , . The Place of the Library in Education Reading Courses . ... Classified List of Books . . Books on the Subject of Reading Index . PAGE. 5 9 22 37 48 63 78 94 III 128 142 197 205 INTRODUCTION. When Richard Wade, the hero of Winthrop's delightful story, " Love and Skates," went up to Dunderbunk to take charge of the disaffected iron works, his first act was to summon the workmen before him. At the tap of the bell the grimy host assembled. " They inspected him, and he them as coolly. . . The Hands faced the Head. It was a question whether the two hundred or the one would be master in Dunderbunk. Which was boss .'' An old question. It has to be settled whenever a ^he struggle new man claims power, and there is always a '"'■ mastery, struggle until it is fought out by main force of brain or muscle." Something like this happens whenever an eager student enters a large library for the first time. Which will prove the master .'' Will it be the boy, with his '^ ^ The student undeveloped and untrained mind, his ignorance and the of his own strength and weakness, and his en- •''"■^nf- tire unconsciousness of the tremendous forces locked up in the quiet rows of volumes about him ? Is it not certain that the books, with the terrible odds in their favor, will prove an overmatch for the raw student, and leave him for evermore an intellectual parasite or slave ? Books not merely represent, they actually present, the living force of the master spirits of the world. Yet the stu- dent's road to victory, is, after all, a plain one. He has S 6 INTRODUCTION. but to remember that these serried ranks of learning have over and again found their conqueror ; that this very conquest is his own high calling. Let him fearlessly con- front their marshaled columns, calmly estimate their power and his own, and offer battle on his vantage ground instead of theirs, and, without a blow, the whole frown- ing host will surrender at discretion. In the choice of weapons and vantage ground in this Battle of the Books, it is the attempt of the following pages to assist the student. The reader will adapted to ^^ disappointed, who may take up this volume individual expecting to find certain books and certain capacities. j^gjjjQ^g pointed out, with the injunction, " Read these, follow those." It is rather the aim of the work to take counsel with the student in regard to his purposes in reading ; to consider with him his capacities and opportunities ; to aid him in turning to such classes of books as will further the attainment of his aims ; and also, by the suggestion of various methods, to lead him to the study of his own qualities of mind and char- acter, to the end that he may choose the material and manner of reading most profitable for himself. For it cannot be too strongly emphasized that merely to read is not enough. As Bacon so long ago pointed Reading o^t, " Studics tcach uot their own use ; but that an art. jg a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation." To read with purpose, method, and judgment, developing one's own experience in the light of counsel, is therefore the key to the mastery of books. "To read and write comes by nature," said the sapient Dogberry. The student learns early in his career that this assertion is as false when applied to composition, as INTRODUCTION. J in regard to the more primary attainment of penmanship. But it is not so soon recognized that the mastery of the alphabet does not constitute one a master of books and their contents. Pains are therefore taken to provide the student at the outset with a knowledge, often lacking in older readers, of the simplest tools of his trade — reference - .-' Summary of books and catalogues. An entire chapter is chapters in given to the discussion of the nature and value ^^^ ^°°^- of that form of printed matter which makes up the bulk of the reading of the modern world — periodical litera- ture. The preservation of the results of reading, whether in the memory or in written form, is considered at length, with the twofold purpose of guide and warning, and with reference to both teaching and study. With the object of prompting the student to prepare himself betimes for the wider reading demanded in scholarly research, a chapter is devoted to the study of languages, its impor- tance, and its most practical methods. As an attempt to broaden the student's view of the importance of read- ing, a chapter has been included on the place of the library in educational work, presenting at the same time a history of the development of the modern library idea. Courses of reading are considered, and a substitute for the older methods is suggested, the adoption of which, it is believed, will put the student into a more vital rela- tion to books than was possible under the stiff and im- personal system of reading courses. In connection with this new plan for the guidance of readers, there is given a classified list of about fifteen hundred works. Follow- ing this is an annotated selection of titles bearing on the subject of books and reading, as a guide for such 8 INTRODUCTION. readers as may be led to seek advantage or enjoyment in pursuing the matter furtiier afield. As the writer's purpose in the following pages has been wholly practical, he has felt obliged, in the main, to forego any attempt at literary illustration and allusion, which form so delightful a feature of many works on the subject of reading. For the same reason, and also because the ' ideas he has put forth are original, to the extent of being the fruits of his own experience, the writer has not felt called upon to encumber his pages with references to the treatment of the same topics by other authors. It has generally seemed sufficient to let the list of authorities cited stand as a guide for any who may care to inquire how far his words are a repetition or dilution of the counsel of his elders and betters. THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. CHAPTER I. WHY AND HOW MUCH TO READ. What should be the mark of an educated man ? In- disputably, clearness of mental vision, the power to see things as they are. The people expect this, ^he mark and from their educated men they have a right of an edu- to expect the vision that shall save them from "'^"^ "^"^ perishing. It matters not whether we find the source of the world's evil in the heart or in the head ; whether we believe with Socrates and Spinoza that men will do the right if they only know it, or agree with Schopenhauer and the Orientals that men's desires must first be changed : in either case a great factor of the world's misery must be admitted to be ignorance. All experience shows that the conditions of knowledge and morality react upon each other. Great intellectual advances accrue to the benefit of real morality ; while a moral stimulus, in society or the individual, is felt also in a quickening of the intellectual life. The heart, however, is a readier responding instru- ment than the head. A man's desires may be converted to righteousness in a moment ; while a long lifetime may leave him still a beginner in the school of right conduct. Now, we cannot avoid the question why the world so 9 10 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. often looks in vain to its educated men for guidance. False There can be but one answer : that they are education, jjgt really educated. They have not the eye trained to see things as they are. Two generations ago the education of most American students was about equally fit or unfit for the nineteenth century or for the ninth, for an American or for a South Sea islander. Since that time education has been brought increasingly into relation to life ; but when we seek the cause of the educational absurdities that have been abolished, as well as of those that still remain, the answer is easy to give in the one word — superstition. Men sometimes speak as if superstition were found only in religion ; but this is by no means true. Supersti- tion is simply overrating, seeing things as other Superstition. . . , ■ , , than they are. It is the inward idea whose outward embodiment is sham. No department of life is free from it. Science, literature, criticism, politics, fashion, even morals, have each its own peculiar supersti- tions. An excellent example of superstition in the field of conduct is afforded by the maxim that a man can become what he desires to become. Every schoolboy knows that the path of history is lined with disappointed ambitions ; nevertheless, the world goes on repeating the proverb, in this as in so many other directions, appar- ently incapable of seeing things as they are. But, if everybody saw things in their true character, some one may protest, life would be robbed of its po- Poetry etry ; we should have a world built after the versus truth. Gradgrind pattern. By no means. It is the grossest misconception to regard poetry as resting on falsehood. Poetry is rather the highest, because the most WHY AND HOW MUCH TO READ. II completely rounded, truth ; while the materialism of the Gradgrinds is true from only one point of view, and that the lowest. We need not fear to " covet truth," for it never will transform beauty into " unripe childhood's cheat." So far as the power to see things as they are is suscep- tible of personal training, apart from direct teaching and general human intercourse, it may be derived Training from three sources of experience, — observa- of mental tion, thought, and reading, — each of which is ^'='°"- indispensable to its highest development. Take out ob- servation, leaving only reading and thought, and the man becomes a mere bookworm or recluse. Take out thought, and the fullest observation and reading will produce only an intellectual busybody — a parrot. Take out reading, and the observation possible to one man, with the thought it will awaken, may result in shrewdness, even profundity, but they can give little breadth. It is not importance denied that reading is to a great extent a sec- °' reading, ondary source of experience, and should receive constant verification or correction ; yet there is a sense in which reading is more important than either thought or observa- tion, for it combines much of their respective services. It extends observation indefinitely, while it stimulates, nourishes, and corrects thought. Through reading knowl- edge is made cumulative, so that one generation may stand on the shoulders of the preceding. It is not its intellect that renders the modern world superior to antiquity, but its intellect plus the heritage of two thousand years of thought and discovery transmitted to it through books. But reading too has its superstitions. One is the failure to distinguish between reading, which is of the mind, and 12 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the action of the eye, its instrutnent. To have scanned Superstitions with apparent attention a given number of pages of reading, jjj^y mean nothing at all in respect to intel- lectual gain. Real reading involves not merely "the fixed eye, the poring over a book,'' but also "the fixed thought." Again, what is printed we are apt to think Speech Hiore important and more authoritative than writing, and what is merely written or spoken ; and in gen- ''"°'' eral, so far as the three forms of utterance may represent varying degrees of carefulness and reflection, print is undoubtedly to be preferred to writing, and writ- ing to speech. But the difference, until proved, is only a presumption, which may be challenged in every instance. For writing is only recorded speech, and print multiplied writing. Neither process confers any authority upon the thought transmitted. A newspaper report is not made more trustworthy for circulation in a million copies ; while the talk of Dr. Johnson would still have embodied the wit and wisdom of his age if no Boswell had been at hand to preserve it in printed form. Two further superstitions New and widely prevalent among readers are, that only old books. qIjJ books are good, and only new books inter- esting. It is true that the standard character of a great book is not always recognized at once ; while their very modernness lends to some new books an interest that is their only attraction ; but the reader who knows his own advantage will be wise enough to judge every book upon its merits, and not upon the accident of its date of publication. Periodical literature is, probably more than any other cause, responsible for the existence of these two misleading notions. But, taken at its true value, and used as it should be, reading remains one of the (V/fy AND HOW MUCH TO READ. 1% greatest, perhaps the greatest, means of attaining to that clearness of mental vision which should characterize the educated man. There exist, however, other reasons for reading, distinct from the foregoing, though all cooperative to the same end. The first is reading for -general culture. Of all our duties this is one of the most pleas- for general urable. It is by no means mere pastime, for ''"""'■^• we may make the most serious work of it ; yet there is probably no other use of books that, to the active mind, is so free from drudgery, or brings such ccnstant enjoy- ment. It is seldom realized by the young, however, that to most persons the opportunity of reading for general culture ends with the period of youth. A distinguished teacher of English is reported as saying that nobody reads after the age of twenty ; and it was the confession of Dr. Johnson, one of the greatest literary figures of the last century, that most of his learning had been acquired between the ages of twelye and eighteen. That these statements are far from mere rhetorical exaggerations, a little inquiry will convince any student. By culture, how- ever, should be understood something more than the at- tainment of the merely well-informed man, though that is by no means to be despised. Culture should mean rather such a training of the taste and the sympathies as shall enable one to appreciate the noblest that man has ex- pressed in literature and art during the long experience of the race. Such a culture is the best fortification that any young man can throw around his higher nature ; but, unless the foundations of this culture are laid as early as the period of college life, they are not likely to be laid at all. 14 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Perhaps the purpose most frequently associated with reading is special information, and therefore its nature and Reading for importance need not here be enlarged upon, information. y\ jgss definite, but uo Icss Valuable, acquire- ment through books is general information, that bird's- eye view of the whole field of knowledge that saves a man from being anywhere entirely a stranger. The indi- rect results of such intellectual breadth are far-reaching. In the march of civilization it is the reading nations that move in the front rank.^ Another legitimate purpose in reading is to fit one's self for intelligent conversation. There are certainly worse Reading for ways of Spending one's time, though it is per- conversation. haps wiscr to seck this object indirectly. The German name for cyclopedia, Conversations-Lexikon, indi- cates the original design of these compendiums of infor- mation. Our age is intolerant of "great conversers," 1 Some would add, also, the reading classes of the reading nations. An American journalist has recently remarked : — " All our business people have necessarily become schemers and promoters, no matter how petty their business is. They wear their brains out trying to find new ways of putting up jobs on their competitors, new ways of startling people with advertisements, new ways of making people think old goods are new. They are always tired, and seldom have time for any serious thought outside of their business. If they read at all, they want to be either tickled or excited. They are often taken to be the majority of the people of the country, but in fact they are not. The workingmen, the mechanical character of whose toil leaves their brains less wearied, are doing the solid reading nowadays. They, as the public librarians testify, are the men who take out of the libraries historj', sociological literature, and tendency fiction. In argument on any sociological or economic question they are already more than a match for their jaded and non-reading employers. If knowledge is really power, the read- ing and thinking workingman is presently going to get the upper hand. — The Listener," Boston Transcript, Feb. 9, 1895. Camille Flammarion expresses another side of the same thought when he says, in " Urania " : — ** Those on whom fortune frowns are the persons who think most; these are eager for knowledge, while the contented ones of the century do not suspect their own ignorance, and are almost proud of staying in it." >V//y AND HOW MUCH TO READ. IS who, as Professor Mathews's deUghtful essay reveals, are apt to be mere monopohsts of conversation. But conver- sation, like letter-writing, is still an art, though the taste of our age has reduced its earlier proportions. A form of reading which closely concerns the student is reading for production.- This may be done dishonestly, as' when a poetaster, pencil in hand, gathers the Reading for material for his verse out of the volumes of the production. British poets ; or honestly, as when a student seeks from books the information necessary to prepare himself for an article or debate. There is also an indirect mode of reading for production, which seeks its end through in- spiration or stimulus to thought. Many a young writer has found a few pages of Bacon or De Quincey, Emerson or Lowell, an effective loosener of " hard-bound brains." A further purpose in reading is that of inspiration to reading itself. Just as some writers, like Wordsworth and Thoreau, make us eager to throw our books inspiration aside and escape into the freedom of nature ; *° wading, so other writers, such as Macaulay and Whipple, prick us on to the pursuit of knowledge from books. But perhaps the most important of all uses to which reading may be applied, is that of an incentive to noble living, or, more subtly, though not less power- character fully, as a pervasive influence in the elevation building, of character. In most books, indeed, the moral effect must be reckoned with. Though our purpose in reading be purely intellectual, the heart as well as the head will insist upon its tribute. The two influences may be in harmony, as when the reader of William Blaikie's " How to Get Strong " finds, himself not more fully equipped with directions for health culture than inspired to put l6 THE MASTERY OE BOOKSy '". them into practice. But occasionally the results to head and heart are sadly in conflict. Dickens's merry drinking scenes, which are entirely in place when judged intellec- tually, have sometimes, to undeveloped readers, assumed the character of incitements to drunkenness. How rriany soldiers have been allured into -their choice of a profes- sion through the glowing accounts of military life in the pages of Lever and Hacklander ! The" enemies of war have at last come to realize this power ; and tkeir books, like Zola's " Downfall," and Bleibtreu's " Wholesale Mur- der," which paint the horrors of battle with all the viv- idness of modern realism, are promptly suppressed by military governments. The deliberate choice ol books with reference to the formation of character is a primary step in wise self-culture. Whole libraries — those of our Sunday schools — have been written, with wha:tever - suc- cess, to meet this requirement. But the books that aire to accomplish the purpose of inspiration to high and noble living must first of all be real books. This effect may often be secondary in the purpose of the writer ; for here example, rather than precept, counts. Among the classes of books most frequently and effectively drawn on for this service, biography stands foremost. Biography. Not only have the careers of many men been determined for good or evil by the recorded lives of other men, but there are few readers that grow to maturity without feeling at some time this powerful stimulus. If we add the next most potent influence in the molding of character, — the novel, or imaginary biography, — if indeed it ranks not first in power, we shall have recognized the two most important streams of influ- ence that flow into modern life from literature. IVI^Y AND HOW MUCH TO READ. IJ But the methods of accomplishing these various pur- poses in reading will be discussed in another How much chapter ; we pass now to consider the impor- '° "*^- tant question, How much to read ? There is a story told of the German historian, Neander, to the effect that one day, at the dinner hour, he failed to respond to the customary summons ; and, Anecdote of though the house was searched, and messengers Neander. sent out through the town, no trace of him was to be found. At last, as the afternoon light was fading, his sister reentered his room in the hope that he might have come in unnoticed, and, chancing to look up, discovered the professor perched upon a bookcase, absorbed in the contents of an ancient volume, where he had sat, oblivious of time and hunger, since some hour in the morning. A somewhat similar anecdote is related of De De Quincey. Quincey, who, though a phenomenal reader, was a man of slight frame. A friend at whose house the great essayist was staying, was startled in the " wee small hours " of the morning by a loud cry from De Quincey's room. On hastening to the spot, he found the little man in his night-clothes, lying prone upon the floor, his chin resting upon his hands, his whole attention fixed upon a Latin folio which he had evidently been reading all night. Oblivious of his unique appearance, De Quincey proclaimed triumphantly the discovery of a correct his- torical date, which he had been hunting for through years of reading. Every reader of Professor Dowden's appreci- ative life of Shelley must recall his description Shelley. of the poet's passion for reading, how, with eyes fixed upon his book, he threaded his way, like one in a trance, through the crowded streets of London. It will KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 2 1 8 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. be remembered also, that, on that luckless day for English literature, when the Mediterranean closed over the body of the p^et, a volume of ^schylus was in his pocket at the time ojL the fatal accident. In Shelley's short life of less than thirty years, he found time, not only for his writings, which are extensive even without reference to their ex- traordinary quality, but also for a wide acquaintance with English and modern European literature, and, as his biog- rapher remarks, for more reading of Greek than has gone to establish the reputation of many a professor of that language. These cases are cited as illustrations, each in its way, of a devotion to reading that was an important element in the shaping of three great careers. Examples of an opposite disposition are too familiar to need citing. The answer to the question, How much to read .■' depends, therefore, upon the attitude of the questioner, — whether his inclination to reading is deficient, or normal, or ex- cessive. Not all can accept the stint of five hours' read- ing a day which Dr. Johnson set as desirable for a young Limits to man. In every case' there are certain limits reading 'Ci\2.\. Can, must, or should not be transgressed ; while, within these boundaries, it may be asserted with equal emphasis, the territory ought to be fully occupied. Absolute There is the absolute'limit in time and strength, limit. One book a day is less than four hundred books a year ; and at this rate the number read, at the end of fifty years, will fall below twenty thousand volumes, which represents a library surpassed in size by many private collections. We shall'- see later that it is not necessary to- read all books through from cover to cover ; but there are certainly this number of books in the world WHY AMD NOW MUCH TO READ. I9 deserving of careful perusal. There is also a desirable limit set by the demands of thought and ob- Desirable servation, without which reading is reduced to '""" Hamlet's formula of " words, words, words." .,-ariable limits are set by the circumstances and personality of every reader. Our position in life, our daily Limits of duties,! thg social demands made upon us, — circumstance, these elements affect our opportunities for reading, and vary not only with every individual, but also with the dif- ferent periods of life. The more inward limits Limits of of personality include capacity for work, power personality, of endurance, disposition toward intellectual occupation, and others less easily definable, but very real, when we attempt to reckon the amount of reading to be expected of any individual. The prevailing mistake is unquestionably in the direc- tion of setting our capabilities too low. We accept every social demand as a welcome excuse, instead of strictly challenging its claim upon our leisure. We Reading give way to every fancied call of health, though ="^ health, we have before us, in some of the longest lived and most vigorous men of the century, examples of sturdy read- ers. The names of Von Ranke, Von D5llinger, Glad- stone, Carlyle, McCosh, Bancroft, Marsh, — men whose lives were protracted into the eighties and nineties, — are remarkable still more as representatives of wide and profound reading. This is not, however, to deny that there are relations of reading to health that can hardly be too often or too urgently enforced. It would seem as if any warning 1 There is said to be one American college in which the faculty hold that no student can do justice to his studies and use the library at all ! 20 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS to students in regard to care of the eyes ought to be Care of Uncalled for ; yet observation gives daily proof eyes. gf its need. A few cautions, which are often neglected, perhaps on account of their very familiarity, are all that readers with normal vision need attend to. One should not read when lying down, nor in twilight, nor in any other bad light. The best artificial light is undoubt- edly the German student lamp with a green shade. One should avoid pastry, which is a fruitful cause of inflamma- tion in the eyes. Cleanliness in the sleeping-room is also an important item. Those who feel obliged to read in the cars should at least hold the book with the whole arm free, so as to diminish as much as possible the shaking of th« page, with its consequent strain upon the muscles of the eye. If a reader has neglected none of these particu- lars, and still finds his eyes paining or failing him, he should lose no time in seeking a trained oculist, — not an optician, or spectacle man, who commands no scientific means of understanding his case, but an educated spe- cialist in the treatment of the eye and its disorders, whose advice will be the result of thorough knowledge and may contain nothing about wearing glasses. It may well be questioned whether the student, whose eyes are his most students not P^ecious tools, should not be cautious in using to read for them for mere amusement. Professor Corson, - pastime. q£ Coj-^gH University, advises the student to seek his recreation in other than literary diversions, — a suggestion which, of course, is supported by even higher considerations than those of hygiene. Should any student be inclined to pass lightly over this admonition, its importance may be brought home to him by a few examples illustrating the immense disadvantage JVffY AND HOW MUCH TO READ. 21 to which loss of sight subjects the user of books. Let him contemplate the life of Milton, who ruined his eyes by overwork, though in a noble cause ; of Prescott, whose sight was destroyed just as he was entering upon a bril- liant career; of Parkman, whose historical labors were accomplished with the constant hindrance of partial blind- ness ; of Isaac D'Israeli, who lamented that he found himself " in the midst of his library as if apart from it : " and he will quickly realize the increased difficulties which loss of this important sense imposes upon the scholar and author. One last word of encouragement. We cannot read all books._ We must even resign ourselves to the reading of only a small fraction of the world's literature ; but the most favored reader can do little more. Our utmost is, after all, not so very far behind the highest utmost. We can therefore take courage, and choose for our motto : Learning is long, life is short, let no day pass without a chapter ! CHAPTER II. WHAT TO READ. In response to the question, What to read ? one is tempted to exclaim, " Read anything, only read ! " For every real book is a window opening on the Infinite, dis- closing boundless fields for the expansion and refreshment of the soul. Yet we cannot accept in regard to books the Stoic's rule of preference for food — the nearest. There „ . must be choices, both absolute and relative. Choices, absolute The attempt to set forth the supremacy of and relative, certain books, together with the superiority or excellence of others with respect to the wants of in- dividual readers, is, therefore, the task of the present chapter. The classification of the British Museum Library be- gins with the Bible. While this arrangement is chiefly a matter of sentiment, it nevertheless affords The Bible. an excellent hmt when we come to consider literature from the standpoint of what to read. It is not too much to say that, without an intimate acquaintance with the English Bible, our literature can never be under- stood. It cannot be understood in its content, for English thought has been profoundly influenced by the spiritual and the practical philosophy of the Bible. The style of the great masters of English prose and poetry, as well as the turns of their speech, will not be appreciated unless the student has familiar to tongue and ear the apt phrases WHAT TO READ. 23 and musical periods of Tyndale and succeeding transla- tors. Moreover, our literature is permeated with, allusions ^nd illustrations drawn from Holy Writ, which are simply lost on the reader who does not know them at their source. The worldly-wise Shakspere, the devout Mil- ton, the satiric Dryden, the witty Lowell, all are steeped in biblical lore. Nor is this true of English literature alone. All modern literature is, to a greater or less extent, incomprehensible without a familiarity with the Bible. But not only has the Bible been the source of world-wide literary suggestion ; it embodies within itself a storehouse of the most varied literature, — history, biog- raphy, poetry, drama, counsel, expostulation, denuncia- tion, vision of seer, legislation of statesman, and highest of all, in literary as in moral excellence, the simple, pic- turesque talks of the great Teacher, who spake as never man spake. As students of biblical teaching, it is clearly our duty to read the original text or its closest representative ; but, as heirs of all the ages of English literature, we cannot afford to lack a familiar acquaintance with the King James version ; while a careful study of its predecessors, especially the great versions of Wyclif, Tyndale, and Coverdale, will yield us a rich harvest of early words and usages. We shall have occasion in a later chapter to recommend the reading of the Bible in connection with the study of foreign languages. We may notice here that such read- ing often brings a literary as well as _a linguistic reward. Luther's translation of the Bible is assigned to an even higher literary position than our own authorized version. In my own experience I confess that I never appreciated the fact that the Apocalypse is a divine poem until, as a 24 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Student, I read it in Luther's translation entirely through at one sitting. Now that we have recognized the place of the Bible as above, if not apart from, all other books, we are confronted _. ... with a limited number of the world's master- The litera- ture of pieces, which, next to the Bible, have the first power. claim upon our attention. It is these books whose effect upon their readers is termed general culture. But "general" in this case must not be understood as superficial or slight ; for the power of a book is in direct proportion to its universality. Potent as is the literature of knowledge, De Quincey has well pointed out that it must yield in influence to the mightier literature of power. Now, at the head and front of this higher literature stands, beyond rivalry, Shakspere. He is an author whom, however we read him, we can hardly read shakspere. . ^ . ^ , . _ amiss. Yet, just because of this fact, which we may misunderstand as implying that any reading of Shakspere is as good as any other, we are in danger of approaching him in a way to shut up our sympathies and imaginations, and so cut ourselves off from the main avenues of his power. The earnest student, who sees the libraries that have grown up about the works of Shak- spere, can hardly escape the inference that the great dramatist is properly an object only of study. Yet never was there conclusion that Shakspere himself would sooner have repudiated. What was the audience for whom Shakspere wrote his plays .'' Exclusively an audi- ence that gathered to be amused. Entertainment, not instruction, was Shakspere's aim. Shakspere does teach us in a myriad ways, and may properly be made the object of almost innumerable kinds of study ; but the WHAT TO READ. ■ 25 fact remains that, until we have read his plays, or, still better, have seen them acted, with no other purpose than pure enjoyment, we have not yet known Shakspere. The foremost name in literature is very easy to select, but for the second place there are several candidates. In fact, from this point onward, our selections ^^ ^ ' The second must be more or less determined by our place place in and time. Probably no two lists of the hun- "'"^*"''«- dred best books, or even the ten best, were ever identical. Such a list of books chosen by a student of a hundred years ago would be very different from one selected by a student to-day, and we may be sure that the student of a hundred years hence would differ widely from both. A Briton and an American could not agree as to the pro- portions of British and American writers proper to a representative selection of English literature. Perhaps the best way to realize the force of this principle is by viewing a perspective of world-literature taken from a standpoint foreign to ourselves. In 1893 the readers of the " Revtie Bleue" balloted to decide the twenty-five greatest names in all literature. As the vote stood, all but seven authors out a French of the twenty-five were Frenchmen. Now it selection, would puzzle most American students even to name eigh- teen French authors. Hugo and Moliere, in the list mentioned, were placed above Shakspere ; the Bible was adjudged inferior to the works of many Frenchmen ; while .(Eschylus and Sophocles, Horace, Petrarch, Schiller, Mil- ton, and Tennyson were omitted altogether. It must not be forgotten, however, that there are circumstances which temper the national conceit of this judgment. French was for so long a time, as to a great extent it still remains, 26 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the diplomatic language of the world, that Frenchmen have hard work to realize that there is any literature with- out its pale. But, in spite of its provincial narrowness,^ Sound ^^^ "^^^^ displays an element of national spirit national that is sound and healthy. For, judged by ^'""'' their actual importance to French readers, Hugo and Moliere may fairly be considered superior, if not to Shakspere, at least to all other writers. So, sav- ing to Shakspere the first place in the whole world of letters, we may agree that, to Germans, Lessing and Goethe, Schiller and Heine are more important than Hugo, Chaucer, Dante, or Homer. So for ourselves, as students of our mother tongue, and heirs of that literature which has encircled the globe with a music infinitely grander than the martial drum-beat of England, we need not hesitate to pronounce Chaucer and Milton, Words- worth, Shelley, Browning, and Tennyson more important than their foreign equals or superiors. But, having done justice to the greatest names in our own literature, we shall value them more impartially, and Value of greatly extend our sympathies and our culture, foreign if we also form an acquaintance with the great c assies, foreign classics. At some time, and preferably in youth, we should read them all, and if possible in the 1 As an illustration of the greater catholicity of the German mind, com- pare with this French selection the two lists given by Schbnbach in his " ileber Lesung und Biliiing." The first gives 102 authors of world-litera- ture divided as follows; Bible 1, Greek 13, Latin 6, Christian Latin 2, German 22, Scandinavian 5, English 12, American 3, French 18, Italian 8, Spanish 4, Portuguese i, Slavic and other 7. The second list covers modern fiction, the number of authors standing: German 81, Dutch i, Scandina- vian 4, English 31, American 27, French 19, Italian 4, Spanish 4, Slavic and other 15. WBAT TO READ. 27 original. If translations are adopted, careful choice should be made ; for a translation like Pope's Homer, for instance, may keep the meaning and yet wholly misrepresent the spirit of the original work. The nineteenth century will be remembered for its many and excellent translations, a cosmopolitan service in which Americans have borne a distinguished part. Translations of such varied excellence as Bryant's Homer, Cranch's Vergil, Longfellow's or Norton's Dante, and Brooks's or Taylor's " Faust," will not soon be superseded. These are books that every student can read, and that it is very desirable he should own if possible ; for no one who reads attentively and sympathetically even this small group of masterpieces, can remain uncultivated or provincial. The objection may be raised, that we are reversing the natural order if we read the great classics first, that we ought rather to lead up to them through a o r- o Classics course of minor authors. But the masterpieces should be of literature need no such introduction. It is "^"^ ''"'■ the very stamp and seal of their genius that they attract every grade of intelligence, every range of culture. So far from gaining by a postponement of the classics, the reader who has filled his mind with their standards has unconsciously imbibed a taste that will be his sufificient guide and incentive in all future reading. In English literature, he will not rest until he has read the dramatic narratives of Chaucer, and the romantic allegory of Spenser ; while his acquaintance British with Shakspere will incite him to a knowledge classic of his great contemporaries, Marlowe of the vo^^^- " mighty line " ; learned Jonson ; Beaumont and Fletcher, the "great twin brethren" of song; sturdy Chapman, 28 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. whose lines still thrill our blood'; and all " the melodious bursts that fill The spacious times of great Elizabeth With sounds that echo still." Milton, the last of the Elizabethans, and the first of the moderns, will emphasize the change that came over Eng- lish poetry in the artificial brilliance of Dryden and Pope ; but as the reader nears the nineteenth century, he will hail with delight the promise of its fruitage that bloomed forth in the return to nature of Goldsmith, Cowper, and Burns. So powerful is the attraction of nearness in time, that his most enthusiastic reading of British poetry is likely to be drawn from the works of Coleridge, Shel- ley, Keats, Scott, Byron, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Clough, Swinburne, and Morris. With this literary out- fit the American reader will be better able to estimate the writers of his own country ; and to rank them, not merely with one another, but also in English literature and the literature of the world. Bryant, whose honor- American able career as an author extended over a poets. period of three score and ten years ; Emer- son, the eternal youth ; Longfellow, who enriched our literature with the spoils of Europe ; Whittier, whose ringing voice for freedom is still audible among men ; Holmes, the genial autocrat of every table where wit is host ; Lowell, "wearing all that weight Of learning lightly like a flower ; " Poe, the most original of all our singers ; Lanier, who taught us new harmonies ; Thoreau, the lone ; and Whit- WHAT TO read: 29 man,- the only: — all these the American student who is mindful of his birthright will cultivate as familiar friends. Thus far we have considered only writers who were, in form or spirit, poets ; for, sneer at its weaker service of manifestations as we may, the supreme works poetry. of poetry " Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Are yet a master light of all our seeing ; Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence." For poetry, as a fine art, perhaps the chief of the fine arts, is possessed of qualities that make it a means of culture far beyond the utmost possibilities of prose. Matthew Arnold defined religion as morality touched by emotion ; in like manner we might define poetry as prose fused by emotion. Prose appeals mainly to the under- standing, and to the rest of human nature only by the way ; but poetry addresses the whole personality. Words- worth, indeed, made it one with religion. At this point a common prejudice is sure to find voice - to the effect that, however great a means of culture poetry may be, the reading of it in the present age poetry not is too unpractical an occupation. To such a unpractical, prejudice a sufficient refutal is contained in the statement which one of the ablest business men in England, Mr. Goschen, — • the well known London banker, member of Parliament, and authority in finance, — has publicly made in regard to the reading of poetry. He states his convic- tion that an essential element of success in politics and commerce, as well as in learning, is the cultivation of the 30 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. imagination ; and he adds his assurance that culture need not interfere with the discharge of duty in the most prosaic spheres of business. Mr. Goschen cites his own father as a convincing proof of the possibility of success- fully combining business and culture. Similar examples will at once occur to the reader, in Charles Lamb at his desk in the India Office, and in our own Stedman in Wall Street. Next in rank to poetry, as a means of wide and gen- erous culture, stands fiction ; a class of literature which to most minds comes much nearer to Matthew Fiction. ,,,,_.. - . c -y'r Arnold s definition of poetry — a picture of life. Wholesale condemnation of the novel has, happily, had its day. In truth, we can scarcely set limits to the loss we should suffer, if deprived of this source of inspiration and instruction. The American boy who has not, at the age ^ of eighteen, read with delight the best of Scott, Cooper, I Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne, George Eliot, Howells, ) Eggleston, Cable, and Crawford, has not yet taken his bearings in the world. In such reading there is no task- work. It involves only pleasure, and can be recommended in the confidence that when the masterpieces of the world's imaginative literature have been read from the pure pleasure of it, other departments of reading will present themselves in a light no less attractive. It matters not that the novel has embodied some of the profoundest comment on life that has been published in recent times ; we still have a perfect right to turn to it for enjoyment. But are there no cautions to be heeded ? All gain involves risk, in reading as truly as in business. If a form of literature possesses great power to elevate, its / WHAT TO READ. 3 1 power to degrade will be corresponding. But no abso- lute test can be given. There is no Ithuriel spear to make the lurking fiend of corrupt suggestion , . 1 , ■ T-» Cautions. assume his true shape and proportions. Per- haps the most helpful advice that can be given is that of Dr. Hudson, the Shaksperean critic, — that we should never continue the reading of a book whose effect upon us we feel to be bad, even though the work be a play of Shakspere's. In such a case, however, we should do well to ask ourselves whether the fault is really the author's, and not after all our own mistaken attitude toward his writings. It is reported that a distinguished professor of English once confessed to his class that he had never read Field- ing. In college he had refrained from reading the works of the great novelist on account of their coarseness, and in after years he had never regretted doing so, nor cared to make their acquaintance. To give my own experience, I should certainly- be sorry to have missed the entertain- ment and profit that I have derived from Fielding, and from his, still coarser rival, Smollett. The works of Sterne, who had none of the manliness of Fielding and Smollett, I have read with mingled admiration and dis- gust. The truth is, there are many books in various departments of literature the reading of which ^^;^^ the student may wisely postpone until he feels postpone- a conscious maturity of character and judg- ment. We must also remember that much depends upon our own purpose in reading the book, and on our proper understanding of the author's purpose in writing it. Al- phonse Daudet inscribed one of his novels, " For my sons when they are twenty years old ; " and most would agree 32 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. that the book in question might be read with profit by a man, while on less mature minds its effect might be pernicious. Here, too, not only age, but also the personal equation, plays an important part. To many persons whose judg- Personai mcnt is widely respected, Henrik Ibsen stands' preferences, for one of the most inspired of moral teachers, a veritable prophet in Israel. But what the general esti- mate of Ibsen is may be gathered from the daily papers, which seldom refer to him except in terms of hate or con- tempt. The reason for this antipodal divergence of opin- ion is found in the nature of Ibsen's message, which simply proclaims that the world is saved not by conven- tion, but by character ; and this gospel he preaches with a fearlessness, not to say ferocity, that spares no opposing form or institution. But a boy of fifteen might not be able to discern in Ibsen a prophet of good, and would, accordingly, do much better to reserve his plays for maturer reading. Such a course is not cowardly. On the contrary, in a boy's refusing to grapple with authors beyond his power there is the highest moral courage, as well as the soundest wisdom. An author still more deeply decried than Ibsen is the French novelist, Zola. But there are those who believe that he too will hereafter be recognized as one of the great ethical teachers of his century. Certainly his long and toilsome devotion to a literary purpose, now happily accomplished, is an object- lesson in faithful work such as few laborers in any field have ever surpassed. But it is by no means in connection with fiction alone that we meet the problem. What not to read. In fact, objectionable features in fiction are perhaps more evi- tVHAT TO READ. 33 dent at a glance than in any other form of writing, and are more easily reacted against by a healthy ^^at not nature. Evils of a more subtle but no less to read, dangerous quality may lurk in volumes that appear to carry every warrant to our confidence. The man of mid- dle life, whose- eyes have become opened to intellectual dishonesty, looks back with little short of horror at the absolute trust with which he once invited into his inmost nature the shaping influence of certain books. Far better may a boy read books that he knows to be bad, than absorb unconsciously the poison of literary dishonesty. This is the final test, that a book be genuine. The skill to apply this test is one of the latest fruits of experience, yet conscious effort cannot fail to be effective in hasten- ing its development. The first and second places in the literature of power have been allotted to poetry and fiction. A third class of writing, which clearly belongs to this division, is the essay. This also contributes to knowl- edge, but not as its highest service ; often, indeed, the professed subject is taken merely as a starting point for digression. De Quincey and Macaulay are good examples of this method. Beside their works should stand those of Bacon, Addison, Steele, Johnson, Lamb, Arnold, Emerson, Whipple, Lowell, not to forget the greatest of all essay- ists, — Montaigne. The amount of direct information that we derive from Matthew Arnold, for instance, is usu- ally small ; his opinions often miss our acceptance ; and yet no student can follow his thought through many pages without a distinct gain in that which Arnold so strenuously battled for, genuine culture. But there are many works written for more definitely KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 3 34 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. practical ends than those of the essay, that equally expand our horizons. It is hard to see how any stu- dent could read the noble series of volumes in which Bayard Taylor embodied his observations of world- wide travel, and remain intellectually provincial. Irving, also, in his genial sketches and kindly satires, brings us, in his own way, lessons of sympathy with the whole world of humanity. Another course in the same great school of sympathy and inspiration is offered by biography. What high and varied delights come to us in the reading of Biography. Longfellow's life as written by his poet brother ! With how much better appreciation we read Macaulay after hearing the story of his life told by his nephew Trevelyan ! The world of Emerson's admirers saw him in an entirely new light from the pages of Holmes's brief biography. Mention need -scarcely be made of the para- dox of biographies, written by a coxcomb about a sage, which has done more to insure the wise man's immor- tality than the greatest of his works. Of course the book referred to can be no other than Boswell's "Johnson." A somewhat similar work is Eckermann's " Conversa- tions with Goethe," which is pronounced by John Fiske the most delightful of printed books. Letters, which represent the most unstudied depart- ment of literature, often take from this quality a height- ened charm. Generations of readers have Letters. i • , ... followed with unwearied interest the revela- tions of themselves and their contemporaries contained in the correspondence of Swift, Cowper, Scott, and Byron. To these must be added for readers of the present day the correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle, and the let- WHAT TO READ. 35 ters of Thackeray and Lowell. The diary often affords a still clearer reflection of the writer's nature ; . Diaries. as witness those of Pepys and Carlyle. With some writers all their works are an autobiography ; and when the nature thus revealed is both intellectual and heroic, as in the case of Thoreau, the student is pro- vided with a companion for many of his most fruitful hours. Widely as history has sometimes traveled from its true purpose (which is to trace the entire development of man in society), even some of its most partial pic- tures must not be overlooked by the reader of the literature of power. Gibbon, Macaulay, Bancroft, Motley, give us, indeed, a chronicle of events which in many cases are more conveniently presented in other books. But the highest service of these historians is something above mere narration ; they have interpreted the events which they record, and have left on their pages a reflection of the essential greatness of man. In Carlyle's lifelong warfare against shams, what gave edge and point to his blows was his unfailing humor. Thorough badness cannot laugh. A hearty ° , Humor. laugh is the best solvent of this world s worries and perplexities. No utterance is so sane, so wholesome, as laughter. Witness the long and laborious life of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Never was there shallower conclusion than that a smiling lip reveals a vacant thought. A reference to Carlyle, or to Holmes, or to Lowell, would be enough ; but consider Rabelais masking, not shallowness, but the profoundest criticism of his times behind the leer of the buffoon ; or Voltaire, two centuries later, assailing with his unconquerable smile 36 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the heaped-up evils that fell in the avalanche of the French Revolution. These illustrate the power of mirth. Its refuge and solace are nowhere better seen than in the jests of our martyr-president, whose burdened heart, crushed almost to breaking, found in humor its only respite. Thus far we have considered the question of what to read, chiefly as related to the purpose of intellectual awak- ening and general culture. Reading for information in- volves, of course, too large a range of topics to be treated exhaustively in any single volume ; but the general phases of the subject are presented in the subsequent chapters on Reference Books and Reading Courses. The other two most important aims in reading — production, and development of character — represent highly special as well as personal choices in reading. The student must here be largely his own guide, remembering always, as indeed in all departments of reading, to consider the rela- tion of the book first to the subject, and secondly to his pwn capacities. CHAPTER III. HOW TO READ. The manner of our reading, like our choice of reading matter, will manifestly be determined by our purpose in reading ; though the amount of our reading Method of must enter in as an important condition. Our reading, how method of reading will therefore differ widely '=°°'J"'°°«'»' according as our object is amusement, information, cul- ture, character building, or production. The last is of special importance to students, and may vary all the way from mere practice work, like theme writing, -to the full and sustained exercise of all the intellectual powers in actual authorship. To suggest that we should subject ourselves to method in reading for mere pastime may seem, at first thought, to imply not so much the mastery as ,the slavery Reading of books. There is certainly no need of an ^°^ pastime, elaborate programme for such reading ; yet there are two duties that would seem incumbent upon us even in read- ing for amusement. One duty is to the author, the other is to ourselves. We owe it to the author of the slightest story or sketch that we deem worth reading at all to read with suiificient attention and sympathy to grasp his mean- ing and purpose. For instance, to name an author by no means insignificant, in reading a novel or farce by Mr. Howells, it would certainly be an injustice to him, as well as a loss to ourselves, if we were to look only at the plot. 37 38 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. The excellence of Mr. Howells's work lies rather in the naturalness of the conversations, in the accuracy of his descriptions both of scenes and of character, and in his noble comments on life. But the direct duty to ourselves in regard to lighter literature, as indeed to all, is that when we have finished our reading we shall make a mental Mental Summary or review of the book before we lay review, jj aside ; impressing upon our minds its author, its title, and its main characteristics. We should imitate in our reading, as we might well in our lives, Chatterton's Mayor of Bristow, who — " Summed the actions of the day Each night before he slept." An instance in point was related to me by a pupil of Dr. Alvah Hovey, the distinguished head of Newton The- Anecdoteof ological Institution. He said that sometimes Dr. Hovey. ^ studcnt who had lighted upon some old, out- of-the-way treatise would be ambitious to air his erudition by asking in the class-room the professor's opinion of the book, hoping perchance that the great scholar would be obliged to confess that he had never heard of it. To the student's confusion, the professor's memory would reach back, it might be thirty or forty years, and restore a more vivid and accurate impression of the book than the student had, fresh from reading it ; the professor would then pro- ceed to state what other books the author had written, how they ranked with this and with the literature of their subjects — in short, the author's exact position in relation to theological thought. Though rules cannot create genius, but only, at best, direct and improve native abilities, it is certain that any student who will apply the /JOW TO HEAD 39 practice of mental review to all his reading, will find him- self thereafter at a great advantage beside his lazier or less methodical companions. Like holy George Herbert's last recourse for edification under the infliction of a dull sermon, namely, to consider that " God takes a text and preacheth Patience,'' we have the suggestion of Rider Haggard in regard to novel reading, that even the trashiest piece of fiction may be made to yield some permanent withatiL benefit if read with necessary reference to die- and dic- tionary and atlas. This advice, like that of men- *'"""''• tal review, is of course pertinent to all our reading. If we are unwilling or unable, at the moment, to interrupt our reading with the use of reference books, we should not fail to note the page, and afterwards solve the difficulty at our leisure. It is not to be denied that browsing, or merely desultory reading, as an occasional indulgence, may possess real value. It is the unbending of the bow that preserves its elasticity. Some of our choicest mental acquisitions are gained in this way, but the rarity of such indulgence is one of the elements of its helpfulness. For we should remember Carlyle's exhortation, — be diligent ; or, as modern speech would phrase it, — mean business when you read ; to which we may add, — when you don't mean business, don't read. When a student finds that he can no longer fix his attention , on his book, it is much better for both mind and eyesight that he should give up the attempt ; for not only is inatten- tive reading negatively a loss of time, but it is positively dangerous, • as breeding a habit of mind-wandering, which 40 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. is certainly one of the worst foes to the attainment of knowledge. In the important reading undertaken for general cul- ture, the foregoing simple rules must be greatly extended. jj^^j^ Let us take a concrete example, and suppose read the studeut to be reading Milton's " Paradise illustrated. Lost." Not to make a study of the great epic, but merely to do justice to the author and himself, what are some of the points that the reader should have in mind .? First of all he should clearly distinguish the author from other English poets, so as never for a mo- ment to confuse Milton with the author of the " Canter- bury Tales," or the " Essay on Man." He should learn the main features of the poet's life, from his beautiful and precocious youth, through his stormy manhood, to his still beautiful but blind and neglected old age. The reader who has thus followed the poet's career, will understand the conditions out of which Milton's masterpiece arose, and will readily perceive that " Paradise Lost," is the epic of the English Commonwealth, whose " Paradise Re- gained " is at last, in our day, beginning to uplift above the horizon of history. To any one deserving the name of student, only pleasure can come from the reading in- volved in gaining this general acquaintance with Milton and his times ; but an equal enjoyment awaits him in the consideration of the English epic, not merely in relation to the literature that immediately preceded it, but also in its more remote though no less actual origins. Really to trace the literary kinship of " Paradise Lost," the reader must have some familiarity with Homer, ^schylus and Sophocles, Vergil and Dante. Moreover, since one of Milton's services to English song was the enrichment of HOW TO READ. 4 1 its prosody, not so much with new harmonies, as with a new principle of harmony, the student should let this great feature of Milton's art be his introduction to the general history of English prosody. Before he has fin- ished this branch of the subject he will have received one of the best possible lessons in the worth or worthlessness of whole schools and generations of criticism. In the course of this collateral reading the student will light upon much discussion of Milton's vocabulary and style, choice of subject, treatment of theological prob- lems, and influence upon his successors. He may meet Macaulay's assertion that if " Paradise Lost " had ended with the fourth book it would have ranked, as a fragment, above all other epics. But most of these questions the student will already have learned enough to decide for himself, with considerable confidence. In some such way as this, it behooves the student to conduct his general read- ing ; and there need be little fear that one who has gone over the world's classics even thus superficially will appear to disadvantage in any company. For it must not be forgotten that there is no royal road to knowl- ^^^^ ^j edge, but only one common road which all road to must travel. The most that can be inherited ''°°™'='*e'=- is aptitude and improved opportunity ; the actual learn- ing must be done by every generation and every person anew. In reading for definite information the first considera- tion is fitness, or the proper relation of the book to the wants and capacities of the reader. Viewed in Reading for this light a book is simply a tool, and must be information, chosen strictly with reference to the work in hand. One would as soon think of mending a pen with a broadax, 42 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. as of going to the five volumes of Masson's " Life of Books as Milton," even with the index volume, to learn tools. (-}jg dates of the poet's birth and death. On the other hand, a penknife would as poorly serve for hewing timber as Phillips's convenient biographical dic- tionary would satisfy the wants of one who wished for a full discussion of Milton's controversy with Salmasius. The workman who has learned merely to handle tools has mastered only half his trade. He must also learn when to apply them. In like manner the student will waste his time and remain only a bungler, if he does not learn the art of turning to the right book for the right information. It therefore behooves the student to form a careful acquaintance with the common books of reference, — such Books of as are described in the next chapter, — and to reference, apply similar introductory tests to every unfa- miliar book that he turns to for assistance. He needs to know its general subject, and its special bearing on that subject; above all, he must make sure how far he can trust the author. In most cases these inquiries can be answered from the book itself. Let the reader scan the title-page, run through the preface, examine the How judged. table of contents. Let him ^turn to the index for subjects with which he is familiar, and when he dis- covers how these are treated, he will have a means of judging how far the work is to.be trusted in other direc- tions, The reader should not forget to glance over the footnotes. He will know some of the books referred to, and the way these are valued will serve as a good test of the author's grasp of the literature of his subject. The reader is now ready for the actual perusal of the book. But if, as is generally the case, the student seeks ac- ffOW TO HEAD. 43 qiiaintance with a subject rather than a book, he will gain much by reading several treatises at the same subject time, weighing and comparing their conclusions. reading. If the subject be a great one, like Roman history, it will be advisable first to get a bird's-eye view of the whole story in some good handbook such as Leighton's ; but it will not pay to read consecutively and alone the volumes of one of the larger Roman histories, even of so attractive a work as Duruy's. The reader should rather pick out some period or character and study that in its relations to the history as a whole. He may select, for instance, the revolution of the Gracchi, the career of Pompey, or even a personality as ill-reputed as Catiline, comparing the different treatment of each at the hands of the great historians. No one can do this without soon discovering that he has hit upon a method of studying history that possesses all the charm of historical fiction ; more, even, for he finds himself unconsciously becoming his own nov- elist, and recreating in his own imagination the scenes and characters of past ages. A single trial will prove to any student the superiority, in interest, of the topical and com- parative, over the chronological and consecutive method of studying history. A resultant gain is the better memory of what is read ; for that is best remembered which awa- kens deepest interest. Two topics which never fail to enliven historical reading are biography and the . . , Biography. history of cities. In the former case, the cen- ter of interest is an individual, and stimulates youthful minds through its appeal to emulation ; in the latter case, there is a larger center of interest composed History of of many individuals acting independently or in """• concert. The great cities of the Middle Ages perennially 44 The mastery of books. attract us to their annals of splendor and shame. The very mention of Rome, Florence, Genoa, Paris, London, and the long line of Germanic towns, sufficiently illustrates the in- viting character of such a course of reading. Good his- Historicai torfcal uovcls are an abundant source of interest fiction. j^jjfj proiit to the reader of history ; but they should be read after the regular histories, not before — to deepen the impression, not to form it. Bulwer's " Harold," for instance, one of the finest historical novels ever written, will afford increased pleasure and advantage after a preliminary reading of the history of the Norman conquest. In this particular case, there should follow the reading of Tennyson's noble drama on the same subject. Enough has been said to emphasize the superiority of subject reading ; but there is a method of reading not Reading by strictly of this character that is often of the authors. highest benefit, namely, reading by authors. There is, of course, a sense in which this is one form of subject reading, and it is generally included under reading for general culture ; but it is sufficiently unique to deserve especial mention. The student who has not known the pleasure of reading all the works of an author as a study in personality has a great source of enjoyment still before him. The course of such reading is generally, first an interest awakened in the author's thought or style ; then a virtual conquest of us, when the writer seems to us the greatest of all writers ; till, finally, some sentence or sentiment shatters our idol, and we consign his writ- ings to undeserved neglect. Matthew Arnold has given us an account of his thus falling in and falling out with the writings of Franklin. Some can, perhaps, recall a period of absorption in the writings of Arnold, or Carlyle, HOW TO HEAD. 45 or Ruskin, and the particular passage that caused them finally to break with him. Books read for the development of character are pre- sumably of the kind that Bacon describes as to be di- gested. We resort to them in our most earnest Reading for moments, and their sentiments abide with us character. in strengthened thought and resolution. Such books, above all others, we seek to own, to have near us, and to be free to mark with our own comments as a record of our spiritual development. One who thus kept in hand the writings of Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Dante, Sir Thomas Browne, or Emerson, would find that the deepened experience of every added year but brought to light new truths upon their pages. In the matter of reading for production, we are warned by the ease with which the thoughts of others may be unconsciously reproduced, — not to speak of the Reading for temptation to conscious plagiarism, — that the production, way to write is first to write, and afterwards to read for correction or expansion. In these days of broadcast litera- ture, it is hard enough to display originality even when our knowledge of a subject has been gradually acquired, and has had time to be worked over into a part of our mental furnishing. But if we fill our minds with other men's ideas immediately before we write, originality is out of the question. Our subsequent reading may cause us to recast entirely what we have written, and perhaps to reverse our conclusions ; but if, in the first place, we have put down something that we can call our own, even the ~ merest trifle, before we begin to read, we shall have at least some right to self-satisfaction over our work. Be- sides, when we once have before us the scheme of our 46 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. article, our reading can be carried on much more sys- tematically than if we start to read without previously mapping out the subject.* What may be called personal habits in reading will vary with every individual. Nothing here is to be insisted Personal upon except quantity and quality. Dr. McCosh reading read stcadOy ten hours a day. Lowell often exceeded this amount, as John Fiske is said to do. George P. Marsh achieved his enormous erudition between the hours of five and eight in. the morning, giv- ing the day to work and the evening to his family. But he read a page at a glance. It was his habit to have his table covered with books in many languages, and on all sorts of subjects, and to pass from one to another with no method discernible to an observer. Franklin B. Hough, an American literary worker, who accomplished a phenom- enal amount, practiced and advised rest by change of work. Speed in reading will of course be modified by the sub- ject, the style of the author, and the time at our disposal. Rapid But it is well to form the habit of reading as reading, f^g^ g^g j^^y ^jg consistcnt with taking in what we read. An expert accountant will add a column of figures not only more rapidly, but also more correctly, than a tyro. So, a trained reader, while covering much more ground than a beginner, will also get correspond- ingly more out of his reading. Some books are to be read through, and reread in part before we have finished them, and read again and often. But these books are few, just because they are so precious, and the reading of them in this way involves no high art. It is in the use of such ' For a full discussion of this topic see W. E. Foster's "The Young Writer's Use o{ a Librarjr," HOW TO READ. A.'J books as need not be read word by word that the trained reader displays his skill. Sculpture has been defined as the art of knocking off superfluous marble. Rapid read- ing is the equally difficult art of skipping needless words and sentences. To recognize them as needless without reading them is a feat that would be thought impossible if scholars everywhere did not daily perform it. With the turning of a few leaves to pluck out the heart of a book's mystery, — this is the high art of reading, the crowning proof that the reader has attained the mastery of books. CHAPTER IV. REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. King George the Third of England is credited with the remark that lawyers do not know so much more law than other people, but they know better where Knowledge , of the to find it. Long before Kmg George s day, sources of however, there existed a Latin proverb to the in orma ion. ^^,^^ effect, that learning is after all mainly knowing where to look things up : Scire icbi aliqiiid invenire possis, ea deimmi maxima pars eruditionis est. It is often said that proverbs are not wholly true, but only half-truths. The half that is omitted in this prov- erb is evidently that which pertains to the mastery of the knowledge when found. A walking encyclopedia is not a scholar, is only in part a learned man, unless to his knowl- edge he adds that superiority to it which makes him clearly its master. On the other hand, without the pos- session of a vast array of facts, no strength of mind can make a scholar. Such a one may be a thinker, even a successful writer, but he cannot lay claim to scholarship ; for knowledge is as truly the foundation of scholarship as observation is of science ; though in either case thought must come in as the crowning element. It is well for us to give knowledge its full emphasis, because the student, when he has come to realize the indubitable superiority of thought, is apt to fancy that somehow it can take the place of patient study. Daniel Webster, when his greatest REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 49 parliamentary triumph was referred to as an extempora- neous effort, reminded the speaker that there is no such thing as extemporaneous acquisition. His great reply to Hayne, though delivered, indeed, almost on the spur of the moment, was really based upon the preparation of a lifetime. As a part of the student's outfit toward the attainment of that resource of information which must be the groundwork of all scholarship, the present chapter aims to set before him the readiest means of "looking things up," or, in other words, the most useful books of reference. A librarian divides his readers into two classes, those that know how to handle reference books, and those — the larger number — that do not ; for such Two classes knowledge is the first requisite to the intelli- °' '■waders gent use of a library. One man will spend an hour in fumbling catalogues, or roaming about the alcoves of a library, when all he is trying to find out is the date of the Gunpowder Plot. Another man, on the same errand, will turn to the " Dictionary of English History," get the in- formation, and be gone, all inside of two minutes ; with a clear gain of fifty-eight minutes over his fellow for other purposes of study or action. If we remember that these are representative cases, that this loss and gain are going on daily in our libraries, we shall not wonder why some men attain to so much more knowledge than others. The expression, works of reference, really includes two classes of library helps, which may be distin- .j.^^ classes guished as direct and indirect, the direct helps of reference being epitomes, and the indirect, bibliographies ; or, more familiarly, reference books (commonly so-called) and catalogues. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 4 so THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Reference books proper, or epitomes, are those works which give a wide range of information condensed into small compass, the most familiar example of Epitomes. , . . , . . - , , ■ • this class bemg the cyclopedia. It is impor- tant that these books should be taken for just what they are, and not regarded as anything more than mere abridg- ments of the knowledge in their province. They are not intended for reading, but for reference. Dr. Arnold has pointed out the fact that few minds can read with profit an epitome of history ; and it may be added that, in any department of knowledge, the better the epitome serves the purpose of occasional consultation, the drier and more repellent will it be for continued perusal. An objection, founded not upon the misuse of reference books, but upon their very nature, is that they are secon- dary sources of information ; and the charge is often coupled with the injunction to abandon them and seek the original sources. This advice is of course sound where critical scholarship is concerned ; yet, would the student of Milton, for instance, be allowed to accept the date assigned by Masson to the poet's birth, or must he travel to Oxford to make a personal examination of the Au- brey manuscripts .-' Manifestly, for the thousand-and- one purposes of daily information, decidedly secondary sources will answer — must answer, indeed, if we are to obtain the information at all. A method which might be adopted in classifying refer- ence books is one based upon the arrangement of their Classification contcnts, whether alphabetically, as in diction- of epitomes, arics and cyclopedias, or in some other way, as in yearbooks and chronologies. But the most convenient procedure will be first to notice those that are universal REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 5 1 in scope, and then take up the others according to their subjects. The cyclopedia, as we now know it, is a comparatively modern production. It seems to have had its origin in an attempt to present such information as people ^ ..,,,,, , . Cyclopedias. are most hkely to blunder over m conversation. The Germans, as we saw, still preserve this idea in their name for cyclopedia, Conversations-Lexikon. But the cy- clopedia at length outgrew this idea, and came to be a presentation of the whole circle of learning, as its Eng- lish name implies. Still, it has not wholly lost its original character, for every cyclopedia contains many articles that are addressed merely to curiosity, and have no logical place in a compendium of human knowledge. The use of the cyclopedia has meanwhile widened as much as its character, and we now turn to it not only to save ourselves from blunders in conversation, or to assume the virtue of a knowledge which otherwise we should lack, but also to the " Britannica " and its later rivals to learn the conclu- sions of great scholars in subjects of their special re- search, or to obtain, along with a summary of results in any field of knowledge, also a list of the latest and most authoritative publications in regard to it. The first place among the cyclopedias of the present day is perhaps still to be awarded to the " Encyclopasdia Britannica." It is the most scholarly, the most Encyciopac- exhaustive in the subjects treated, the most dis- diasritan- tinguished in its list of contributors. In many of its articles it rises to the level of an original authority. But its long articles have crowded out a host of lesser notices that readers have become accustomed to expect in a cyclopedia. As desirable, therefore, as the work is for 52 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the library of a scholar, its owner stands in almost as much need as before of an all-round cyclopedia. Such a work is found in Appleton's, Chambers's, Johnson's, or the "International." Of these, Appleton's, while an Appleton's. . T 1 1 11 1 extensive, carefully edited, and standard work, is getting a little out of date. The other three are prac- tically new. Chambers's, the smallest, is a Brit- ish publication, but has been carefully adapted to American wants. Johnson's costs considerably more than Chambers's, but very much less than either Johnson's. « , , -r» . . ,, -^ • Appleton s or the " Britannica. Its important articles are signed, and the references to authorities are very full. From these two, Johnson's and Chambers's, ninety-nine persons out of a hundred will most wisely choose their cyclopedia for purchase or library reference. The Inter- The "International " is a more voluminous work, national. j(- jg j-q ^jg commcndcd for its late and care- fully executed maps, while its volumes are of convenient size ; but the work is after all only a more or less com- plete revision of an old edition of Chambers's. As the life of a cyclopedia is not more than twenty years, there is no need of specifying earlier works. In regard to the vari- condensed ous abridged cyclopedias on the market, they cyclopedias, ^j-g generally poor makeshifts, though the very smallest, like Cassell's, which sell for a dollar or less, are wonders of condensation, and one of this class forms a convenient article of desk furniture. The leading German cyclopedias are the handsomely illustrated Conversations-Lexika of Brockhaus, German. i n ff- t t^ and Meyer. In Trench the most popular -work of the kind is the enormous " Dictionnaire du XTX' Sikle" pf L^rousse, which is the most extensive REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 53 cyclopedia yet completed in any language ; though a French rival, now in process of publication, French. "La Grande EncyclopMie" may attain to even vaster proportions. Perhaps the only hint that requires to be given in regard to the use of cyclopedias, though the principle applies to all reference books, is an injunction to find the one that answers most questions and consult that first. There is much in getting acquainted with 'any book of reference. The information desired is often missed simply because the reader does not know where to look for it in the book he is using. Closely related to cyclopedias are the various classes of yearbooks. Some of them, indeed, are issued as an- nual supplements to cyclopedias, like Appleton's "Annual Cyclopagdia," and the French " Rcviie Encyclope'diqiie" published fortnightly, but forming yearly volumes in continuation of Larousse. Some are histori- cal, like the "Annual Register;" some governmental and statistical, like the " Statesman's Year-Book," and the " Almanack de Gotha ; " while still others offer a mass of statistical and other information, like Whitaker's " Alma- nack," the " British Almanac," and the various almanacs issued from newspaper ofifices, such as those of the New York "World," and "Tribune." The largest class of reference books is formed by cyclo- pedias of special subjects, generally known as dictionaries. These, like the general cyclopedias, have their Dictionaries. contents arranged in alphabetical order, and are distinguished from them only by their restriction to a single department of knowledge. Many of the dictiona- ries, indeed, are called cyclopedias, or even encyclopedias, 54 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. but the simpler name is more appropriate to their charac- ter. The number of dictionaries may obviously be as great as the number of important subjects into which knowledge may be divided. The mention of those most frequently consulted in ordinary libraries will indicate the variety of subjects covered by works of this class. First in order come those works which the name itself suggests, dictionaries of language. A few years ago the Dictionaries uscrs of dictionaries were virtually shut up to of language. ^ choicc between the two W's, — Webster and Worcester ; the former associated with Yale and the latter with Harvard, Worcester being regarded as better for English pronunciation and literary authority, Webster Dictionaries, for definition and derivation. But since the latest edition of Webster appeared under the name of the " International Dictionary," Worcester has had little more than a historic value ; while the present rivals of Webster are first, the " Century Dictionary," with its splendid illustrations and almost cyclopedic character, which is now reenforced by its supplemental " Cyclope- dia of Names," devoted to history, biography, mythology, etc. ; and, secondly, the " Standard Dictionary," a work slightly larger than the " International," being published in two volumes, and containing exquisite colored plates besides other attractive features. Mention should be made also of the " Imperial Dictionary," a British work, on which the "Century" was based; Stormonth's "Dic- tionary," a single volume of moderate size, valuable chiefly for giving recent British pronunciation ; Latham's stan- dard revision of Dr. Johnson's great work ; and Richard- son's " Dictionary," which, though fifty years old, is still valuable for the fullness of its quotations. But by far REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 55 the greatest and most important work of all is the " New English Dictionary on Historical Principles," published by the British Philological Society, with the cooperation of English scholars all over the world. This work is now only in the beginning of the alphabet, and will not be completed for years ; but it is the scholar's dictionary, and should be consulted by the investigator for any word that it covers. The best German - English dictionaries are those of Fliigel-Schmidt-Tanger (a recent work), Whitney, Thieme- Preusser, Grieb, and Weir. Of the many small German and dictionaries, which are often convenient, but French oftener misleading, the best is the Langen- °i'="°°="«. Scheldt " Notworterbtich," by O. Muret. The best French- English dictionary is that of Smith, Hamilton and Legros. Students of both French and German will do well to get the large, or the small, edition of the Sachs-Villatte dic- tionary of those two languages. The great vernacular dictionaries of French and German are those respectively of Littre and Grimm, the latter being not yet completed, though within a few years of completion. Passing to dictionaries of literature we find for English authors the great work by Allibone in three large vol- umes, with two supplemental volumes ; which Dictionaries includes all British and American writers of of . . 1 ■ r 1 ■ ^ • 1 Literature. any prommence, giving brief biographical no- tices and lists of their works. In case of the more im- portant writers, original and selected criticisms are given. Two smaller works that will often be found convenient are W. Davenport Adams's " Dictionary of English Literature," and Oscar Fay Adams's "Handbook of American Authors." Works that give selections from S6 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the writings as well as accounts of their authors are Chambers's " Cyclopsedia of English Literature," Charles Knight's " Half-hours with the Best Authors," Duyc- kinck's " Cyclopasdia of American Literature," and the great " Library of American Literature " edited by Sted- man and Hutchinson. The best small works of this twofold character are the two volumes by Francis H. Underwood, the one devoted to British and the other to American authors. In these works the selections are generally arranged chronologically, while their contents are made available for reference by alphabetical indexes. A work in which chronology is made the chief feature is F. Ryland's " Chronological Outlines of English Litera- ture." A less successful but convenient work devoted to writers on this side the Atlantic is S. L. Whitcomb's " Chronological Outlines of American Literature." In the department of the arts, whether ornamental or useful, there exist so many dictionaries that only a few representative titles can here be mentioned. In the fine arts, are to be found in everyday use in our reference libraries the " Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings " by Champlin and Perkins, Bryan's Fine arts. t^ . . /- t^ ■ " Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Nich- olson's " Encyclopedia of Architecture," Gwilt's " Encyclo- psedia of Architecture," Parker's "Glossary of Terms used in Architecture," Viollet-le-Duc's " Dictionnaire de r architecture" Appleton's " Cyclopaedia of Drawing," and Grove's " Dictionary of Music and Musicians ; " in the useful arts, Spons's " Encyclopedia of the Industrial Industrial Arts," Applcton's " Cyclopaedia of Mechanics," arts. Knight's "Mechanical Dictionary," Watts's " Dictionary of Chemistry," Thorpe's " Dictionary of REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 57 Applied Chemistry," and Houston's " Dictionary of Elec- trical Words." It should be remembered that, in any rapidly changing science or art, all books of reference soon get out of date. Any book on electricity, for in- stance, that is twenty years old is thoroughly antiquated ; while Vasari's " Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," though three hundred and fifty years old, is still a standard work. In sociology we may notice Lalor's " Dictionary of Po- litical Science," and Palgrave's " Dictionary of Political Economy," not yet completed. In history four so^iai convenient works are Larned's " History for science. Ready Reference," Low and Pulling's " Dictionary of Eng- lish History," Lossing's "Cyclopaedia of American His- tory," and Jameson's " Dictionary of American History." In chronology the student finds several helpful works : Haydn's " Dictionary of Dates," Put- nam's " World's Progress," Woodward and Cates's " En- cyclopaedia of Chronology," Chambers's "Book of Days," and Hone's " Every-day Book." The last two are store- houses of out-of-the-way information in the departments of history and customs. Some of the most useful dictionaries have been made in connection with biography. The lives of many men are to be found in the cyclopedias ; but for . Biography. general biography the reader is more apt to be served by Thomas's " Dictionary of Biography," which has the great merit of giving the pronunciation of the names ; the dictionary by Phillips, which allots only a line or two to each subject, but contains more names than any other biographical work, and gives in each case references to dictionaries where the life may be found treated more 58 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. fully ; Rose's " Biographical Dictionary ; " and the great Yrench. " Biog-1'apkie Universelle." For lives of Americans the great sources of information are Appleton's American. r^ -i i- r n. • t-»- i)» ii " Cyclopaedia of American Biography, and the " National Cyclopaedia of American Biography," the latter still in course of publication ; both being enhanced in value by numerous excellent portraits and other illustra- tions. For the lives of Englishmen the great British. .... i t^. • r authority is the monumental " Dictionary or National Biography ; " to which should be added the two small but convenient works, " Men and Women of the Time," and "Men of the Reign." For Ger- German. many the standard work is the " Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie" now nearly completed. The most useful biographical work relating to living Frenchmen, though including other nationalities, is Vape- reau's " Dictiotttiaire des Contemporains." Geography is a department covered to some extent by the cyclopedias ; but for unimportant places we must turn to the gazetteers, of which Lippincott's " Pro- Geography. nouncing Gazetteer" is easily the best. Atlases are of three kinds, illustrated by Keith-Johnston's " Royal Atlas," Smith's "Atlas of Ancient Geography," and Lab- berton's " Historical Atlas." More extensive than the last are the German works of Spruner, and Droysen. The second volume of Freeman's " Historical Geography of Europe" is a convenient historical atlas of that continent. The various divisions of classical lore are presented for convenient reference in the great dictionary edited by Classical William Smith, consisting of biography and dictionaries, mythology, geography, and antiquities. An abridgment of the whole is published in one volume as REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 59 Smith's "Classical Dictionary." Seyffert's "Dictionary of Classical Antiquities " is a standard work of somewhat narrower scope. The innumerable topics and controversies of theology are presented in the exhaustive " Cyclopaedia of Theo- logical Literature," by M'Clintock and Strong, in twelve volumes. Nearly as extensive, and perhaps more scholarly, are the ten volumes of Smith's series, "Bible Dictionary," "Dictionary of Christian An- tiquities," and " Dictionary of Christian Biography." Frequent reference is also made to the Schaff-Herzog "Religious Encyclopaedia," Blunt's "Dictionary of The- ology," Cathcart's " Baptist Encyclopaedia," and Addis and Arnold's " Catholic Dictionary." Of the peculiar class of books known as dictionaries of quotations, the most important are Bartlett's for poetry, Hoyt and Ward's and Allibone's for both prose _ 1 T-. 1 > r 1-1 * • Quotations. and poetry, and Bohn s for classical quotations and for proverbs. The student will also do well to bear in mind Wheeler's " Noted Names of Fiction," which is published in revised form in the supplement to the " In- ternational Dictionary ; " and the various reference books by Brewer, especially his " Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," and his " Reader s Handbook." In studying synonyms, the reader may consult the lists in the principal dictionaries, or, more conveniently, Smith's " Synonyms Discriminated," and the works of Crabb and Soule. Roget's " Thesau- rus " is a work in which the words are arranged not alphabetically, as in the dictionaries, but by subjects. Its object is to suggest the right word when it cannot be recalled. The concordances most frequently used are 6o THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. those of Cruden, Young, and Strong to the Bible, and those of Clarke and Bartlett to Shakspere. In- Concordances. ^ . ., , , , ■, dexes of a similar character have been made for the writings of Milton, Tennyson, Burns, Shelley, and others — chieily poets. The student who is looking up some elusive point should not rest content with the general reference books already mentioned, nor abandon his search before he has availed himself of the assistance indicated in the next division of Indirect the subjcct, indirect helps. These are gener- heips. ^Uy known as catalogues or bibliographies, and instead of "containing the information sought, they serve merely as guideboards to point out the sources of infor- mation. This class of books Charles Lamb places among "books that are not books " ; but certainly a carefully pre- pared catalogue, especially if it is selective or annotated, deserves to rank. as a contribution to knowledge, if not to literature. Catalogues are of two kinds : general, like the Brooklyn and Peabody catalogues, which are limited only by the books in their respective libraries ; and special, like President C. K. Adams's " Manual of Historical Litera- ture," and Bowker and Iles's " Reader's Guide in Eco- nomic, Social, and Political Science," both of which are selective and annotated. The general works are usually called catalogues, the special works, bibliographies. Cata- logues exist in one of two forms, written or Catalogues. printed; and, while this may be said of all books, catalogues are almost the only manuscript works for which printing is not always regarded as desirable. Few college or other reference libraries at the present time print their catalogues. The gain does not repay the cost, and the inconvenience of having several alphabets to REFERENCE BOOKS AND CATALOGUES. 6l consult, as supplements become necessary, is a decided disadvantage. Many libraries, however, have published catalogues that, from the nature of their collections and the skill of the cataloguer, form genuine contributions to bibliography. These the student should be familiar with. Among the most noteworthy are those of the Peabody Institute Library at Baltimore, the Boston Athenseum, and the Boston, Brooklyn, Worcester, Cleveland, Cincin- nati, and Providence public libraries. Great as is the knowledge of books and things demanded for their mak- ing, the plan of these catalogues is extremely simple. The title of every book is usually entered under three different headings, so that it can be found by one who knows the author, the subject, or the title. For instance, the three entries of James T. Fields's " Yesterdays with Authors," would be under Fields, the author ; Yesterdays, the title ; and English Literature, the subject. The great catalogues of the Astor Library in New York and of the British Museum are confined to the author entry. There are also certain catalogues, not of a library, but giving all the books in a language, or a selection of books in one or more languages. These works are Bibuogra- especially helpful in selecting books, and no p'''^^- student can afford to overlook them. Chief among them are, the " British Catalogue," the " American Catalogue," Kayser's " Bucker-Lexikon," Lorenz's " Catalogue de la Libraire Frangaise," Lowndes's " Bibliographer' s Manual,*' Sonnenschein's " Best Books," and the great " Manuel du Libraire" of Brunet. These works mention publishers and prices. Good examples of special catalogues, or bibliographies, are Gardiner and Mullinger's "Introduc- tion to the Study of English History," Sabin's "Bibli- 62 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. otheca Americana," and Winsor's " Handbook of the American Revolution." Our means of research are greatly extended by the books known as indexes. An especially helpful work of this kind is the "American Library Association In- dex to General Literature," which is brought down to date in the "Annual Literary Index." The works of miscellaneous writers like Carlyle, Ruskin, and Macaulay often contain information discoverable through their indexes, which would be hard to find other- wise. But undoubtedly the great index of the world — at least in popularity — is Poole's " Index to Periodical Literature," which unlocks the treasures of all important magazines and reviews in the English language. It is often advisable, however, to refer to the separate indexes published by many of the magazines. For out-of-the-way information, the collective or annual indexes to " Notes and Queries," — both the British and the American publica- tions of this name, — should not be neglected. A con- venient series has been issued under the title of " Q. P. Indexes," several of the volumes covering the chief Ger- man and French magazines ; though for most foreign periodicals we have still to depend upon their own indexes. The quotation from Pope which their compiler, Mr. Gris- wold, chose for these indexes may fitly close our general discussion of reference books : — " How index learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail." CHAPTER V. PERIODICALS. In a clever bit of fancy entitled "The Nation's Un- known Guest," Mrs. Alice Wellington Rollins has pic- tured an imaginary visit of Columbus to the coiumbus World's Fair. Of all the objects of wonder and the which meet his gaze in the fair itself, nothing "="'=p^p"- astonishes him more than the newspapers which he is clamorously pressed to buy. At last, after purchasing a copy, he remarks, " Print ! it is all in print ! and such fine print ! Can it be that literature is now in the hands of the people, and for two cents .' Truly, there is enough here for a winter's reading. I will save it for the winter." There is no anachronism in thus ascribing to Columbus an ignorance of the newspaper, for the earliest form of the modern periodical, the " News Bulletin," ^^.^ .^^ ^^ dates from the year 1498, six years after the the news- discovery of America. But this publication p^p^'- appeared only irregularly. The real progenitor of the modern newspaper saw the light more than a century later in Germany, the oldest copy preserved bearing the date 1 61 5, the year before Shakspere's death. Publications that can be compared to the modern newspaper existed, however, in Rome and Greece, and a thousand years earlier in China ; but the modern daily paper, as we now know it, is scarcely older than the last quarter of the nineteenth century. For it is the product not merely of the art of 63 64 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. printing, but also of the power perfecting press, and the still more recent developments of photographic engraving ; while the telegraph, the ocean cable, and the telephone are perhaps equally important factors in its production. But we must first define the word periodical, which we may agree to regard as a publication appearing generally Definition of at regular intervals, and having no natural ter- periodicai. mination. Appleton's " Cyclopjedia " was is- sued at the rate of about five volumes a year, but that fact did not constitute it a periodical, since it had a natural termination in the letter Z. Appleton's " Annual Cyclo- paedia " appears only once a year, but it has no natural ter- mination, and is therefore a periodical. The " Ten-Year Book " of Cornell University, the triennials and quinquen- nials of other colleges, as well as their annual catalogues, are all periodicals. The postal law excludes annuals from periodical rates, but the distinction is purely an arbitrary one. Periodicals are generally classed according to their in- tervals of publication, and we shall find that this arrange- ciassesof mcut brings together groups that have other periodicals, characteristics in common. Thus the annuals, when not reports of societies or institutions, are generally historical or statistical, formerly also literary. Such are Appleton's "Annual Cyclopaedia," the "An- Annuals. nual Register, the " Almaiiach de Gotha" the "World Almanac," the "Statesman's Year-Book," and other works of similar nature. Semiannuals are not com- semi- mon. They generally represent some high annuals, grade of Scientific work which can command only a few subscribers, or else are published at this inter- val for reasons of convenience. A work of importance to PERIODICALS. 65 bookbuyers, Hinrichs's " Half- Yearly Catalogue of Ger- man Publications," may stand for this class. The quarterlies are the heavy artillery of periodical literature; though — to continue the illustration — rapid- firing arms have in recent years greatly dimin- ished their supremacy. At one time all impor- '2""'"''=^- tant articles appeared in this form, but the practice is now confined mainly to scientific and philosophical pub- lications. In this department we find the " Edinburgh," " Quarterly," and " Scottish " reviews, the " English His- torical Magazine," " Mind," and many periodicals re- stricted to special subjects. In our own country this class includes, for instance, the old "North American," and many defunct reviews, the " Political Science Quar- terly," and the " Quarterly Journal of Economics," but few current publications of a literary character. Modern life moves too fast for readers to wait three months for the next installment of a continued story or discussion, and so in our generation the favo- _ , Monthlies. rite class of magazines has come to be the monthly. In the old review, in deference to its name, every article pretended to give a critical discussion of one or more books ; though, as a matter of fact, the reviewer generally took the book as a mere text or pretext for his own discourse. The modern magazine has dropped the superfluous and misleading fiction of the review, and frankly sets out to instruct or entertain its readers in any way it sees fit. Among the most important maga- zines published in England are the " Nineteenth Century," the "Westminster," "Contemporary," and "Fortnightly" reviews, the latter being published monthly in spite of its KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. —5. 66 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. name, and the "English Illustrated," " Blackwood's," and " Macmillan's " magazines. The American rivals of these are chiefly the " Atlantic Monthly," " Harper's," " Scrib- ner's," '' McClure's," the " Century," the " Cosmopolitan," the " Arena," the " Forum," " North American Review," " New England Magazine," " Popular Science Monthly," " Catholic World," and " Yale Review." The " Philo- sophical " and " Geological " reviews appear at the imusual intervals of two months, and a month and a half, respec- tively. A word should be said, in passing, of the long list of defunct magazines, some of which, like "Eraser's" in England, and " Putnam's " in America, have never been entirely replaced. Some few magazines, like " Harper's," the " Review of Reviews," and the " Bookman," are pub- lished simultaneously in England and America, but with certain variations to suit their different constituencies. The word magazine has almost come to mean an illus- trated monthly publication ; and while the introduction of Illustrated picturcs is not entirely new, since it began in magazines, (-^g flj-st half of the nineteenth century, it is only in the last quarter of the century that the illustra- tions have taken on such a character as to make them a controlling element of the periodical's success. Since 1 880, "Harper's," the "Century," " Scribner's," and the "Cos- mopolitan," and since 1890, "McClure's," " Munsey's," and " Peterson's '' have each attained to a circulation that leaves the pictureless magazines hopelessly in the rear. An excellent idea of the complex elements that go to make up a modern illustrated magazine is given in a little pamphlet issued by the Cosmopolitan Company, which describes the financial conditions under which a great magazine has to be conducted, and makes clear PERIODICALS. 67 that the day of small things in such enterprises is for- ever past. Yet due admiration for the promoters of these financial ventures should not cancel our respect for the publishers of purely literary monthlies like the "Atlantic Monthly " and some of the English magazines, who have steadfastly resisted all the seductions of large sales as the reward of merits often at variance with those of literature. The fortnightly is the favorite form of periodical on the continent of Europe. The greatest literary magazine in the world, the ''Revue des Deux Mondes" appears twice a month. But among English "'^ readers this period has not proved a popular one, the "Fortnightly Review," as we saw, having been changed to a monthly. Even in passing from quarterlies to month- lies we detect, as a rule, a greater popularity or brevity of subject matter as connected with greater frequency of publication ; but in passing to the weeklies these qualities become distinctly marked. They are still far from the stage of truly ephemeral literature, or writings designed only for the day, but by one simple test it can be shown how much less permanent are weekly publications than periodicals issued at longer intervals. While the weeklies published greatly outnumber all other periodicals, our college libraries bind and preserve about one weekly for every two quarterlies or three monthlies. This, at least, is the case at Brown University ; where only one sixth of the periodicals bound are weeklies, and these, for the most part, are not devoted to general literature, but bear directly upon the work of some department of the uni- versity. It is worth noticing that none of the periodicals thus 68 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. far considered have been devoted to the spread of news, for in our day the newspaper is seldom a weekly, except in limited, particularly rural, districts. ' The weekly is, par excellence, the " organ." Quarterly or monthly publication is too infrequent to hammer a new doctrine into the public mind, while there are few theories substantial enough to furnish material for a daily journal ; so the weekly becomes the mouthpiece of the reformer. While there are many weeklies of • general scope, — jour- nals of civilization, — most weekly publications have some page or column to which the rest is an appendage. The movements which these numerous organs represent are as various as human interests. Religion, education, tem- perance, health, housekeeping, fashion, sport, humor, sci- ence, industry, are themes each of which has not only one but many weekly exponents. With reference to their make-up, two peculiar classes of weekly papers merit especial notice. First, those made simply by compilation from the daily paper published in the same office. These papers are apt to be patchy ; but they can be sold at a much lower price than original weeklies, since they are made up from the type of the daily issues, and involve little new typesetting. Secondly, the special editions of daily papers, issued on one day of the week, usually Saturday or Sunday. The delightful Saturday edition of the Boston " Transcript " is a good instance of this class, while the Sunday paper, which may have been an out- growth of the Saturday publication, is familiar ad nauseam. The latter publication is often quite distinct from the week-day journal whose name it bears, and, as a rule, is more distinguished for spread of canvas than for cargo. Since the recent introduction of coarsely-engraved pictures PERIODICALS. 69 into daily journals, the character of the Sunday paper has, if possible, declined. Many are the devices for cheapen- ing production in our weekly and daily papers. Patent insides, stereotyped strips, and syndicate articles are among the most familiar. On one occasion an eight-page Vermont weekly came to its subscribers shorn of half its fair proportions. The explanation was frankly given that its patent insides had not arrived in time. On the whole, however, weekly papers are written with more care, and read more attentively than the dailies ; and, since they are for the most part printed on fairly good paper, they stand some chance, in contrast to the dailies, of being accessible to future .generations. ^ 1 Our daily journals are at present printed on paper of such poor quality that if a single number of a newspaper of our time, even of those bound and preserved in fireproof libraries, is in existence one hundred years from now, it will be as great a curiosity as a " brown ^^ ^ ^ ^ of modem Greek manuscript " is to-day. We have on our library shelves books and books over four hundred years old, printed on linen paper, the papers, pages of which present as brilliant a contrast of white and black as is displayed by the finest productions of the modern press ; while we have numerous other books not yet ten years old which are already beginning to crumble with age. These are sometimes costly books, and often official documents of great importance. But, unless they are reprinted on good paper before many years, the records they seek to transmit to future genera- tions might almost as well have been written in water. The rapid decay of the paper is due to the use of wood-pulp stock in place of linen or cotton rags. The reason for its use is of course cheapness. Librarians have long protested against the evil, but to no purpose. They have entreated that a few copies, at least, of our leading dailies and weeklies might be printed on good rag paper, in order that these important documents might be preserved for the students of future centuries, but the reply is always returned that it will not pay. A cynic might be justified in saying that while the great civiliza- tions of the past have left behind them memorials that give promise of lasting as long as the race endures, our own ephemeral civilization has been self- doomed to trace its records upon a material less enduring than the life of an individual. See " Publishers' Weekly," March 9, 1895. 70 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. After all, the real subject of the present chapter is Daily the daily newspaper, for it forms the intellect- newspapers. u^j food, the school and college, of the great majority of the world's readers. In the early hours of this morning there was produced in the United States alone more printed matter than was in existence in the whole world one hundred years ago ; and every word of all this print has found its readers, some portions their hundreds of thousands of readers. In respect to all important items of news, the millions of readers all over our land — in respect to the most important items of news, the readers of the whole world — have had exactly the same source of information. Never was there an equalizing influence in all the history of human kind that for a moment could compare with this. King and hod-carrier, banker and bootblack, scholar and shopgirl, have all received their knowledge of current events through the same channel. Truly, as an acute English critic has expressed it, in place of the three powers, or estates, that ruled the world a century ago, there is now not a fourth estate, but only one — the press. In a study of journalism it would behoove us to con- sider what the press ought to be, and how to make it so ; Faults of but the present discussion must be restricted to the press, a Statement of just what the daily paper is, and why it is so. Knowing its faults, we shall be warned against them ; and knowing their causes, we shall not be hasty either in our condemnation of them, or in our acceptance of any remedies proposed for their correction. Their sins indeed are as scarlet. Says a world-famous astronomer and author ^ : — ' Camille Flammarion in " Omega." PERIODICALS. 71 " The journals of the world have long since become purely busi- ness enterprises.. The sole preoccupation of each is to sell every- day the largest possible number of copies. They invent false news, travesty the truth, dishonor men and women, spread scandal, lie without shame, explain the devices of thieves and murderers, pub- lish tlie formute of recently invented explosives, imperil their own readers, and betray every class of society, for the sole purpose of exciting to the - highest pitch the curiosity of the public, and of ' selling copies.' " But, granting the worst that can be charged against the press, its flaunting commercialism, its groveUng aims, its moral cowardice, its party or caste sophisms in the place of convictions, its truckling to mere success and power — • granting all this, what do we find the press, after all, but a mirror of the life of our age .'' The reform of the press is therefore simply the reform of society itself. To its publisher, the newspaper is simply and solely a means of making money. As an experienced journalist acknowledges ^ : " The fundamental principle of The news- metropolitan iournahsm to-day is to buy white paper from ^ ' ■' / thepublish- paper at three cents a pound and sell it at ten er's point of cents a pound. And in some quarters it does "=w- not matter how much the virgin whiteness of the paper is defiled, so long as the defilement sells the paper.'' Nor is even this proportion great enough. The newspaper is a device for buying paper and getting a profit on it before it has begun to be sold ; for it is stated as a fact that our more prosperous newspapers could all be given away and still be published at a profit. This is made possible, as everyone knows, through their advertisements. When it is remembered that some business firms spend a thou- sand dollars a day in advertising, the enormous importance I J. W. Keller, in "The Forum," vol. xv., 1893. 72 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. of this feature in the counting-room of the newspaper be- comes at once apparent, — an importance felt throughout the entire character of the paper. For, in order to attract advertisers, a paper must gain a wide circulation, and, more- over, the chief profit of a large circulation comes from advertisers, not from subscribers. There is, therefore, a pressure on the business management not merely for large returns from daily sales, but also for such returns as rep- resent large daily sales. A circulation of twenty thousand copies at five cents each, representing a daily income from direct sales of a thousand dollars, is nowhere near so prof- itable as a circulation of fifty thousand papers at two cents a copy, though the daily receipts from sales are the same ; for advertising space in a paper of fifty thousand circula- tion is two-and-a-half times as valuable as in a paper cir- culating only twenty thousand copies. So the newspaper has not the choice of finding fit au- dience, though few ; it must obtain a numerous patronage, or cease to exist. The newspaper must, therefore, first of all be a w^wjpaper. It must cater, not to say pander, to the curiosity of the great public. So insistent is the public on this point, that one of our great papers is said to have permanently lost a large percentage of its subscribers because once, through some accident, it failed to report an important local fire. But provided all the news be given, the public seems to demand little distinction between the important and the unimportant. Indeed, the items of real moment are often hard to discover amid the overgrowth of matters of no rational concern to any human being, which yet make up nine-tenths of the "news " in every morning and evening paper. It would be pleasant if we could regard this false perspective of values as a temporary, or PERIODICALS. 73 at least a diminishing, evil in journalism. But a recent critic 1 has noted that in a New York newspaper of the highest class the literary element in the Sunday edi- tion, from 1 88 1 to 1893, sank to one third of its former proportions, while mere gossip had increased twenty-three times. The increase of sporting news from one column to six and a half, and the dropping of religious matter from two columns to nothing, can hardly be looked upon as an improvement ; but it is scarcely more startling than the changed proportions of gossip and literature. Most papers are ostensibly addressed to all grades and shades of readers ; but, as a matter of fact, the newspaper world, like the geographical globe, is divided by classes of its parallels and meridians. One set of divisions, papers, which we may let the meridians represent, mark off the reading public into parties and sects. The other dividing lines, like parallels, separate them into classes and grades. So we find one Republican paper, for instance, designed more especially for the upper class of society, another for the middle class, another for the lower class. The same principle holds good with regard to the organs of most parties and sects. It is worth remarking that the so-called independent papers are generally so only in respect to party divisions. Socially they are apt to be as narrow in their sympathies as any partisan journals. No fair- minded person can fail to deplore the connection of party or class prejudice with the dissemination of Party spirit news. At present, however, the reader must '" journalism, accept the press as overwhelmingly , partisan. On this basis it is evident that a newspaper has first of all to please enough members of a party or sect to insure its 1 Mr. J. G. Speed, in "The Forum," vol. xv., 1893. 74 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. circulation. To do this it must never depart so far from the bias of its patrons as to seek to lead their opinions ; though it must make great professions of leadership. It will even assume leading positions — but always in non- essentials. It must flatter the choice of its buyers by constantly boasting of its infallibility, while it conceals the often insignificant personality of its writers behind the editorial " We." In France signed articles are the rule ; but this practice is condemned by so liberal a critic as Zola, on the ground that it reduces journalism to a 45ersonal squabble, though it certainly is in the interest of truth that the public should know who are its informants and professed instructors. Moreover, to the editor himself this loss of personality is an important concern. No matter what his own views Hireling are he must echo the opinions of the manage- journaiists. j-ngnt^ or, rather, the opinions adopted by the management as the most paying for the paper to advo- cate ; for the owners as well as the writers of a paper may have no belief in its so-called "principles:" A hun- dred years ago in France, one man published two papers. "Zf Moniteur Universel" which took the side of the gov- ernment, and " Le Journal Public" which sided with the opposition. One of the most interesting episodes in the history of journalism is the shifting of these papers in re- sponse to the political changes which were then taking place in France. Let the student who has access to a file of the "Moniteur" trace, for instance, its utterances dur- ing Napoleon's triumphal march from Elba to Paris. The manner in which the epithets applied to the emperor de- creased in hostility as he approached the capital is one of the curiosities of journalism. PERIODICALS. 75 A certain Republican paper in New England had at one period not a Republican connected with it. In fact, this divorce of expression from belief is so common that an editor, in considering a new position, never stops to ask the political complexion of the paper he contemplates writing for. Sometimes, when an editor is sick, his rival will fur- nish his editorials in addition to his own, and thus in one paper demolish the arguments he has just constructed in another ; while perhaps his own convictions agree with neither. Journalists have even been known to hold debates with themselves in rival papers. But in spite of the commonness of this special pleading, this hired advo- cacy of unbelieved opinions, it can hardly reconcile itself with morals ; and we may well recall the saying of Haw- thorne, that no man can wear one face to himself and another to the world, without, after a while, becoming confused as to which is the true one. In view of these facts, how shall we read the news- papers and yet preserve our integrity .'' We must simply learn to make allowance, to read between the How to lines. When we have taken the party longi- obtain the tude and social latitude of a paper, we know its *''""^ ''■°™ newspapers. position. We know what it regularly cries up, and what it as regularly cries down. We are, therefore, on our guard as to accepting its opinions either way. Dr. Samuel Johnson never mentioned Whigs but with con- tempt. Accordingly we know how to value the great essayist's opinion in party matters. But, hostile as party spirit is to truth and right social order, the journalism of our day is so interwoven with it, that often the best one can do is to read the fpremost opposing papers and use their conflicting statements as an offset one to the other. ^6 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Unless a man would be out of the world he must needs read the papers ; but, until he has trained his eyes to read between and behind their lines, his safest course is to read both sides, and always to read with his eyes wide open. One wholesome result to a young man from all-round newspaper reading is the enforced realization of the fact that many people in the world look at things in a very dif- ferent way from himself, or his party, or his social class. Formerly, at our college commencements, candidates for the master's degree delivered orations immediately follow- The ress a ^^S those of the graduating students. But the mirror of coutrast in tone was so great, the students just the world, going out iuto life were so optimistic and confi- dent, the men who had already had three years' experience of the world were so embittered and cynical, that in one of our colleges, at least, the practice was for this very reason discontinued. Why were the bachelors of arts- so hopeful, the masters of arts so disillusioned and despon- dent } Simply because the college of that day afforded no preparation for actual life, and even stood in the way of a just knowledge of it. Our colleges do better now ; but there is none so practical that its students can afford to overlook the picture of life presented by the newspapers, and the working knowledge it affords of the world they are destined to enter. The great cathedrals of the Middle Ages, with their carvings and sculptures, which illustrated all subjects from The epic of the sacrcd to the grotesque, have been called modern life, ^jjg ncwspapers of their time. There is no doubt that the theater of Shakspere's day, with its suc- cession of novelties, and its wide range of historical and literary material, filled many of the offices of the modern PERIODICALS. "J-J daily paper. But it may well be doubted if either the majestic and quaint cathedrals or the mighty Shak- sperean drama presented such a wealth and variety of dramatic spectacle as the modern newspaper daily un- rolls before our eyes. In the morning paper the whole world of the past twenty-four hours is spread before us as on a map. The great deeds of world-wide import, inter- mingled with the petty occurrences of our own neighbor- hood, are all there presented. Many a novelist has drawn his deepest inspiration from the newspapers ; and we may be confident that, if the Columbus of our story had really taken his newspaper home and devoted the winter to a careful reading of it, had let his imagination play over its contents and his sympathy and indignation respond to the varied calls therein made upon them, — we may be sure that he would not have found the winter long enough to exhaust the supply of suggestion contained in a single newspaper. CHAPTER VI. MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. In these days of interest in folk-lore, no apology is necessary for introducing the present discussion of mem- ,, . ory by an illustration drawn from the story of Mnemonics J J -' of " Hop o' " Hop o' My Thumb." The reader will recall My Thumb." ^^^ ^j^g j^g^^ ^^ ^j^g ^^jg^ ^^ overhearing that he and his brothers were to be led into the woods and abandoned, filled his pockets with white pebbles from the brook, which in the' course of their journey he slyly dropped along the way, so that when the children were left alone he was able to lead them home again, by re- collecting the pebbles which marked their course. On another occasion he overslept, and had only time to snatch a crust from the table. This, when scattered in crumbs along the route, was eaten by the birds, and when the children sought to return they could not find their way ; they had lost the power of re-collection.^ This Recollection. . ^ , . , epic of the nursery is introduced to emphasize the fact, that what we are chiefly concerned with is not the retentive, but the reproductive, memory ; not the power to The retentive remember, but the power to recall. The mem- memory. Qj-y^ jj^ I2.QX, appears to retain everything once intrusted to it, — even unconscious impressions. But the facts retained, like a railroad ticket which has been ^ For the suggestion of this illustration I am indebted to Middleton'i , "All about Mnemonics." 78 MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 79 mislaid, are of little use unless they can be produced on demand. Still, the wonders of the retentive memory are so astonishing that a few instances deserve to be cited. An uneducated German girl, in the delirium of fever, spoke Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. She was at first thought to be possessed of a devil ; but it was recalled that in childhood she had lived in the house of a priest who was accustomed to walk up and down, reading aloud. His books were searched, and the very passages she had recited were discovered-. Thus, what she had heard with- out understanding, or even consciously listening to, had nevertheless remained in her memory. Another instance is that of a Welshman, who had lost the power to speak his native language, but while suffering from a blow on the head could speak only Welsh. When he recovered his health his command of his mother tongue again for- sook him. A great modern linguist, by a similar accident, lost his knowledge of several languages. But, ordinarily, when we speak of memory we mean the power of recollection. In the definition of the dis- tinguished memory-teacher, Dr. Edward Pick, Definition of " Memory is that faculty of the mind by which memory, ideas are reproduced exactly, and without any change." Of this reproductive memory some classical instances may be cited. Themistocles is said to have known each of the twenty thousand citizens of Athens ; Powerful and a similar acquaintance with the inhabitants memories, of Rome is ascribed to Scipio. Csesar is recorded to have known the names of all his soldiers. What is quite as wonderful, old John Brown could instantly detect a new face in his flock of three thousand sheep: Macaulay and Lord Granville could repeat the New Testament in Greek ; 80 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. and Macaulay, furthermore, could give, word for word, the Old Testament in Enghsh, as well as " Paradise Lost " and "Pilgrim's Progress." The actor Cooke once, on a wager, committed to memory every word of a daily paper. Bossuet, the greatest of French orators, knew by heart the Bible, Homer, Vergil, Horace, and many other works. Niebuhr, the Danish historian, was in youth employed in a public office. Once, when part of an account book had been destroyed, he restored the record from memory. In like manner, Magliabechi repeated every word of a manu- script he had been reading, which, to test his memory, its owner pretended to have lost. Daguesseau humorously pretended to have known already a new satire which the poet Boileau read to him, and, to prove his assertion, repeated it twice without a mistake. The memory of locality sometimes reaches an astonishing development, as when a Swiss guide, led blindfolded for hours in and out among the streets of London, took the most direct way to his starting point, as soon as his eyes were un- covered. A great mathematician, when referring in con- versation to books on his subject, is accustomed to give the page on which the passage cited occurs. Examples might be multiplied to show the prodigious possibilities of memory ; but the question arises as to the desirability of such attainment. Themistocles, in the anecdote familiar to all, asserted that he preferred forgetfulness to memory. Numerous Art of writers (Dr. Brux, Dr. Holbrook, Brother Aza- forgetting. j-ias, Mr. Middleton, and many others) have treated of the art of forgetting. Hamerton, in his " Intel- lectual Life," develops the idea that a poor memory may really be a selective memory, and therefore a blessing MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 8 1 in disguise. Macaulay asserts that an author with a good memory should read little, or he will lose originality. We all have known men personally, or through their books, in whom memory had swamped the other powers of the mind. But all objections to a strong memory seem rather in the nature of warnings against the abuse of a good thing than against the possession itself. Certainly the testimony of all ages is in favor of a retentive Tributes to memory. In the mythology of Greece, Memory memory, is the mother of the Muses ; in the Norse mythology. Thought and Memory are the two ravens that perch on Odin's shoulders ; while the fact that in all times and countries teachers of memory have flourished would imply a constant popular appreciation of memory. From the same circumstance we may infer that the possibility of educating the memory has always been a wide- Education spread belief ; and in spite of the vast differ- °' memory, ences in strength of memory which exist among men, this belief can easily be shown to be correct. In regard to memory, as with all other powers, every person has, no doubt, an inborn limit of attainment which no training can extend; but just as in gymnastics the finest athletes are sometimes developed out of the most unpromising material, so in the training of the memory a man never knows his possibilities until he tries. A few examples will make it clear that no student, without giving his memory a fair trial, should despair of its development ; while they also force upon us the conclusion that in mem- ory, as in most other faculties, few persons come any- where near their limit of attainment. Prof. Norton H. Townshend, of the Ohio Agricultural Koop. Mast, of Bks. — 6 82 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. College, received at the age of five years a fall by which his memory was nearly destroyed. What he had learned before his injury had to be acquired again. A lesson Professor Carefully prepared would be forgotten before Townshend. rccitation time. If sent on an errand he would have to return to ask what he had been sent for. Driven almost to despair by such experiences, he set about a regular course of memory-training, and in process of time succeeded so well that he surpassed all his com- panions in strength of memory. As an instance of train- ing begun much later in life may be cited the case of Thuriow Thurlow Weed, the famous publicist. Upon Weed. jjjg entrance into journalism and politics, two spheres that above all others demand a ready and unfail- ing memory, he relates that his memory was a sieve. Realizing that this defect was an absolute bar to his advancement, he set about remedying it, and at length attained a power as remarkable as his previous weakness. His method, it may be added, was the simple but effect- ive one of recalling every night what he had done during the day. Scientific education of the memory must of course be based upon the philosophy of the memory ; and we may Philosophy be certain that a subject so important has not of memory, been neglcctcd by the philosophers. Among them we naturally find two classes, — those who regard memory as a power of the soul, and those who treat it as a bodily function. In like manner, recollection, or the re- productive memory, has its two schools of teachers, — the Associationists, who see in the association of ideas the so- lution of every train of thought ; and the Apperception- ists, who lay stress upon conscious attention and the action .MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 83 of the will. The two systems by no means exclude each other, and the writings of both schools are fruitful in suggestion for the practical training of memory. We are confronted at the outset by two classes of facts, which we may call the conditions of memory and the laws of memory. The first condition or prerequi- conditions of site to memory is health. Bodily vigor is the Memory, foundation of a good memory. This is not to say that some persons of feeble body have not possessed power- ful memories ; but the same person in health always remembers better than when weakened by disease. The explanation of this fact is found in the dependence of memory upon the proper supply of blood to the brain. This is shown by experiments with drugs which have the property of drawing the blood away from the brain. Such a drug is bromide of potassium, which is often used to induce sleep, but its continued use is apt to cause permanent injury to the memory. Hashish and opium exalt the memory for a time, but afterwards weaken it. This close connection of bodily condition with vigor of memory has long been known, though the attempts that have been made to apply the knowledge have sometimes been ridiculous. In 1706 a work appeared in London designed especially for public speakers in strengthening the memory. It contained pre- scriptions for " sneezing powders," " plasters to prevent the decay of memory," "a powder for the memory," "an ointment," "a wash for the head," "a perfumed apple for comforting the brain and memory," " pills ^ for the use of memory," and many more of like nature. Nearly two ^ The poet Tasso once wrote to his physician for pills to strengthen the memory. 84 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. centuries earlier, in 1523, a Strasburg teacher, Laurenz Fries, put forth a system of strengthening the memory excellently adapted to the wants of the underfed and ill- fed mediasval student. He advised dieting on roasted fowls, small birds, or young hares, with an allowance of good red wine ; but in other respects moderation must be observed. But the temporary as well as the usual condition of the body has its effect upon memory. Fatigue is one of the commonest unfavorable conditions. An Eng- lish lecturer relates that at the beginning of his career he was forced to walk from one town to an- other in filling his engagements. He found that if he lectured on the evening following a long walk his memory invariably proved treacherous. It was only after repeated failures that he came to realize the connection between weariness and loss of memory. Sir Henry Holland has recorded that, after an exhausting exploration of a mine in Germany, he found himself no longer able to speak German with his guide ; and not until he had taken rest and refreshment did he recover his memory of the lan- guage. In the same way, influences that tend to disturb the nervous equilibrium, such as loss of sleep, Confusion. . ^ . . . . . indigestion, excessive grief or anger, worry, embarrassment, — all work to the disadvantage of memory. Often, in examination, the sight of one question which he cannot answer sufifices to confuse the student in regard to the rest with which he is familiar. This is especially likely to happen if he has studied late the night before studying for examination; and it is therefore sound advice Examination, ^q bid the Student let books alone for twenty- four hours before examination. A wise Boston clergy- MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 85 man, in obedience to this principle, used to make it iiis practice on Saturday afternoon, when he had finished his preparation for Sunday, to attend a ball game. Embar- rassment and confusion, which often drive the best pre- pared lesson from the student's mind, should always be guarded against by teachers. The connection between confusion and forgetfulness is well understood by lawyers, who, however, use it not always as a means of arriving at truth, but sometimes merely to make an opposing witness contradict himself and so discredit his own testimony. But, given satisfactory bodily conditions, we find that memory varies with the proportions of two other ele- ments, attention and interest. The retentive Attention. memory is often best conceived of as an im- pression, as in the proverb, " a good memory is wax to re- ceive and marble to retain." Without attention there can be no depth of impression. Mind-wandering is therefore the greatest bane of memory. If the first impression was not deep enough, and the record has become obliterated, the remedy is not to attempt by sheer force of will to revive it, but simply to repeat the impression until it be- comes indelible. The brilliant author of " Getting on in the World," Prof. William Mathews, displays Professor an astonishing wealth of quotation and illustra- Mathews, tion in his writings. I once ventured to question him about his literary methods, and asked to see his notebooks. To my surprise he brought out four small volumes. His real notebooks were the tablets of his memory. It is his custom, he told me, to read and reread a desired passage until he feels sure of retaining it. If, later, he finds that it has been imperfectly remembered, he repeats the read- ing until at last he has succeeded in stamping the passage ineffaceably upon his memory. 86 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. In respect to the bearing of interest upon memory, we have 5hakspere's injunction, — " No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en : In brief, sir, study what you most affect." Emerson in like manner advises us never to read a book that we do not Hke. If this counsel is taken simply as meaning that reading with indifference is apt to be unprofitable, it may safely be accepted by everybody; but the conclusion from the importance of interest is not that we are to let momentary liking deter- mine our choice of books, but rather that, if it becomes desirable for us to read a book or pursue a study to which we feel no inclination, we should first take pains to develop an interest in it, perhaps by reading some popular or at- tractive book on the same topic. This principle explains Jnterest and '^^X historical novels, with all their defects, choice of havc probably taught more history than the books. historians, — because they have held the inter- est of their readers. It is therefore not wise always to insist upon the reading of standard works of information. There can be no question as to the comparative greatness of Newton and Proctor as philosophers. Yet how many thousand readers Proctor's " Other Worlds than Ours " has found for one reader of Newton's "Principia." There are times when one is almost tempted to say that the best book is that which most surely gets itself read. Having learned the conditions of memory, — health. Laws of attention, and interest, — we discover that memory, thcsc are simply the circumstances in which the deeper laws of memory work. These laws have been variously stated, but for our purposes they may all be MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 87 summed up in the one word, association. The past idea is recalled by something that relates or connects it to the present idea. The various relations implied by the term ' association were analyzed by Aristotle into similarity, contrariety, and coadjacency, or to employ very simple lan- guage, likeness, unlikeness, and nearness. This analysis has been accepted by nearly all writers on memory, though their words have varied. l3r. Edward Pick, the best known of living memory-teachers, divides the last class, coadjacency, into two elements, coexistence and succes- sion. The relation of cause and effect has also been as- signed as one of its factors. Yet, for practical purposes, it is doubtful if Aristotle's analysis has been improved upon. To illustrate the meaning of these divisions, we note that, on the principle of likeness, music suggests har- mony ; harmony, alliance ; alliance, peace — because each pair is composed of similar ideas. On the principle of un- likeness, storm suggests calm ; vegetation, barrenness ; sweet, sour. Lastly, objects that are usually found to- gether, for whatever reason, are likely to suggest each other. Thus England suggests navigation ; hurricane, destruction ; evening, coolness. It is of course not merely to verbal memory that these rules apply. They are laws of thought, and apply to all memory, whatever its medium of expression, organs of Each of the five senses, and, as some philoso- memory, phers hold, every organ of the body, has its own memory. Thus there is the memory of the eye, of the ear, of the palate, of the vocal organs, of the hand. Before the invention of printing the ear played a greater part in learning than it does at present. The ear, Erasmus tells us, is dedicated to the goddess of Memory. But its office 88 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. has, in later times, been largely usurped by the eye, often to the detriment of the latter. In these varieties of memory, however, the personal differences are very great. Eye and ear One pcrson recalls better what he hears, an- memory. other what he sees. Dr. Mortimer Granville, in his " Secret of a Good Memory," suggests that every person should discover which memory he has naturally stronger, and adapt his mental associations to this. For instance, if he remembers better through the ear, he should read aloud what he wishes to retain. If his sight- memory is the stronger, he should write down what he desires to commit to memory. The way to test one's own memory in this particular is to hear a passage read, and after an interval to attempt to reproduce it ; then to read a passage of the same length, and after the same interval to endeavor to recall it. The relative correctness of the two results will show the proportional strength of the ear and eye memory of the experimenter. The numerous and often widely varying systems of memory-teaching which have been in" vogue are all based Memory upon somc Or all of these simple elements of systems, mcmory. In his " Bibliography of Mnemonics from 1325 to 1888," Mr. G. S. Fellows enumerates over three hundred books on memory, besides shorter treatises. To give a history of mnemonic thought would, therefore, be a task beyond the scope of the present chapter; but a few of its outlines may profitably be noticed. The story of " Hop '0 My Thumb " represents what may be called a prehistoric memory system. The twelve stones set up by the Israelites for a memorial of their crossing the Jordan represents the same mnemonic idea in the dawn of history. With these may be compared the blazed MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 89 trees of the pioneer, and the milestones of the old post- roads ; while the same principle lurks in the knots we make in our handkerchiefs and the strings we tie round our fingers, when hard pushed for mnemonic help. The first recorded teacher of memory was the Greek poet, Simonides, who died in 467 B.C. His system is be- lieved to have been that form of artificial mne- Memory monies which calls in the aid of the local mem- ^'^^i^ef^- ory, and which, with modifications, is still in use. The first man of the modern world to write of memory was Roger Bacon, whose Latin " Treatise on the Art of Mem- ory" was composed about the year 1274; but in spite of its interest in the history of philosophic thought, it has not yet found a publisher. An important device was in- troduced in 1730 by Dr. Richard Grey in his " Memoria Tec/mica," which sought to render historical dates easier to remember by transforming the figures into letters. These were then combined into syllables, which, in turn, could be associated in some way with the event which occurred on the date in question. Improvements or modi- fications of this device have been incorporated by most subsequent memory teachers into their systems. Dr. Hermann Kothe; in 1848, devised the useful method of correlations, by which two dissociated ideas are connected by intermediate ideas. Thus, house, hotel, travel, wilder- ness, guide ; or letter, book, bookworm, bait, fish. Other contributions to the list of memory devices, such as rhymes and even puns, have from time to time been invented. Mention should be made, at least by name, of memory teachers once so famous as Feinaigle, Aim6 Paris, Beniowski, Carl Otto Reventlow, Fauvel Gouraud, and Pliny Miles. Prominence has already been given to go THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the name of the veteran mnemonist, Dr. Edward Pick. In 1861, the Rev. J. H. Bacon published his "Guide to Memory," which in 1890 passed into its third edition. The author devotes particular attention to the study of Latin and French. Bacon's little volume may be recom- mended as, on the whole, the best handbook for the use of the student in the training of his memory. F. Ap- pleby, John Sambrook, Alphonse Loisette, and W. L. Evans (a disciple of Loisette) are later teachers of prom- inence, whose writings and teaching will all be found helpful. It is proper here, however, to warn the student that the claim of new and revolutionary discoveries in the pro- cesses of memory is outright charlatanism. A teacher's memory-drill may be helpful in spite of such pretensions ; but the claims themselves are simply bait for gudgeons. Indeed the value of the teacher is apt to be in inverse proportion to his claims ; and if he insists upon a pledge of secrecy, his real worth must be still further dis- counted. It is a practical suggestion that, while in reading a book on the improvement of the memory we have only an intellectual incentive to follow out its direc- tions, if we have invested from five to twenty-five dollars in a course under a memory teacher, we are apt raimng. ^^ ^qj-^ hard in order to get our money's worth. But if the student has persistence enough to follow out a course of self-improvement in memory training, the little books of Bacon and Evans will do as much for him as any teacher. Much can be gained in both stimulus and prac- tice by several students mastering some such drill-book together. Even without formal guidance, it is excellent practice for two or more friends to review an evening's MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 9I conversation back to its starting-point. Mere unconnected memorizing, however, is no training. It bears to scientific mnemonic drill merely the relation of sawing wood to gymnastics. It is doubtful if learning passages False of Scripture or poetry as a set task, without in- training, terest or association, ever strengthened any one's memory. One closing word with special reference to school and college work, in regard to what may be called minute- hand and hour-hand memory. It is related of short and a certain actor that ordinarily he could carry long memory, his parts in mind for years ; but, if compelled by an emer- gency to learn a great number of lines in a short time, he forgot them from one performance to another, and had to learn them anew every day. Many students have this unfortunate minute-hand memory. They learn quickly, and have only to study a short time just before recitation to make a good showing of knowledge and get a high mark. But they have to learn the lesson again for review, and again for examination ; while, if they ever need to know the subject in after life, their acquaintance with it goes no further than a faint recollection that they studied something of the kind in college. Now, it is safe to say that what is not going to be remembered twenty-four hours, is not worth putting into one's head. There seems to be but one cure for this unfortunate minute-hand memory habit, though its effect is unfailing, and that is always to prepare a lesson at least one day before it has to be recited. Inconvenient as this course may some- times be, its results will repay a hundred-fold the increased effort involved in its prosecution. The preservation of the results of reading and study is of course not confined to the memory ; for there is a vast 92 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. territory of information wisely left in the reference books, in regard to which we need only to know where to look for it when we need it. The limitations of memory con- strain even the strongest memories to call in Note-taking. ■ n r ■ i i ■ t^i n the aid of mechanical devices. 1 hese generally take the form of notebooks, index rerums, reference cards, or some kind of written record. In regard to them all one great difficulty is always developed by experience, sometimes to the degree of seriously crippling their use- fulness, and that is the difficulty of finding again at need the information thus preserved. They are all cumber- some, and the larger they grow the more care and fore- thought they require to be kept manageable. One general piece of advice can be given, namely, to make them as mechanical as possible. If cards or loose sheets, or blank books are used, have all the cards, all the sheets, all the successive books, of the same size. Differently colored cards may wisely be chosen for different large subjects, or forms of subject-treatment, like biography, or magazine^ articles. It is well to own the books we study, and make our annotations on their margins. Notes should always be made in ink. For students' notebooks nothing is bet- ter than the Harvard Note-Book, the leaves of which are uniform and interchangeable. The old " index rerum," or indexed book for notes and " commonplaces," has now generally given way to the card system, which permits the entries always to be kept in one alphabet, while blank cards can be conveniently carried in the pocket, and when written, merely require insertion in alphabetical order in the drawer, in order to be afterwards accessible. The great difficulty is always to remember under what word the information was recorded, though practice will do MEMORY AND NOTE-TAKING. 93 much to develop uniformity and certainty. Perhaps in regard to this division of the subject the best advice of all is to refer the student to his college or public libra- rian for personal instruction and suggestion, which might form a perfectly proper part of the librarian's service to his readers. BOOKS ON MEMORY. The following is a list of works on memory, mostly drill- books, which can be recommended to the student who does not care to make a philosophical study of the subject : — Appleby, F. Natural Memory. London, 1887. Bacon, J. H. Complete Guide to the Improvement of the Memory. London, 1890. Evans, W. L. Memory Training. New York, 1889. HoLBROOK, M. L. How to Strengthen the Memory. New York, 1886. Kay, David. Memory, What It Is, and How to Improve It. New York, 1S88. MiDDLETON, A. E. All about Mnemonics. London, 1887. Pick, Edward. On Memory, and the Rational Means, of Improving It; with Applications to the Study of German. London, 1873. Dr. Pick's Method Applied to Acquiring French. Syracuse, N. Y., 1891. CHAPTER VII. LANGUAGE STUDY. Of the subjects previously discussed, it may be said that the eariier they are taken up the better, because of their helpfulness throughout the whole course Languages learned best of cducation, yet the later they are studied the in child- more perfectly they are understood, because hood. some maturity of mind is needed in order to understand them at all. In regard to the study of languages, however, there is no such gain by delay ; and, while a certain degree of intellectual development is requisite to progress in the philology and literature of a language, — things quite distinct from language-knowledge itself, — the ability to speak and understand, read and write, foreign languages is a capacity that grows weaker with every year after the period of childhood.^ In the crowded districts of our largest cities may be found fami- lies, in which the parents can speak no language but their mother tongue, while their children of five or six years act as interpreters to their elders in as many different languages, amid the Babel-like confusion of those mixed populations. A sea captain, who had his family with him, was detained in making up his cargo two or three months each in various European ports. His two little daughters, 1 President Hall of Clark University puts the period of greatest ability to learn languages through the ear at from four years old to eight ; through the eye, from eight to fourteen. 94 LANGUAGE STUDY. 95 even younger than the children just mentioned, learned the language of every port they stopped at. They forgot them, because they ceased to hear them spoken, just as they forgot the various forms of religion which their dif- ferent nurses inculcated ; but they found not the slightest difficulty in speaking as perfectly as native children of the same age any language from Italian to Swedish. An American college professor of middle age went to Germany for the first time, taking as a companion his son five years old. The father applied himself diligently to the study of the language, which he already had some reading knowledge of. At the end of six weeks, the child, who simply spent his time among the German chil- dren, without any attempt at study, had so far outstripped his father, that he had to be called upon as an interpreter whenever the professor had purchases to make or other dealings with the people about him. A part of the child's advantage was, of course, due to his correct method of acquiring the language, as contrasted with his father's laborious efforts in the wrong direction ; but the experi- ence is too common not to imply a superior facility in learning languages on the part of children. As well known as this principle has been for centuries, little application has yet been made of it in education ; and we sfenerallv come to college with our real ^ -^ Neglect speaking and reading knowledge of languages of this vet to be acquired. There is no reason, except ?"""?'= *■> -^ ^ education. lack of opportunity, why every student should not enter college with a practical mastery of English, French, and German — such a mastery as would make it almost a matter of indifference to him which of these lan- guages he might be called upon to speak, hear, read, or 96 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. write. But this is by no means the linguistic outfit of the average freshman, or even graduate ; and it becomes neces- sary for the student to consider how best to make up for lost time, since he finds in college that ei^ery year a wide acquaintance with' languages becomes increasingly neces- sary. For languages occupy this peculiar relation to the educational scheme, that, while in the Dreoara- Relation of , " " languages tory school and the first two years at college toother they are subjects of study like all the rest of the curriculum, in the last two years at college and in graduate work they form means of study ; and this not merely in connection with language and literature, but no less in history, political science, and even in the exact sciences, like chemistry and mathematics. When we reflect that valuable scientific papers are at the present time appearing in so unfamiliar a tongue as Georgian, the linguistic demands upon a specialist . who would keep abreast of research in his single department of knowledge are seen to be enormous. Formerly a pro- fessor of English needed to know only English itself, with Latin and Greek, chiefly, it must be confessed, for orna- ment. Now a student, who would investigate English in its relations to other languages and literatures, finds that he cannot approach his subject without a knowledge of all the languages of Western Europe, while to exhaust it he would literally need to master the languages and litera- ture of the world.i ^ An English professor of my acquaintance has a ready reading knowledge of Greek (ancient and modern), Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Proven9al and Roumanian, besides their numerous dialects, which often are very different from the standard speech, yet sometimes superior to it in im- portance to the student of language and comparative literature; also of the northern group, Anglo-Saxon and Middle English (each distinct enough to Language studV. 97 Confining our attention to the Romance and Germanic groups of languages, let us consider what is the importance of each in the world of learning. Passing over German and French as of all-round importance, and, in fact, taken for granted in the outfit of every scholar, we /< 1 ■ T T <- 1 Importance nnd m Italian some of the most important pub- of the lications of the present day, notably in political Romance science, history, and engineering. Leaving out ^'°"^' of the question in each case their literary importance, we discover that Spanish and Portuguese are absolutely necessary to the student of history, whether his field of investigation be Europe, Asia, Africa, Ametica, or the islands of the great sea. To illustrate from how appar- ently remote a subject one may be led to the Germanic study of Icelandic and its descendants in mod- group- ern Scandinavia, we may instance the first American student of Icelandic, George P. Marsh, who was drawn to the study of that language in his investigation of the origins of English law. The Danish is of importance also in archaeology and the history of American discovery. Even a language so little known as the Dutch, besides its importance in European history of two centuries ago, count for an independent language), Gothic, German in its three stages (Old, Middle, and Modern, and their three divisions. Low, Middle, and High), Old Saxon, Dutch and Flemish; and of the Scandinavian group, embracing Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, all these again with numerous dialects as different from the literary language as broad Scotch is from Hawthorne's English. Yet the professor said to me not long ago that he could no longer put off the study of Russian, on account of the ballad lit- erature and the critical articles published in that language ; and I know that only lack of time prevents him from acquiring also the languages of South- ern Asia. Translations, it must be remembered, never keep up with the progress of research ; in fact, in scientific matters, they are often out of date by the time they are published. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 7 gS THE MASTERY OP BOOKS. is to-day the medium of expression for some of the pro- foundest thought in modern theology. But after going over this list, the student will certainly be ready to join the scholars in their lament for the good Universal old days whcn Latin was the common language language, gf learning. This, to be sure, would not, in all respects, lighten the labors of the student of pure litera- ture ; but for the student of information only two languages would be necessary, his mother tongue and Latin. Can any one question the importance of such a gain 1 In fact the gain is so evident, and the burden of modern language requirements so appalling, that one need not be a prophet to predict, at no very distant date, the adoption of some universal language for all works of information. To prophesy more closely, and attempt to fix either the character of the world-language, or the date of its adop- tion, would manifestly be unsafe. To many, however, it seems probable that the language will not be a revival of Latin ; nor an artificial language, whether Alwato, Volapiik, Spelin, or any other, great as their excellences may be ; nor the language of some numerically unimpor- tant people, like modern Greek or Dutch, deliberately chosen by the great nations of the world. Latin is growing ever more remote from human interest, the minor languages have little, and the artificial languages have no, literature to recommend them. The world-language will rather be one that, by its comprehensiveness, its sim- plicity, its wide extension and commercial and political importance, shall have won its way to the first position, and this position, a recent French writer has predicted, will be attained in the twenty-fifth century by the English language. The unfortunate spelling of our language is LANGUAGE STUDY. 99 the greatest bar to such an extension, and all to whom world-English seems a desirable thing should consider the importance of reforming this feature, in worw- which English stands inferior to every other English, written language. Perhaps the greatest authority for the foregoing view of the possibilities of English as a universal language is the famous German philologist, Jakob Grimm. But while one language for the whole world is a delight- ful possibility, the present day is characterized by a state of things widely removed from this ideal. The student at the close of the nineteenth century is confronted, not with a comforting theory, but with a condition that even at best is burdensome. The moment that study rises to the level of research, — whether it be undertaken by college student, university student, or professional man, — at that moment a knowledge of foreign languages becomes imperative. But what sort of knowl- edge .' Is it meant that the student must be knowledge able to write Greek hexameters like Swinburne, required by or French prose like Marion Crawford ? Mani- ^ ^ " ^" ' festly not. He wants first and foremost a reading knowl- edge of foreign languages. How much else will be de- sirable for him to attempt we shall better understand, if we stop to consider what may be meant when it is said that a man knows a foreign language, for instance, Ger- man. He may be able to speak German, or to understand it when spoken ; he may be able to read it, or to write it ; he may have the ability to translate it into idiomatic English ; he may be master of its philology ; or he may be widely acquainted with its literature. Several of the foregoing are possible without any of lOO THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the rest. The wholly illiterate have only a speaking and hearing knowledge of any language ; though within their limits they sometimes have a correct knowledge of many languages, like the Irish washerwoman in the fam- ily of a British officer, who had followed her employer all over the globe, and spoke with perfect correctness the lan- guage of her class in every place where his regiment had been stationed. Students of the Meisterschaft system often attain some speaking knowledge of a language while they are still unable, through lack of practice, to understand it when spoken. Many a person has acquired a fair reading knowledge of a language, without gaining any other power over it. The ability to write a language would involve the power to read it, but not necessarily any further knowledge. The ability to translate a foreign language idiomatically into their mother tongue is often lacking in those who have every other command over it ; on the other hand, it was the only ability gained under the old grammar-and- dictionary system of studying languages. But this attain- ment hardly deserves to be called a knowledge of the language. No appreciation of the author's style entered into it, sometimes not even of his meaning. The foreign language stood really for a kind of rebus, or string of arbitrary symbols which corresponded to certain English words, if one could only make out the puzzle.^ The philology of a language, its derivations, its forms, ' I have known college graduates who could not express the simplest ideas in French, nor understand the most ordinary question if couched in that lan- guage; who could not read off-hand the simplest French paragraph, while any attempt at composition in the language was entirely beyond them; who could not even pronounce French intelligibly to others; yet with the help of grammar and dictionary they had perhaps labored through Corneille's " Cid" or Victor Hugo's " '93." LANGUAGE STUDY. lOI its arrangement, are often taken up and carried to consid- erable perfection without any special mastery of the lan- guage in other directions ; while a profound knowledge of a literature is certainly often unaccompanied by any scien- tiiic acquaintance with its corresponding philology. For it is a fact worth remembering that the men who have created the world's literature have, without exception, been densely ignorant, or grossly misinformed, of the philology of the languages they employed and adorned. The need of the modern student is evidently, first of all, to acquire a reading knowledge of the principal European languages — to leave the university, as Carlyle Reading did, carrying this outfit. To spare the student knowledge, useless labor in this attempt, and to point out the direc- tions in which his effort may most profitably be concen- trated, will be the purpose of such hints, drawn from personal experience and from reading, as will now be presented. The student's first duty manifestly is to keep what he has. If he has studied Greek or Latin or French or German, one or more of them, let him make , ' ' Languages sure that he has a ready reading knowledge already along with his knowledge of etymology, mor- ='"'^'='^- phology and syntax, and then keep up his reading knowl- edge by the requisite amount of daily or weekly reading. Even if the study of language is in itself as valuable a mental training as its stoutest champions insist, it cannot be worth while to spend six years in studying a language as important grammatically as Latin, or as important to literature as Greek, unless at the end of that time the student is able to read its classics without any special con- sciousness that they are in a foreign language. I02 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Let us now consider briefly if, from our study of mem- ory, we cannot draw some suggestions that may help us Aids from '-° ^^^P ^'^^ languages that we have already science of acquircd, or so to review them as better to fix memory, (-jjgjjj j^ the memory ; and that may enable us in learning new languages to begin so as to retain them from the start. Of the seven different kinds of language-knowledge, those that are most directly con- nected with the memory are the first three, — hearing, speaking, and reading, — involving, as they do, the memory of the ear, the memory of the vocal organs, and the memory of the eye. Most students trust chiefly to the last ; and when the visual image fades, the word is forgotten. But, as we have discovered, there are some persons who remember what they hear better than what they read ; while the memory of the vocal organs is stronger in most of us than we realize. If a boy were to try to learn a declamation without ever repeating it aloud, he would not learn it so quickly nor retain it so long as if he spoke it and gesticulated while memorizing it. Yet languages, which are primarily organizations of speech, we attempt to learn without calling in the memory of the vocal organs, or even of the ear. Let the student then fortify his language-knowledge against forgetfulness, by adding to the memory that comes from reading, the other important memories of the ear and the organs of speech. He should read the language aloud, if he has no opportunity to use it conversationally ; oead 3-rid he should seek to hear it read, or, still languages, better, spoken, whenever he can. So much can be done in our study of the dead languages, which are dead only because they have ceased to be spoken. LANGUAGE STUDY. IO3 Throughout the Middle Ages, Latin was the language of education ; and in the latter part of the eighteenth century there was a law in force at Brown University, that, during study hours, no language should be spoken on the campus or in the college halls but Latin. It would puzzle most college professors anywhere to conform to this rule at the present day. Further practical hints may be given in regard to that kind of language-knowledge most important to the ad- vanced student in research courses, namely, Living lan- the ability to read foreign languages at sight, stages. In our study of memory, we learned that the conditions of memory are attention, interest, and repetition, and that the laws of memory are association by likeness, by unlike- ness, and by nearness in time or space. It is interesting to notice how the numerous teachers of language have made use of one and another of these principles in their various systems. Practically all can be brought under one or more of these classes, and it may profit us to take up several of the leading language-methods of the present day, and see what principle each is based on. It will be profitable in this, if in no other particular, that we shall not so easily be persuaded that any one is the original and only system of learning languages. We may con- clude that some one is best, at least for our own uses, but we shall still be able to discern good qualities in rival methods. Let us take up, first, the so-called "natural" method, one of the most popular and successful. This ^j^^ method was first worked out by Gottlieb He- "natural" ness, a German teacher of New Haven, and has ""^ been further elaborated and developed by the managers I04 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. of the Sauveur, Stern, Berlitz, and other schools of lan- guages. The fundamental idea of this method is that we learn our mother tongue by associating certain words with certain objects and actions. For instance, we call a table "a table" simply because we have been accus- torhed to hear the sound associated with the object. Among different surroundings we should have known it as " ein Tisch" or "line table." In the same way "go," or "gehen," or "alter," are sounds that, according to circumstances, are the familiar ones for the action sig- nified. The aim of the "natural" method of language- teaching is to lead every learner into the world of a new language by precisely the same road which he traveled in entering the domain of his mother tongue. The objects, actions, and ideas discussed in adult classes soon pass out of the range of childish comprehension ; but the method remains the same — object-teaching, every word illustrated by its appropriate act or thing, without recourse to trans- lation or the use of English words. In short, it is a virtual transference of the student to the foreign country, where he must learn his teacher's language exactly as in his earliest years he learned his own. It will at once be seen that this system makes great demands upon the teacher ; that not merely a native teacher, but also a born teacher, is required for successful instruction by the "natural" method. Self-instruction by this method is practically out of the question ; but, given the proper teacher, the system proves highly satisfactory. The memory principle involved in this method is chiefly that of contiguity ; the word and the thing are remembered together, because they are first and repeatedly learned together. An interesting variation of the " natural " method is LANGUAGE STUDY. I OS the "cumulative" method of Adolph Dreyspring, in which pictures are made largely to take the place of actual objects and movements. The principle of increasing the vocabulary a little at a time and constantly The repeating the words already learned, is faith- "<=>"""'ative" fully carried out, while, through the author's ""^^ ° ' humor, the element of interest is invoked more constantly and successfully than in most systems. Dreyspring's French and German courses are therefore adapted to private, as well as to class-room, use. Another system which depends upon the principle of analogy or likeness is that applied by Dr. Edward Pick to the teaching of German and French, and more Principle of elaborately to German by Prof. F. L. O. Roehrig, analogy, of Stanford University, in his remarkable little book, " The Shortest Road to German." The method adopted is to begin with words that are identical in sound in the two languages, like Haus, house, Fisch, 'h%\i,- Maus, mouse; then proceed to others slightly varying, like, Mann, man, Hand, hand, Winter, winter, Hammer, hammer; leading gradually to others more unlike but obviously related, like Knie, knee, Ohr, ear. Fuss, foot ; until, by the time words wholly unlike are reached, the student will have entered into the spirit and structure of the German language, without consciously leaving his own. Prof. Roehrig's book may be recommended as a valuable adjunct to any system of German, whether for student or teacher. The well-known Meisterschaft system, which has re- cently appeared in revised form under the name of its author, as the Rosenthal system of practical Meisterschaft linguistry, is confessedly an elaboration of the system, earlier Mastery system invented by Prendergast. The I06 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. basis of the method is repetition, its motto being the proverb : " The drop wears the stone not by force but by frequent falling." Sentences drawn from the needs of practical life are given with their English equivalents, then taken to pieces, their parts recombined, and the whole worked over and repeated until the sentence, the phrases, and the separate words, have all become a per- manent part of the learner's mental furnishing. This sys- tem is particularly well adapted to self-instruction. It has been applied to German, French, and Spanish. An interesting development in language-teaching, which deserves a passing mention, has been made in connection with this system. This is the utilization of the phono- graph for giving native pronunciation of each language. It is too early to speak of the success of this experiment, but it would seem to be a promising one. Certainly the phonograph can relieve the teacher of much of the drudg- ery of mere sound drill, to say nothing of its opening the way for the wider employment of American teachers, who might otherwise have been discredited on the ground of imperfect pronunciation. In any case, the use of the phonograph seems to have great possibilities in connection with the comparatively new science of phonology. In connection especially with self-instruction, or private study of languages, two methods at once suggest them- selves, which may be called respectively the unheroic and the heroic ; the former implying the use of transla- tions, the latter refusing the help even of the dictionary. In regard to translations, it should be said that, outside Use of of class-room work, at least, the question of translations, their usc is not a moral one. It is simply a question of utility. Their helpfulness doubtless varies LANGUAGE STUDY. lO/ with different persons. But any student who finds that translations give him an earlier and fuller reading com- mand of a language would do wisely to employ them. Another, who found them a delusion and a hindrance, would be foolish not to let them alone. Milton, who was an accomplished linguist, advocated the use of trans- lations. The poet Southey, who was widely read in European literature, had the following practice in learn- ing languages. Whenever he had a journey to make, — this was in the days of stagecoaches, and long journeys for short distances, — he would take with him a copy of the Bible in the language he wished to learn. By giving his time to the reading of this, he found that when he had reached his journey's end he was able to attempt any ordinary book in the language without the help of a dic- tionary. The parallel Testaments, English and foreign, published by the American Bible Society and sold at the remarkably low price of thirty-five cents, are the best for the ordinary student, and may be heartily recommended in connection with college language courses. The heroic method of language-study is to take up a book in an unknown tongue and attempt to read it without helps of any kind. On the first page. Heroic perhaps a word or two may be recognized ; on method, the second page, a few more. A second reading will add a few others to the list ; till, by and by, after careful reading and reviewing, the proportion will come to be reversed, and more words will be made out than passed over. This method is by no means an impracticable one. A distinguished French linguist laid the founda- tion of his wide knowledge of English in this manner. In selecting a book for such an experiment the student I08 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. should choose one which he knows beforehand will be sure to hold his interest, like one of Dumas' novels, for instance. But, whatever method is adopted, modern experience unites in advising to read much, rather than very thoroughly, where a reading-knowledge is the end sought. Grammar is a special subject, and has its own proper place in the educational scheme ; but it must not unimport- ^16 supposed an important factor of general ance of languagc-knowlcdge. Plato knew no Greek grammar, gj-^jj^j^g^,-^ ^^d Shaksperc no English grammar. We therefore cannot agree with what Richard Grant White says, in contrasting English with other languages — that in them a knowledge of the grammar is necessary before we can understand the language, while in English the converse is true. As a matter of fact, Latin, which has a highly developed grammar, was taught a few hun- dred years ago from books written in Latin ; so that the beginner had/ to translate his grammar before he could learn it. A point not to be overlooked in the study of languages is the great gain that comes from studying them in groups. Language A German philologist has declared that a man groups. could travel round the world and converse with every person he met without consciously learning a new language, if he would simply familiarize himself with the new words he met in passing from one village to another along his route. The truth of this statement is, however, more important for the philologist than for the linguist, but it well illustrates the close relationship among certain languages. The student of Latin can make out many words in an Italian, French, Spanish, or Portuguese book. The student of German can, in the same way, make LANGUAGE STUDY. IO9 a beginning with Dutch, Danish, or Swedish. Not only can languages be learned more readily by studying them comparatively, but they are in this way more firmly held in the memory. By this method every new language of a group becomes, not a new object of knowledge, but only a modification and extension of the old. Let the student adopt this principle, study the Romance languages in relation to Latin and French, the Germanic languages in relation to German and English, and he will find not only a remarkable lightening of his toil, but also an equal awakening of interest. Emperor Charles the Fifth of Germany said that to learn a new language is to acquire a new soul. This statement is but an exaggerated tribute to the Moral real broadening of the sympathies that comes effect of through the study of foreign languages. For language- in order to understand a French book, for ex- ample, we must, at least to some degree, put ourselves into the place and conditions of the people that speak French. Having done this, we can never again look upon them as alien or outlandish. We shall not think the less of our own language and people, but we shall realize that, important as the English race is, it is only one out of many races by which the problems of humanity are being solved. We shall perceive that, however truly our own is the best all-round language, other languages, and some- times humble ones, have their superiorities in certain particulars. Indeed, the development of the soul through the broad- ening effect of language-study may well seem of even greater importance than the accompanying education of the mental faculties. In the words of Professor Math- no THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. ews, the student of languages "thus loses that Chinese cast of mind which was a foe to all self-knowledge and to all self-improvement. He doubts where he formerly dogmatized ; he tolerates where he formerly execrated." Therefore, if the modern student, by reason of the multitude of languages forced upon him, is tempted to think that in entering the temple of learning he has really entered the tower of Babel, he comes 'at length to realize that it is the place, not of the dispersion, but of the meeting together, of the peoples. CHAPTER VIII. THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDUCATION. The conduct of savages who have found a watch has often been imagined for purposes of literary illustration ; but we may venture to make one more appli- savages and cation of it, for the sake of the light which it a watch, throws upon recent library development. Let us first, however, picture clearly to ourselves what would be the inevitable conduct of such a group of savages. They would mistake the watch for one of two things — a trinket or a god. If it were still going they would make it an object of worship. In any case, whatever attention they bestowed upon it, they would catch no inkling of its real character and uses. Now, if we may suppose the tribe of savages to be so isolated as not to come into contact with a ready-made civilization, and yet so favorably situ- ated as to develop a civilization of their own, we may be sure that a period would arrive when the positions of the sun and stars, as seen by the unaided eye, would no longer furnish a sufficiently fine marking of time ; when even the sundial, the water clock, and the hourglass would be regarded as too clumsy for scientiiic timekeeping. When civilization had reached this point, superstition would have given way enough to allow an examination of the ancient fetish, the watch. Sooner or later some investigator would contrive to set it going; and from this achieve- ment there would be but a step to the recognition of the il2 THE MASTEKY OF BOOKS. relation between the movements of its hands and the time of day. So that, in this case, when science had grown up to the point of needing and appreciating the services of an accurate timekeeper, it would not have to invent, but only to discover. Various problems would have still to be solved, such as the relation of the clock day to the solar day, and the irregularities and variations of the instrument ; but the chief point would have been gained — the recognition of what the watch was really for. Or, take another illustration, more within the bounds of possibility. It might easily happen, in the decay of a Cathedral oncc glorious civilization, that a magnificent organ. cathedral organ should be inherited by a popu- lation wholly incapable of employing its capacities. If reverence permitted the instrument to be used at all, its mighty range of expression might be drawn on only to the extent of accompanying a street ballad, or rendering some rude melody of lament or rejoicing. There would be neither demand for its powers of expression nor ability to evoke them. But suppose the changes of time bring music into the people's hearts and a longing to give it utterance. No longer will the organ remain neglected or misused. A master hand again will sweep its keys, and the cathedral arches will tremble with the passion of an oratorio. Once more it is not invention that is required, but a recognition of latent capacity in an instrument already at hand. Now, it is no exaggeration to say that what the clock is to astronomy and the organ to music, that is library the library to education ; while the imaginary history. history that, for the sake of illustration, we have connected with the other two, is but an epitome of THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDUCATION. II3 what has actually occurred in the course of library development. First an ornament or an idol, then the subject of blundering experiment, at last it has become a potent instrument, comprehended and brought under control for the service of humanity. The true appreciation of the place of the library in edu- cation is a matter of such late development ^ that even the best-managed libraries retain enough obsolete ° ^ " Late recog- features to indicate what their past condition nitionofthe must have been. But here and there a library >'brary. survives, quite untouched by the modern movement, to present an object lesson in library antiquity. Such a library is apt to be situated in some inconvenient locality, and housed in a dingy building, badly lighted and worse ventilated. The hours of opening are few, and coincide with the busiest times of the day, when nobody but idlers and people of leisure can visit the library. The books are not open to the public, and if they were their chaotic arrangement would defeat any attempt to use them studi- ously. But this contingency is headed off still farther back in the management of the library, by the care taken to 1 This is not intended to deny an early appreciation of the value of a library to a college, as witness the following account of the founding of Yale College. It may well be that the modern recognition of the importance of the library in higher education is but a recurrence to ideas antedating text- books and cut-and-dried knowledge. The watch and the organ of our illus- tration could not have been made except by men capable of appreciating them. "Ten of the principal Ministers in the Colony were nominated . . . to found ... a College; ... which they did ... in the following Manner, viz. : Each Member brought a Number of Books and presented them to the Body; and laying them on the Table said these Words, or to this Effect: '/ give these Books for the foundi7ig a College in this Colony.'' Then the Trus- tees as a Body took Possession of them, and appointed the Rev. Mr. Kussel of Branford to be the Keeper of the Library, which then consisted of about forty Volumes in Folio." — Thomas Clap, Annals of Yale College, 1766, p. 3. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 8 il4 TH^ MASTERY OF BOOKS. avoid acquiring books that can be used studiously. When we ask what books are bought we shall find that, outside the hobbies of the librarian and the trustees, few books Museum ^^^ purchascd except rarities. The library is, idea. in fact, simply a museum of curiosities. The greater the -practical value of a work, the less attrac- tive it is to the book committee. But let it be rare, if possible, a unique copy, — it matters not of what, only let it be scarce and costly, — and if nobody for a hundred years will care to consult it, so much the better ; the library must have it, though a year's income be required for its purchase. A book once in the library is there to stay. It would cause a panic in the directors' room if somebody were to announce the discovery that libraries exist which actually try to increase their circulation. No, this library is a book-jail, and the librarian is valu- able chiefly as a turnkey. Now there is a place for the museum-library. Every American ought to honor the memory of James Lenox for the establishment of such a collection in New York. But a very few such are enough for the whole country. The above is no exaggeration of the uninviting and unfre- quented character of this species of library. One day a criminal, of whom the police were in hot pursuit, was advised by a literary man whom he knew to take refuge in one of the great libraries of New York City. He did so, and there did the fugitive from justice find conceal- ment, until night came and he was able to escape under cover of the darkness. It never occurred to the brightest detective to look for his prey in so unfrequented a place as a public library. The librarian of one of our historical libraries remarked, "ZHE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDUCATION. II5 on arranging and making accessible some valuable docu- ments : " Now that these documents are in order and can be gotten at they are liable to be stolen. Hitherto they have been protected by the fact that no thief could dis- cover them." But one might well reply that if nobody can discover them they might as well be stolen. In fact, nothing astonishes such a librarian more than the fact that his treasures are not stolen, that they go on gath- ering dust beneath the eyes of a kleptomaniac world without receiving the compliment of mysterious disappear- ance. One is reminded of nothing so much as Holmes's grandfather, and his frantic efforts to protect his "all- accomplished maid " from the seizure which never came — greatly to the poet's regret and the maiden's. The fundamental change which has come over our progressive libraries, and which has affected the selec- tion, arrangement, cataloguing, and circulation Modern of the books, is everywhere of comparatively library late development, and is not yet a generation """^^^snt. old. Many causes conspired to bring about this revolu- tion in library methods, some of them of long standing, but their full effect was not felt until' the beginning of the seventies ; indeed, if we associate the new era in library management with the centennial year we shall not be far wrong. This year saw the publication of the great report by the Bureau of Education on " Public Libraries in the United States " to which was appended Mr. Charles A. Cutter's " Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue," and also- the founding of the " Library Journal," the organ- ization of the American Library Association, and the appearance of Mr. Dewey's "Decimal Classification." But these were, of course, results, however they may have Il6 THE MASIERY OF BOOKS. since acted as causes, and to find their origins we shall have to look to several remote and distinct movements. These movements worked in two directions, inward and outward, yet their effect on libraries was the same. One ^ set of movements, which we may term the ■causss of the extensivc, includes school use of libraries, the "change, uuivcrsity extension movement, and the Chau- itauqua movement. The other, or intensive, is represented by the seminary method in university work. The result of both sets of movements was to develop the use of libraries for reading on special subjects, rather than for scattered reading. Let us glance in turn at the history of these movements. Among the first men to perceive the important part which can be played by the public library in conjunction Libraries and with school work was Mr. William E. Foster, schools. |.j^g efficient librarian of the Providence Public Library. Mr. Samuel S. Green of the Worcester Public Library was also another early promoter of school work in connection with the library. Now, after twenty years, the public libraries all over the land have come to hold an acknowledged position in relation to the school system. Those whose school life has been recent are, doubtless, personally familiar with this feature of its training. The practice varies with different places, but consists, in sub-, stance, of the loan of books from the public library to the schools for home or class-room reading in connection with the various subjects of study. Of course this obliges the library, in most cases, to own as many copies of each of the books so lent as there are schools ; sometimes, in fact, several copies of one book are sent to the same school. The place of the library in education. 117 Nothing scandalized the old-fashioned librarian more than to find that he had bought a duphcate of a book already in the library ; the managers of the Astor Li- brary, for instance, used to boast that it contained no duplicates. But modern librarians, like Mr. Foster, Mr. Green, Mr. Larned, and Mr. Crunden, sometimes recom- mend the purchase of a hundred copies of one book. If all the grammar schools of Providence, Worcester, Buf- falo, or St. Louis are studying American history, every school will receive its appropriate number of copies of several books like Coffin's " Old Times in the Colonies," Franklin's "Autobiography," Hawthorne's " Grandfather's Chair," and Drake's " New England Legends and Folk- Lore," followed by books illustrating later periods of American life, such as Edward Everett Hale's "A New England Boyhood," and Howells's "My Year in a Log Cabin." With other topics, the same method is pursued, with the same result — the subject use of libraries. The founding of our numerous free high schools, and their similar use of public libraries, with the frequent formation of small libraries for their own use, have wielded an in- fluence in the same direction. What is now familiarly known as university extension is really a return to the original character of the university ; but while in the middle ages the students university flocked to meet the lecturer, under the modern extension, system the lecturer leaves the seat of learning and goes out to -meet various groups of students. The two great universities of England, Cambridge and Oxford, had for two hundred years been dead, not in trespasses and sins, but in classics and theology. Except to some extent in mathematics, they had no connection with the intellectual Il8 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. life of the world. The results of European scholarship they sneered at, but had nothing better to give instead. One can imagine that the intellectual life of the English people would look elsewhere for guidance ; and, accord- ingly, as early as the year 1800 we notice the founding of the first mechanics' institute, where lectures on natural philosophy were given to the public. Though opposed by the aristocracy, the movement went on. Men like Thomas Arnold, Charles Kingsley, and Frederick Robert- son were among these lecturers to workingmen. In 1854 Frederick Denison Maurice founded the Work- ingmen's College in London, which was a long stride in the new direction of educational democracy. ,11 . . Xn England. In 1857, Oxford started local exammations throughout England for the improvement of schools. In 1867, Professor Stuart of Cambridge gave a series of lec- tures in the North of England, which involved the chief points of the modern extension system. These points, with two others since added, are : A course on one sub- ject ; a printed syllabus ; voluntary written exercises, to be corrected by the lecturer ; the class for discussion and review of the lecture ; the final, written examination. At the present time, both Oxford and Cambridge admit extension work as a part of the regular preparation for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. About fifty thousand persons in all parts of England are now attending uni- versity extension courses ; some of the most promising students having come from the mines and the docks. It should be added that the lecturers are young, enthu- siastic men, whose work is first submitted for approval to a critical college audience. In connection with this great movement should be mentioned a most important THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDUCATION. II9 offspring of it, — the college settlement, — which, while it has but little direct bearing on libraries, should never be omitted in any mention of the intellectual and social efforts of our age. In America, university extension was preceded by an even more thorough system of lyceum and popular lectures than those of England ; but they all lacked , . , . , , , In America. the consecutive subject and class-room charac- ter that forms the basis of extension work. The begin- nings of Anierican university extension may fairly be asso- ciated with Johns Hopkins University, which was opened for instruction in the centennial year, 1876. From that time to the present, one of the prime movers in the American phase of the work has been Prof. Herbert B. Adams of that university. While American conditions are very different from English, the movement seems now to be well established, and to be entering on a career of unmeasured usefulness. It is hardly necessary to add, what must be obvious to all, that such lectures upon definite subjects, with full references to books, involved an immediate pressure upon libraries to fur- nish themselves with the standard books on these sub- jects, and the result has been an entire revolution in their old haphazard methods of purchase. University extension has been called, by a somewhat unflattering comparison, the salvation army of education. It is, however, no iigure of speech, but the Chautauqua. literal fact, that the great Chautauqua move- ment is the camp meeting of education. And just as the camp meeting is the American counterpart of the English salvation army, so, under American conditions, a more natural development than university extension is the I20 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. work of the Chautauqua. At Fair Point, on Lake Chau- tauqua in western New York, a camp meeting was, in 1874, transformed into a conference for the improvement of Sunday-school work. The scope of the conference has year by year been extended until it now touches every field of educational activity. In 1878 was organized that feature of Chautauqua work which has brought it into widest note, namely, the Chautauqua literary and scien- tific circles for the encouragement of home-reading. Thousands of students all over the country are annually enrolled for a four years' course in this department. A widely circulated magazine, " The Chautauquan," is pub- lished in connection with the work of the circles. Written reports upon subjects pursued are sent to the secretary, by whom they are examined and rated. The demands of these courses have in many instances required the writing of new and special text-books. While no degrees are given, the student receiving only a certificate of work done, the beginnings so made have often led to actual college work. In other cases, where unfavorable condi- tions have prevented exclusive devotion to study, who shall estimate the gain in intellectual and moral stim- ulus to thousands of hard-working young men and women through these correspondence classes ! Nor is the Chautauqua without its closer contact with college work. Its College of Liberal Arts, under the direction of President Harper of Chicago, was designed as a summer school of college work ; there advanced students may meet leading specialists, whose summer lectures and personal advice are followed up through the year by home study and correspondence. Lastly, univer- sity extension itself was, in 1888, incorporated into the THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY I.V EDUCATION. 121 scope of Chautauquan enterprise, and much of the success of this movement in the West and South has been due to the influence radiating from Lake Chautauqua. Important work has been accompUshed by the Society for Home Study, organized in Boston. By it lists of books are sent out, books are lent, and work is super- vised by correspondence. Correspondence classes have also been established at various institutions. The vital connection between the methods of university extension and the systematic use of libraries was, in 1887, urged by Prof. Herbert B. Adams of Johns Hopkins, at the annual conference of the Ameri- ^„^ can Library Association. The suggestions of university the speaker were adopted at the public libra- ries of St. Louis, Buffalo and elsewhere, lectures being organized at these institutions, with printed syllabi and class-work, in connection with the resources of the library on the subject discussed. In fact, the modern public library is now considered as incomplete without rooms for class-work, as a modern college department would be without its own special library, so intimate is the present connection between the library and education. Before leaving this point let us emphasize the difference between the lectures of these systems and -' *' Extension " those of the ordinary "courses " and "bureaus." and The difference is that between striking one blow on each of a dozen nails, and a dozen blows on one nail. Under the ordinary lyceum plan, the individual lectures may all be good, but they have no connection with one another. In the educational courses the lectures may not be so brilliant and entertain- ing, but they have the far greater excellence of leaving ' bureau " courses. 122 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. at the end of a series a definite addition to the hearer's knowledge. Each lecture has deepened the impression of the preceding. It may fairly be said that we have in this difference just the distinction between entertain- ment and education. There can be no doubt that the recent multiplication of summer schools of instruction in the most varied depart- ments of learning has had its effect upon the demands for books made at our public libraries, and thus upon library development ; but a much more potent influ- ence in modifying the character of the books added to Reading our libraries has gone forth from the reading clubs. clubs, which of late years have become so numerous. These are generally conducted by ladies. Their subjects of study cover a wide range, but incline most to history, literature, and art. It is no uncommon thing for a library to begin six months ahead to buy books, — in some cases more than one copy of the same work, — against the demands that it is announced will be made upon its resources by the winter's work of such a reading club. Librarians, moreover, unite in regarding such purchases of books by subjects as among the most valuable additions made to their shelves. So far we have touched mainly on what was called the extension of knowledge, and its effect upon libraries. We have now to see how a powerful influence toward the intension of knowledge has equally affected the library, in particular the university library. If university exten- ssminary siou was unknown to the student of half a gen- method. eration ago, a like ignorance characterized him in regard to what is now admitted to be one of the most revolutionary forces in the modern university — the semi- rH£: PL A CM OP THE LISRARY lU EDUCATION, l"-" J nary method. Like all the greatest things, it is extremely simple, and the wonder is that it was not adopted earlier ; for the seminary method is simply the application of the laboratory principle to departments outside of physical science. If we owe university extension to England and the Chautauqua to America, we are indebted for the sem- inary method to that country which has led the world in university work in recent times, namely, to Germany. There, about the year 1840, the seminary method had its rise in the private study of the eminent historian, recently deceased at the age of ninety-one, Leopold von Ranke, who was accustomed to gather about him in his own historical workshop his ad- vanced pupils, and there discuss the sources of history — the original documents, written or printed, on which all history is based. This method had been applied earlier to philological study ; and, indeed, its name is derived from the Jesuit seminaries of the middle ages, where similar conferences between teacher and pupil were customary. But its development in our own times is directly traceable to the example of Ranke and the scholars whom he trained. We can but notice how intimately the library comes into play in seminary work. Ranke's conferences were held in his own library — - and let us remember that this wonderful collection of books is now in America, in the possession of Syracuse University. Later teachers have followed his example, or have had at their disposal separate department libraries, as at Harvard and Brown Universities ; or, as at Michigan and Cornell Universities, and in the new library of Columbia University they use, in 124 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. the main library building, rooms to which its resources are easily accessible. The seminary method is not confined to the historical courses. In fact, there is no course in which research is involved where it may not be applied ; though in all departments we may believe it to be still in its . ,. . earliest stages of development. As the teacher Application ^ ^ of seminary ceascs to bc an oracle and takes on the char- method. ^^,^g^ q£ ^ fellow-Student, like the late John Richard Green, who prophesied that he should " die learning," his instruction will more and more assume the character of a conference, in which, instead of posing as an original source of knowledge, the teacher will strive always to impart to his pupils the power to use original sources. This means that the professor will be the best librarian of his own department, and implies an increased use of books and the growing importance of the library as the center of the university's life. On the part of the student, the introduction of the seminary method involves a greater maturity of judgment and generally a better outfit for advanced work, especially in language-knowl- edge, than, in the past, has been deemed necessary. A subordinate application of the seminary principle is what is called the "topical" method, involving brief reports "Topical" by students, consisting of five or ten minute method. talks bcfore the class on subjects connected with the work of the department. The preparation for these reports necessarily involves extensive use of the library and develops valuable acquaintance with sources of information. These various divisions of one great movement are now well established. We have secondary education, we have university extension, and we have the Chautauqua ; we THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDt/CATION. I25 have also the college with its seminary method, and with each we have a new importance assigned to the library. Books are being read in a new and more vital way, in which not the form but the substance is chiefly valued. This is an unquestionable gain, as, on the whole, the entire movement both for the popularization and for the specialization of knowledge has shown itself to Dangers. be. On the other hand, however, the new edu- cation is not without its dangers. Secondary education, the training of the grammar school and the high school, sometimes breeds a conceit born of ignorance, which effect- ually blocks the path of further knowledge. We find in all walks of life men with just this dangerously little education, that Lord Bacon so warns us against, which makes them in the pride of their ignorance rise up as opponents of higher education. A different danger attends the work of the Chautauqua and the university exten- sion ; namely, the danger that in popularizing knowledge we may also cheapen it, that we may degrade it from science into mere information, or even entertainment. Standing at the other extreme, the intension of knowl- edge, as represented by the work of the modern specialist, may run into the great mistake of taking knowl- ^ ^ ^ Excessive edge out of relation to life ; so that the scholar, speciaiiza- with all his minute and thorough learning on *'°°* one subject, becomes, outside his study or lecture-room, as helpless as a German professor of my acquaintance, who was sitting near a hot stove, and could not tell what to do to avoid the heat, until he had asked his servant and received the advice to move his chair farther off. Such a divorce of learning from life is not likely to be common in America, but it represents a drawback 126 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. that in some countries has been found to attend the extreme specialization of knowledge. One natural result of the sudden rise of the library into educational prominence is the lack of efficient libra- Profession of rians. It is hardly twenty years since the new librarian, jjfg ^^g breathed into the library body, and for only half this time has systematic instruction in library economy been attainable anywhere in the world. An accomplished librarian once said to me that he did not believe there was a man in the country capable of adequately administering a public library of half a mil- lion volumes. This is an extreme statement, but it illustrates at once the difficulty of the task which con- fronts the modern librarian, and the amount of " room on top " in this comparatively new profession. It need hardly be stated that the modern definite char- acter of the library calls for a great increase of expendi- ture ; but it should be realized that the founding and endowment of libraries and library funds, as well as lesser gifts to libraries, have become a far more definite contri- bution to educational work than under former conditions. Endowment And it must be acknowledged that beneficent of libraries, people havc not been slow to realize this new field of activity. The gift of Mrs. Fiske to Cornell Uni- versity, the Newberry and Crerar bequests in Chicago, the founding and later consolidation of the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden libraries in New York, the Billings Library of the University of Vermont, the various library funds and endowments throughout the country, — all point to the appreciation by wealthy philanthropists of the fact that in the library has now been opened a new educational field second to none in importance. THE PLACE OF THE LIBRARY IN EDUCATION. 12/ BOOKS OP REFERENCE. The student may consult with advantage the following refer- ences : — Adams, H. B. Seminary Libraries and University Extension; in Johns Hop- kins University Studies, November, 1887. — The Study of History in American Colleges and Universities; in United States Bureau of Edu- cation, Circular of Information, 1887, No. 2. Dewey, M. Libraries as Related to the Educational Work of the State ; — Libraries, Address before University Convocation; in University of the State of New York, Regents' Bulletin, l8go, No. 3. Foster, F. H. Seminary Method Illustrated from Church History. New York, 1888. Green, S. S. Library Aids. New York, 1883. — Libraries and Schools. New York, 1883. Hall, E. W. The Teacher and the Library; in Report of Maine Superin- tendent of Schools, 1888. Hall, G. S., editor. Methods of Teaching History. Second edition. Bos- ton, 1889. Library Journal, school number, April, 1895. Perkins, F. B., and Mathews, W. Professorships of Books and Reading; in United States Bureau of Education, Public Libraries, Special Report, 1876. Providence Public Library Bulletin, May, 1895. Robinson, O. H. Relation of Libraries to College Work; in Library Jour- nal, 1881, pp. 97-104. Robinson, O. H., and Winsor, J. College Libraries as Aids to Instruction; in United States Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, 1880, No. I. See also the various publications of the University of the State of New York. CHAPTER IX. READING COURSES. A MARKSMAN who could placc a hundred shots in a target without missing would find the difficulty of his Pur ose '^'^^^ greatly increased if he were required to versus plant the shots in orderly succession like that method. p£ ^i^g letters on this page ; and after he had done his best, the appearance of the two targets would probably not be very different. So with reading. It is not denied that there are advantages in methodical read- ing ; but it is doubtful if they pay for the great increase of effort, or after all equal that of the variety afforded by reading in a more desultory manner. The old-fashioned courses of reading usually started the reader with history, and laid out work enough to occupy his spare moments for a year or five years, if indeed they did not mortgage his leisure for the rest of his natural life. A reader of the year of grace, 1896, who was engaged upon such a course, if he were asked whether he had read "Trilby,'' might be obliged to answer, as a New York lady did, that his reading course wouldn't get down to modern English fiction until 1900. It is not the courses themselves that are specially open to criticism, for they are often prepared with great care and scholarship ^ ; it is the use that is made of them that ' Several of the standard reading courses are included in the list of books on the subject of Reading, which forms the last chapter of this volume. 128 READING COURSES. 1 29 needs radical improvement. If undertaken blindly, just as they run, from prehistoric times to the present, such courses are not likely to do much harm — or good; for few readers ever persevere beyond the first two or three volumes. 1 In fact, if a reader is determined to read the list in order, it would be far better to read backwards and take the latest writers first. Such a method has the phil- osophical advantage of proceeding from the known to the unknown, and is likely to interest the reader at the start and lend attraction to works of remoter concern which otherwise would not have been able to hold his attention. Much better, however, because more in harmony variety with the laws of mental action, is the practice of with combining variety with system ; of delivering the system, shots at random so long as they all hit the target. Most minds indeed will derive profit from keeping several liter- ary irons in the fire at once. The mind when tired of his- tory is refreshed by a book of travels, from travels it turns to fiction, and again takes up its reading of history with renewed zest.. Or poetry, criticism, philosophy, science, sociology, may in turn afford mental food and recreation. In Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad " the author in- terrupts his narrative to give an account of his experience one night in a back-country American inn, Mark Twain's including the results of his asking the porter p°^'^''- for something to read. It was on this occasion that he asked for two candles, one to see the other by, a phrase 1 Look at a set of Bancroft's " History of the United States," or Hume's "England," on the shelves of a pubhc library. The chances are that the first third of the worlc has required rebinding, the first vohjme being nearly worn out, while the last volume is as fresh as when it left the ofHce of publi- cation. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 9 130 The Mastery of boojcs. which rivals Milton's celebrated "darkness visible." This is the concluding paragraph : — " The genius of that porter was something wonderful. He put an armful of books on the bed and said ' Good-night ' as confidently as if he knew perfectly well tliat those books were exactly my style of reading matter. And well he might. His selection covered the whole range of legitimate literature. It comprised ' The Great Con- summation,' by Rev. Dr. Cummings — theology; 'Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri' — law; 'The Complete Horse-Doctor' — medicine; 'The Toilers of the Sea,' by Victor Hugo — romance; 'The Works of William Shakspere' — poetry. I shall never cease to admire the tact and the intelligence of that gifted porter." The whole story is worth reading, not only for its humor, but also because it presents one of the most remarkable cases of real, or imputed, enthusiasm for reading ever recorded. Variety is not only the spice of reading courses, but it is also the quality by which they are adapted to the needs Individual of individual readers, and so made widely profit- tastes. able. Years of experience never quite inure the librarian to the endless variety of tastes in the matter of reading. To most of us the last two of the porter's five books are the only ones that we should ever think of opening. Yet it is safe to say that each of the other three finds every week a reader somewhere in our country. But, after all, perhaps the greatest benefit to be de- rived from variety is the intellectual health that comes from manifold information and interest. The proverb, " Beware of a man of one book," would be quite as effective if it read, " Beware of being a man of one book." Necessary as specialization is, under human limitations, to the attainment of greatness in science or scholarship, READING COURSES. I3I it is nevertheless attended by evils that are felt by every investigator. Narrowness of mental vision not only loses all outside its rajige, but lacks means of comparison to judge aright the objects within the scope of its vision. Persons who live exclusively upon rice or potatoes, which are fat-producing foods, do not grow fat. In the same way, readers who gorge themselves with a single food from the board of knowledge become only intellectual starvelings. As much error arises from one-sided knowl- edge as from ignorance itself. But there may be system even in variety ; and perhaps the best way to construct a reading course that shall be varied upon some better principle than mere caprice, is to follow a hint contained in one of Lord Bacon's most brilliant works, " The Advancement of Learn- ing." This treatise was published iifteen years before his ''Novum Orgamim," and in a manner Hint from prepares the way for that crowning work, by Bacon's "De presenting an outline of human knowledge, with "emen an investigation of the extent to which each department had been cultivated. Theology, for instance, up to Bacon's time, had been studied much more than the natural sci- ences ; since the appearance of his " Novum Organum" and largely through its impulse, the sciences have re- ceived increasing attention. Let the reader, therefore, who wishes to adapt his reading to his needs, draw up an outline map of the literary world, and note what regions he is familiar with, what ^^^^ ^j he has some knowledge of, and of what he finds human himself entirely ignorant. It is not advised that '"'°"' ^^^''' any reader should attempt, like Bacon, to take all knowl- edge for his province, though any mind must derive 132 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. benefit from a bird's-eye view of human knowledge ; but it is believed that this method will prove more constantly suggestive and helpful than any other, .and will soonest enable the mind to convert practice into instinct, and dis- pense with conscious method altogether. Such a classification, with the titles of about fifteen hun- dred valuable works, is here offered, the divisions being in Representa- the main thosc of Mr. Charles A. Cutter's " Ex- tive list. pansive Classification," which was designed for the arrangement of books in libraries. The list has been based upon the " American Library Association Catalog '' of five thousand volumes exhibited at Chicago in 1893; but variations have been freely made. The compiler has sought to give the correct dates of publication, either of the first editions or of the last important revisions. The original place of publication has also been stated, no notice being taken of reprints. Two classes of books are in general given under each division — the standard, or authoritative, works on the subject, and' the more read- able or popular books ; the former are marked by an asterisk. The classification is arranged under fourteen main divisions, to a discussion of which the rest of the present chapter will be devoted, in the hope of throwing light on the path of the reader in entering unfamiliar regions of literature. The first division, Reference Books, has already been discussed in Chapter IV., but chiefly with regard to the Reference ^^c of the cxtcnslve reference outfit of a large books. library. Something may be said here concern- ing the reader's own reference library. It should consist of all, or as many as possible, of the following classes of works, mentioned in the order of their importance : an READING COURSES. 1 33 English Dictionary (the " International " ), a Cyclopedia (Johnson's), an Atlas (" Globe Hand Atlas "), a Biograph- ical Dictionary (Lippincott's), a Gazetteer (Lippincott's, or for the last two the Century " Cyclopedia of Names " may be substituted). These books should be kept within easy reach for consultation on unfamiliar points that occur in reading. The second division, Philosophy, represents that depart- ment of human knowledge or speculation, which exhibits the utmost powers of human thought. It is, therefore, not easily capable of popular presen- ' °^°'' ''' tation ; yet no reader should be content to remain ignorant of its outlines and the general course of its development. The reading of Salter's "First Steps" and Schwegler's "History" will at least indicate to the reader whether he has any mental fitness to pursue the subject further. An entrance to the domain of philosophy is often most easily effected from the side of ethics, or the conduct of life. For such a purpose Professor Seth's volume, though somewhat technical, cannot fail to awaken an interest in any mind possessed of an aptitude for philosophy. The third division. Religion, represents such an enor- mous library of its own, and the reader's relations to it are of such a personal character, that advice • 1 T 1 • -1 Religion. m regard to readmg on this topic becomes a matter at once difficult and delicate. But certain lines of reading riiay at least be indicated. No better introduction to the general subject is needed than James Freeman Clarke's " Ten Great Religions," the first volume of which takes up the different religions separately, while the second volume shows how different doctrines have been held by the adherents of the various faiths. The scholarly and 134 '^HE MASTERY OF BOOKS. fascinating work of President White is in some senses a history both of science and religion, setting forth with the treatment of a master the slow progress of the race in the throwing off of superstition and the attainment of essential religion. The great divisions of the general sub- ject, like the Bible, Christianity, Christ, Personal Religion, and Church History, may all be studied either in elemen- tary or in exhaustive treatises. In Hymns and in Sermons are seen the relations of religion to two divisions of liter- ature. Poetry and Oratory. The attractive works devoted to Mythology need no introduction. Through them we pass to the manifold topics of interest represented by Folk-Lore, with its intimate relation to literature in Pop- ular Romances. Biography, which is the fourth division, while a form of history, is really illustrative of every department of human knowledge and activity. The young read biog- raphy for inspiration ; the mature, for instruc- tion and delight. In many libraries it is the practice to arrange works of biography with the departments illus- trated ; thus, lives of authors are put with Literature, statesmen with Political History, inventors with Industrial Arts, etc., and this method gives a serviceable hint for guidance in reading. There are many subjects whose problems and history can in no other way be rnade so real to the mind as by the biography of men representing them. The life of Faraday for chemistry, of Webster for American history, of Dr. Johnson for English literature in the eighteenth century, and of Longfellow for American literature, will be sufficient to suggest the illuminating power of biography. In the study of literature the life of an author often furnishes clews without which his writings READING COURSES. 1 35 could not be understood ; this is particularly true of the poets, whose works represent the completest form of self- expression. The reader, therefore, in whatever field of learning he may be occupied, should be mindful of the interest and profit to be derived from biography. When a course of reading is mentioned, it is usually our fifth division, or History, that is understood. Of all forms of reading, history is the one com- monly regarded as the most "improving." Yet '^'°'''' the history that was formerly written, a mere farrago of battles and intrigues, was, perhaps, the least profitable of all forms of literature. True history-writing, as now understood, is the result of the great democratic world- movement of the last hundred years, and concerns itself with people rather than with rulers, the achieve- ments of peace rather than the barren victories of war. From this modern point of view, Macaulay's famous third chapter is worth all the rest of his history, as well as all the English history that went before it. During the half -century since its publication, many "social histo- ries," written in the same spirit, have appeared, of which an excellent example is Paul Lacombe's " Short History of the French People," a book which ignores everything that the old battle histories gave, and gives everything that they ignored. History of this character, dealing with matters of permanent human concern, and rich in lessons of social welfare, is the only kind that nine readers out of ten ought ever to spend their time upon. Not all the histories cited in the following chapter are of this class, for social history has only begun to be written. But the reader can at least exercise the art of skipping upon such works as are padded with narratives of no interest to him. 136 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. The year 1894 saw the successful conclusion of the greatest work in the department of Geography that has Geography, ^"^^^ ^ceu Completed — filisde Reclus' " Nou- traveisand velle GhgrapMe Ghi^rale" a magnificently illus- description. ^j-^ted worlc in nineteen large volumes. Here, as in modern historical writing, not merely political con- ditions are presented, but the earth and its inhabitants form the author's subject matter. It is in the spirit of this work that reading in geography should be conducted, and it should go hand in hand with historical reading. What is the physical character of a country .-' What are its inhabitants, bodily, mentally, morally, spiritually ">. How has the land affected the people, and the people the land .'' How has their social life been determined by the landscape } These are some of the questions to be asked in reading geography and travels, fully to answer which may require extensive reading in departments not usually associated with geography. Bayard Taylor and Edmondo de Amicis are good exam- ples of modern travelers who observe broadly and sympa- thetically. As religion represents the relations of man to God, so Social Science represents the relations of man to his fel- sociai low men. Strictly, indeed, it includes ethics, science. which is generally regarded as a department of philosophy or of religion. Here are found the great topics of human interest represented by Political Economy, the science of national prosperity ; Political Science, with the numerous questions involved in the relations of govern- ment ; Law, in its historical, theoretical, and practical aspects ; and the dark problems that confront society in the existence of Crime and Pauperism, as well as the READING COURSES. 137 brighter side of human development contained in the achievements of Education. No better guide to this many-sided department of knowledge is needed than that given in Small and Vincent's " Introduction to the Study of Society." The reader who has mastered this volume will know what phases of the subject most attract him,- as well as the works most likely to prove serviceable. Natural Science, our ninth division, had been neglected, as we saw, before Bacon's day ; while, as a result of the impulse given by his genius, it has since been -.,.,. . . „ . , Science. Studied with increasing attention. Certainly the profoundest influences felt by thought in our cen- tury have come from natural science. Of this subject one may say with reverence, " the field is the world ; " and its harvests will not be gathered until every truth of physi- cal existence has been discovered by man. An excellent outline of the scope and spirit of modern science is afforded by Huxley's introductory volume, in the series of Science Primers. Miss Buckley's " Short History of Natural Sci- ence " is an attractive presentation of scientific achieve- ments. An interesting bond between the sciences and the In- dustrial Arts is furnished by one of the most remarkable series of fictitious works ever produced, and one industrial that could not have been produced in any age arts, previous to our own ; namely, the novels of Jules Verne. No one can understand them without some acquaintance with both the sciences and the arts, while few readers are likely to lay them down without addition to their stock of information. They stand in the same relation to these subjects as that which the best historical novels hold to history, and serve the same useful purpose of lending 138 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. interest to subjects not always in themselves attractive. As an introduction to this department, excellent service is rendered by the biographical works of Samuel Smiles. The volumes and current numbers of the " Scientific American " and its " Supplement " form a remarkable storehouse of information on all topics in the domain of industry and inventions. The Fine Arts represent a department so attractive that there are few readers that have not already formed an acquaintance with them. Guidance, rather than incitement, is here the need, and for this purpose the beginner will be well served by Goodyear's " History of Art," or the new series of College Histories now in course of publication under the direction of Pro- fessor John C. Van Dyke. The two English writers who have recently done more than any others to popular- ize art are Philip Gilbert Hamerton and John Ruskin. Biography in this department plays an important part, owing to the dependence of all art production upon the individuality of the artist. Modern processes of illustra- tion have made the study of art works more feasible by multiplying representations of the masterpieces, while engraving itself composes an important division of art. The study of foreign languages has already been dis- cussed in an entire chapter ; and though Language, or Philology, forms an important division of hu- Language. , , , . . , 11 man knowledge, it is not necessary to dwell upon its nature or its marvels. For a scientific treatment of language, the reader may turn with profit to Professor Whitney's two volumes ; while a survey of language from the standpoint of literature will be found in Professor Mathews's " Words, their Use and Abuse," READING COURSES. I39 Books on Rhetoric and Elocution are very naturally classified after language, and before literature. Rhetoric helps us to understand and make a literary use Rhetoric and of language ; elocution enables the reader to elocution, impress the listener with the full power of the language employed in any literary work. Though Literature is placed as the last division of our classification of books, it must not be supposed that no books having a claim to rank as literature have been produced in other departments. Bun- yan's " Pilgrim's Progress " was written with a distinctly religious purpose, with no thought on the part of the author of producing a contribution to literature. Hux- ley's " Physiology," though written as a school text-book, is in style and treatment a classic. It is quite possible that Macaulay's " History of England " will be judged by future generations rather as literature than as history. Of such works it may be said that when they have died to their first life of utility, they are taken up into the im- mortality of literature. But even if we exclude all works not originally coming under the head of polite Hterature, what a world of human greatness arises at the mere men- tion of the departments which literature includes, — Po- etry, Drama, Fiction, Humor, Oratory, Essays, Letters! We are transported at once into — " The sacred Place Where the greatest Dead abide ; Where grand old Homer sits In godlike state benign ; Where broods in endless thought The awful Florentine ; Where sweet Cervantes walks, A smile on his grave face ; I40 THE MASTERY OF BOOKS. Where gossips quaint Montaigne, Tlie wisest of his race ; Where Goethe loolcs through all With that calm eye of his ; Where — little seen but Light — The only Shakspere is ! " i Mighty as is the literature of knowledge, it must not be forgotten that the learning of to-day may become the ignorance of to-morrow ; while the power of the unknown ballad singers of the " Iliad " pulses in every artery of modern civilization. So much of the present volume has been devoted to a plea for the reading of pure literature, and to an attempt at guidance therein, that this division of the subject needs here no further enlargement. In case, however, there should be some who still feel impelled to ask, " Where, after all, shall I begin among the multitude of books enumerated .' " a few Choice of books for a suggcstions may be added, on the basis of the beginner, supposcd case of One wlio, though desirous of the culture to be derived from books, has not yet made a systematic acquaintance with any of the departments of human knowledge, nor indeed knows enough about any to have an interest in it. To such a reader I should en- deavor to present the attractions of literature, science, and history, through the novels of Stevenson, Verne, and Scott — one novel from each. In literature I should recommend only fiction for some time ; but in history I should try for the second book a work like Irving's " Mahomet " or "Columbus," and in science "The Modern Seven Won- ders of the World," by Kent. The narrative poems of Scott and Morris would prove an easy path from fiction I " Adsurn," by R. H. Stoddard, on the death of Thackeray. READING COURSES. I4I to other departments of literature. The reader who en- joyed Irving would be ready to take up Motley, Parkman, or Prescott, while Buckley and Smiles would be welcomed as further guides into science and the arts. The reader who had gone so far with interest would be ready for more systematic and specialized reading, in which his in- dividual tastes would have to be considered ; but he cer- tainly would be able, without difficulty, to make his own selections from a list like the following. F"inally, those who have the giving of advice in the choice of books should respect the natural desire of every reader to see the books themselves and make his own selection. It is the "speaking" character of the actual volumes, that makes the sight of them so much more attractive and helpful than the best prepared lists. What- ever value the app'ended list may contain cannot fail to be increased for the reader who is able to see the books mentioned under any given division, and make his selec- tion with the volumes before him. CHAPTER X. CLASSIFIED LIST OF BOOKS. Main Divisions. Reference Books. Social Science. Philosophy. Natural Science. Religion. Industrial Arts. Biography. Fine Arts. History. Language. Geography. Rhetoric and Elocution. Travels. AND Description. Literature. REFERENCE BOOKS. — Almanacs. Statesman's Year-Book. London. Yearly. Whitaker's Almanack. London. Yearly. World Almanac. New York. Yearly. Bibliography. Bouchot, H. The Book ; Its Printers, Illustrators, and Binders. London, 1887. De Vinne, T. L. Invention of Printing. 2d edition. New York, 1878. Putnam, G. H. Authors and their Public in Ancient Times. New York, 1893. Rogers, W. T. Manual of Bibliography. London, 189 1. Thompson, E. M. Handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography. London, 1893. Zaensdorf, J. W. Art of Bookbinding, London, 1879. 142 REFERENCE BOOKS. I43 Cyclopedias. Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia. New York. Yearly. Century Cyclopedia of Names. New York, 1894. * Encyclopsedia Britannica. Edinburgh, 1875-1889. 24 vols, and Index. — Supplement. Philadelphia, 1 885-1 889. 4 vols. Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia. New York, 1 893-1 895. 8 vols. Indexes. Fletcher, W. I., editor. American Library Association Index to General Literature. Boston, 1893. Fletcher, W. I., and Bowker, R. R., editors. Annual Literary Index, including Periodicals and Essays. New York. Yearly. Poole, W. F., and Fletcher, W. I., editors. Index to Periodical Literature [i 802-1 892]. Boston, 1 882-1 893. 3 vols. Library Science. * Cutter, C. A. Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue. 3d edition. Wash- ington, 1 89 1. Fletcher, W. I. Public Libraries in America. Boston, 1894. Lang, A. The Library. London, 1881. Library Journal. New York. Weekly. U. S. Bureau of Education. Public Libraries in the United States. Washington, 1876. Periodicals. Academy. London. Weekly. Atlantic Monthly. Boston. Monthly. Century Magazine. New York. Monthly. Forum. New York. Monthly. Harper's Magazine. New York. Monthly. Nation. New York. Weekly. Nineteenth Century. London. Monthly. Review of Reviews. New York. Monthly. Sun. New York. Daily. Times. London. Daily. * Works thus marked are standard, but usually not popular in character. 144 PHILOSOPHY. Quotations and Allusions. Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations. 9th and final edition. Bos- ton, 1 891. Brewer, E. C. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. New edition. London, 1881. Brewer, E. C. Historic Note-Book. London, 189 1. Brewer, E. C. Reader's Handbook. London, 1880. Wheeler, W. A. Noted Names of Fiction. 19th edition. Boston, 1889. PHILOSOPHY. * Erdmann, J. E. History of Philosophy. London, 1889. 3 vols. Fleming, W. Vocabulary of Philosophy. 4th edition, by H. Calder- wood. London, 1887. Knight, W., editor. Philosophical Classics for English Readers. London, 1880-1890. 15 vols. Bacon; by J, Nichol. 2 vols. Hobbes ; by C. Robertson. Berkeley; by C. Fraser. Hume; by W. Knight. Butler ; by W. L. Collins. Kant ; by W. Wallace. Descartes ; by J. P. Mahaffy. Leibniz ; by J. T. Merz. Fichte; by R. Adamson. Locke; by C. Fraser. Hamilton; by J. Veitch. Spinoza; by J. Caird. Hegel ; by E. Caird. Vico ; by R. Flint. Salter, W. M. First Steps in Philosophy. Chicago, 1893. Schwegler, A. History of Philosophy ; edited by B. E. Smith. New York, 1880. * Spencer, H. Synthetic Philosophy. London, 1862-1893. 9 vols. Mental Philosophy. Halleck, R. P. Psychology and Psychic Culture [Elementary]. New York, 1895. * James, W. Principles of Psychology. New York, I090. 2 vols. Jevons, W. S. Logic. London, 1876. *Ladd, G. T. Elements of Physiological Psychology. New York, 1887. Lombroso, C. The Man of Genius. London, 1891. RELIGION. 145 Moral Philosophy. Janet, P. Elements of Morals. New York, 1884. *Lecky, W. E. H. History of European Morals, from Augustus to Charlemagne. London, 1869. 2 vols. * Martineau, J. Types of Ethical Theory. Oxford, 1885-1886. 2 vols. Mathews, W. Getting on in the World. New edition. Chicago, 1876. Munger, T. T. On the Threshold. New edition. Boston, 189 1. *Seth, J. A Study of Ethical Principles. Edinburgh, 1894. RELIGION. Caird, J. Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. New edition. New York, 1891. Clarke, J. F. Ten Great Religions. New edition. Boston, 1886. 2 vols. Fiske, J. The Idea of God as Affected by Modern Knowledge. Boston, 1885. M'Clintock, J., and Strong, J., editors. Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theo- logical, and Ecclesiastical Literature. New York, 1867-1887. 12 vols. White, A. D. Warfare of Science. Enlarged edition. New York, 1896. Bible. * Driver, S. R. Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. Edinburgh, 1891. *Horton, R. F. Revelation and the Bible. London, 1892. *Sanday, W. Inspiration. London, 1894. English Bible. Wyclif, J. 1384. Tyndale, W. 1525-1535. Coverdale, M. 1535. King James Version. 161 1. KOOP. MAST. OF BK.N. — 10 146 RELIGION. Revised Version. 1895. Pattison, T. H. History of the Englisli Bible. Philadelphia, 1894. Christianity. Abbott, L. Evolution of Christianity. Boston, 1892. * Allen, A. V. G. Continuity of Christian Thought. Boston, 1884. * Butler, J. Analogy of Religion to the Course of Nature. London, 1736. Drummond, J. Via, Veritas, Vita; Lectures on Christianity in its most simple and intelligible form. London, 1894. Fisher, G. P. Manual of Christian Evidences. New York, 1888. *Mulford, E. Republic of God. Boston, 1884. Smith, H. B. Faith and Philosophy. London, 1878. *Toy, C. H. Judaism and Christianity. Boston, 1890. Christ. Farrar, F. W. Life of Christ. New edition. London, 1880. Hughes, T. Manliness of Christ. London, 1880. *Lidden, H. P. Divinity of Jesus Christ. London, 1867. Renan, E. Life of Jesus. London, 187 1. Seeley, J. E. Ecce Homo. London, 1865. Personal Religion. Augustine, St. Confessions ; edited by W. G. T. Shedd. New edition. Andover, 187 1. Browne, Sir T. Religio Medici ; edited by W. A. Greenhill. Lon- don, 1 88 1. Taylor, J. Holy Living and Holy Dying. London, 1650. Thomas ll Kempis. 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La Salle, and the Discovery of the Half-century of Conflict. 2 vols. Great West. Montcalm and Wolfe. 2 vols; *'Winsor, J., editor. Narrative and Critical History of America. Boston, 1884-1889. 8 vols. Canada. Bryce, G. Short History of the Canadian People. London, 1887. MacMullen, J. History of Canada. London, 1868 Mexico. Ober, F. A. Young Folks' History of Mexico. Boston, 1883. *Prescott, W. H. History of the Conquest of iVIexico. Philadelphia, 1843. 2 vols. Peru. Markham, C. R. History of Peru. London, 1892. * Prescott, W. H. History of the Conquest of Peru. Philadelphia, 1847. 2 vols. United States. — General Works. *Adams, H. History of the United States [1801-1817]. New York, 1 889-1 89 1. 9 vols. Andrews, E. B. History of the United States. New York, 1894. 2 vols. *Bancroft, G. History of the United States [1492-1789]. New York, 1883-1885. 6 vols. * Bancroft, G. History of the Formation of the Constitution. New York, 1882. 2 vols. l6o HISTORY. Fiske, J. Discovery of America. Boston, 1 892. 2 vols. Fiske, J. American Revolution. Boston, 1891. 2 vols. Fiske, J. Critical Period of American History [i 783-1 789]. Boston, 1888. Greeley, H. The American Conflict [1860-1864]. Hartford, 1864- 1867. 2 vols. Hart, A. B. Formation of the Union [i 750-1 829]. London, 1892. *Hildreth, R. History of the United States [1492-1821]. New York, 1 849-1 856. 6 vols. Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C, editors. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. New York, 1887-1889. 4 vols. Ladd, H. 0. History of the War with Mexico. New York, 1883. Lodge, H. C. Short History of the English Colonies in America. New York, 1881. *McMaster, J. B. History of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War. New York, 1 883-1 893. Vols. 1-4. * Paris, L. P. A. d'O., Comte de. History of the Civil War in America. Philadelphia, 1875-1888. 4 vols. * Rhodes, J. F. History of the United States from 1850. New York, 1893-1895. 3 vols. * Ripley, R. S. The War with Mexico. New York, 1849. 2 vols. Roosevelt, T. Naval War of 18 12. New York, 1882. *Schouler, J. History of the United States [1783-1861]. New York, 1 880-1 89 1. 6 vols. Swinton, W. Twelve Decisive Battles of the War. New York, 1867. Thwaites, R. G. The Colonies [1492-1 750]. London, 189 1. Wilson, H. Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America. Boston, 1872-1877. 3 vols. Wilson, W. Division and Reunion [1829-1889]. London, 1893. Uniled States. — Minor Divisions. * Bancroft, H. H. Works. San Francisco, 1 874-1 890. 39 vols. Alaska. Arizona and New Mexico. HISTOR Y. I-g.j British Columbia. Native Races of the Pacific States. California. 7 vols. 5 vols. California Inter-Pocula. Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado California Pastoral, North Mexican States and Texas. 2 vols. Central America. 3 vols. Northwest Coast. 2 vols. Essays and Miscellany. Oregon. 2 vols. Literary Industries. Popular Tribunals. 2 vols. Mexico. 6 vols. Utah. Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Brooks, E. S., editor. The Story of the States. Boston, 1 888-1 892. 8 vols. Kentucky ; by E. M. Connelly. New York ; by E. S. Brooks. Louisiana ; by M. Thompson. Ohio ; by A. Black. Massachusetts ; by E. E. Hale. \'ermont ; by J. L. Heaton. New Mexico ; by H. 0. Ladd. Wisconsin ; by R. G. Thwaites. Scudder, H. E., frfzVor. American Commonwealths. Boston, 1883- 1892. 14 vols. California; by J. Royce. Michigan; by T. M. Cooley. Connecticut ; by A. Johnston. Missouri ; by L. Carr. Indiana; by J. P. Dunn, Jr. New York; by E. H. Roberts. 2 vols. Kansas ; by L. W. Spring. Ohio ; by R. King. Kentucky ; by N. S. Shaler. Oregon ; by W. Barrows. Maryland; by W. H. Browne. Vermont; by R. E. Robinson. Virginia ; by J. E. Cooke. Boston, Story of; by A. Oilman. New York, 1889. Chicago, Story of; by J. Kirkland. Chicago, 1892. Nevsr England, Beginnings of ; by J. Fiske. Boston, 1 889. *New England, History of [1497-1775]; by J. G. Palfrey. Boston. 1858-1890. 5 vols. New York [City] ; by T. Roosevelt. London, 1891. West, Winning of the; by T. Roosevelt. New York, 1 889-1 896. Vols. 1-4. History of Islands. Australia, History of; by G. W. Rusden. London, 1883. 3 vols. Hawaiian People, Brief History of; by W. D. Alexander. New York, 1892. New Zealand, History of; by G. W. Rusden. London, 1883. 3 vols. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. — 11 1 62 GEOGRAPHY. GEOGRAPHY. Bartholomew, J. G. Globe Hand Atlas. London, 1892. Chisholm, G. G. Handbook of Commercial Geography. London. 1889. * Freeman, E. A. Historical Geography of Europe. London, 1881. Johnston, A. K. Royal Atlas of Modern Geography. London, 1894. Parker, F. W. How to Study Geography. New York, 1889. *Reclus, E. The Earth and its Inhabitants. New York, 1885-1895. 19 vols. *Tozer, H. F. Classical Geography. London, 1877. * Shaler, N. S., editor. The United States of America. New York, 1894. 2 vols. Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel. London, 1882- 1888. 6 vols. Africa ; by Keith Johnston. Central America, West Indies, and Asia; by A. H. Keane, edited by R. South America; by H. W. Bates. Temple. Europe; by F. W. Rudler and G. G. Australasia ; by A. R, Wallace. Chisholm. North America ; by F. V. Hayden and A. R. C. Selwyn. TRAVELS AND DESCRIPTION. Europe. Taylor, B. Byways of Europe. New York, 1869. Taylor, B. Views Afoot. New York, 1846. England. Emerson, R. W. English Traits. Boston, 1856. Hawthorne, N. Our Old Home. Boston, 1863. Miller, H. First Impressions of England. Edinburgh, 1847. Taine, H. A. Notes on England. 8th edition. New York, 1885. White, R. G. England Without and Within. Boston, 1881. TRAVELS AND DESCRIPTION. 1 63 Winter, W. Gray Days and Gold in England and Scotland. New York, 1891. France. Amicis, E. de. Studies of Paris. New York, 1879. Brownell, W. C. French Traits. New York, 1887. Hamerton, P. G. Round my House: Rural France. London, 1875. James, H., Jr. A Little Tour in France. Boston, 1884. Germany. Gould, S. B. Germany Past and Present. London, 1879. 2 vols. Seguin, L. G. The Black Forest. London, 1885. Greece. Field, H. M. Greek Islands and Turkey after the War. New York, 1885. Mahafiy, J. P. Rambles and Studies in Greece. London, 1876. Tozer, H. F. Islands of the ^Egean. Oxford, 1890. Holland. Amicis, E. de. Holland. Revised edition. New York, 1890. Italy. Howells, W. D. Italian Journeys. London, 1867. Howells, W. D. Venetian Life. New edition. Boston, 1880. Norton, C. E. Notes of Travel and Study in Italy. New edition. Boston, 1880. Story, W. W. Roba di Roma. Boston, 1862. Symonds, J. A. Sketches in Italy and Greece. London, 1874. Norway. Du Chaillu, P. B. Land of the Midnight Sun. New York, 1881. 2 vols. Russia. Brandes, G. M. C. Impressions of Russia. London, 1889. * Wallace, D. M. Russia. New edition. London, 1888. 164 TRAVELS AND DESCRIPTION. Scotland, Johnson, S. Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. London, 1775- Stevenson, R. L. Edinburgh. New edition. London, 1888. Spain. Amicis, E. de. Spain. New York, 1881. Hay, J. Castilian Days. Boston, 1871. Switzerland. Symonds, J. A., and M. Our Life in the Swiss Highlands. London, 1892. Tyndall, J. Hours of Exercise in the Alps. London, 1871. Turkey. Amicis, E. de. Constantinople. New York, 1886. * Baker, J. Turkey. London, 1876. 2 vols. Asia. * Chinese Empire, The Middle Kingdom, A Survey of the ; by S. W. Williams. New York, 1883. 2 vols. Indian Empire; by W. W. Hunter. 3d edition. London, 1893. Japan, Glimpses of Unfamiliar; by L. Hearn. Boston, 1894. 2 vols. Japan, Jinrikisha Days in; by E. R. Scidmore. New York, 1891. Japan, Out of the East; Studies in New; by L. Hearn. Boston, 1895. Oxus, Campaigning on the ; by J. A. McGahan. London, 1 874. * [Palestine] The Land and the Book ; by W. M. Thomson., New York, 1880-1885. 3 vols. Siberia and the Exile System ; by G. Kennan. New York, 1891. 2 vols. Siberia, Tent Life in; by G. Kennan. New York, 1870. Africa, Africa, Actual ; by F. Vincent. New York, 1895. [Central Africa] How I found Livingstone ; by H. M. Stanley. New York, 1 87 2. TRAVELS AND DESCRIPTION. 1 65 [Central Africa] In Darkest Africa; by H. M. Stanley. New York, 1890. [Central Africa] Through the Dark Continent; by H. M. Stanley. New York,. 1878. 2 vols. Morocco; by E. de Amicis. New York, 1882. Nile, A Thousand Miles up the; by A. B. Edwards. 2d edition. London, 1881. Nile Notes of a Howadji ; by G. W. Curtis. New York, 1851. North America Astoria; by W. Irving. New York, 1836. Canoe and Saddle; by T. Winthrop. New York, 1862. Cape Cod; by H. D. Thoreau. Boston, 1865. Labrador Coast; by A. S. Packard. New York, 1891. Louisiana, Creoles of ; by G. W. Cable. New edition. New York, 1886. Maine Woods; by H. D. Thoreau. Boston, 1864. ■Mexico, Old, and Her Lost Provinces; by W. H. Bishop. New York, 1883. Mexico, Resources and Development of; by H. H. Bancroft. San Francisco, 1894. Mexico, White Umbrella in; by F. H. Smith. Boston, 1889. New England Coast, Nooks and Corners of the ; by S. A. Drake. New York, 1875. [Newport] Oldport Days; by T. W. Higginson. Boston, 1873. Oregon Trail; by F. Parkman. Boston, 1849. Plains, My Life on the ; by G. A. Custer. New York, 1875. United States, Civilization in the; by M. Arnold. Boston, r888. South America. Andes of the Equator, Travels amongst the Great ; by E. Whymper. London, 1891. Brazil, Journey in; by L. and E. C. Agassiz. Boston, 1867. Caribbees, Camps in the; by F. A. Ober. Boston, 1886. 1 66 SOCIAL SCIENCE. Spanish American Republics; by T. Child. New York, 1891. West Indies, Two Years in the French ; by L. Hearn. New York, 1890. Oceans. Bird, I. L. Hawaiian Archipelago. 2d edition. New York, 1876. Cook, Capt. J. Three Famous Voyages Round the World [1768- 1779]. New York, 1889. Dana, R. B..,Jr. Two Years before the Mast. New edition. Bos- ton, 1885. . Keely, R. N., Jr., and Davis, G. G. In Arctic Seas. Philadelphia, 1892. Kingston, W. H. G., and Frith, H. Notable Voyages, from Columbus to Nordenskiold. London, 1884. SOCIAL SCIENCE. Small, A. W., and Vincent, G. E. Introduction to the Study of Society. New York, 1894. * Spencer, H. Descriptive Sociology. London, 1873-188 1. 8 vols. * Spencer, H. Principles of Sociology. London, 1877-1885. 2 vols. * Spencer, H. Study of Sociology. London, 1873. *Ward, L. P. Dynamic Sociology. New York, 1883. * Ward, L. P. Psychic Factors of Civilization. Boston, 1893. Poverty and Crime. Booth, W. In Darkest England. London, 1890. Ellis, H. The Criminal. London, 1890. George, H. Progress and Poverty. New York, 1880. Riis, J. A. How the Other Half Lives. New York, 1890. Riis, J. A. The Children of the Poor. New York, 1892. Warner, A. G. American Charities. New York, 1894. Education. Arnold, M. Higher Schools and Universities in Germany. London, 1874. SOCIAL SCIENCE. 1 67 Frbbel, F. Education of Man; from the German, by W. N. Hail- mann. New York, 1887. Hamerton, P. G. The Intellectual Life. London, 1873. Mahaffy, J. P. Old Greek Education. London, 188 1. Painter, F. V. N. History of Education. New York, 1886. Pestalozzi, J. H. Leonard and Gertrude ; translated by G. E. Chan- ning. Boston, 1885. Roark, R. N. Psychology in Education. New York, 1895. Smiles, S. Self-Help. London, 1859. Spencer, H. Education. London, 1878. White, E. E. Elements of Pedagogy. New York, 1886. White, E. E. School Management. New York, 1894. Woman. Ellis, H. Man and Woman. London, 1894. Higginson, T. W. Women and Men. New York, 1888. Mill, J. S. Subjection of Women. London, 1869. Political Economy. Bowker, R. R. Economics for the People. New York, 1886. Ingram, J. K. History of Political Economy. London, 1888. Laughlin, J. L. Elements of Political Economy. New York, 1887, Letoumeau, C. Property ; Its Origin and Development. London, 1892. * Marshall, A. Principles of Economics. London, 1890. Vol. i. *Mill, J. S. Principles of Political Economy. London, 1848. 2 vols. * Palgrave, R. H. I. Dictionary of Political Economy. London, 1894. Vol. I. * Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations ; edited by J. S. Nicholson. London, 1884. Production. Booth, C, editor. Life and Labor of the People of London, Lon- don, 1 892-1 893. 4 vols. 1 68 SOCIAL SCIENCE. Cunningham, W. Growth of English Industry and Commerce dur- ing the Middle Ages. London, 1882. Ely, R. T. Labor Movement in America. New York, 1 886. Howell, G. Conflicts of Capital and Labor. 2d edition. London, 1890. Rogers, J. E. T. Six Centuries of Work and Wages ; abridged by W. P. D. Bliss. New York, 1891. Commerce. Gibbins, H. de B. , History of Commerce in Europe. London, 1891. Hadley, A. T. Railroad Transportation. New York, 1885. Money. Andrews, E. B. An Honest Dollar. Hartford, 1894. * Jevons, W. S. Money and the Mechanism of Exchange. London, 1875- * Walker, F. A. Money. New York, 1878. Taxation. Cossa, L. Taxation. New York, 1888. Ely, R. T., and Finley, J. H. Taxation in American States and Cities. New York, 1888. Taussig, F. W. Tariff History of the United States. New York, 1888. Political Science. *Amos, S. Science of Politics. London, 1883. Ely, R. T. French and German Socialism in Modern Times. New York, 1883. Kirkup, T. Inquiry into Socialism. London, 1888. Lalor, J. J., editor. Cyclopaedia of Political Science. New York, 1881-1884. Mackay, T., editor. A Plea for Liberty. London, 1891. Mill, J. S. On Liberty. New York, 1859. Morris, W. Signs of Change. London, 1888. Wilson, W. The State. Boston, 1889. NATURAL SCIENCE. 1 69 National Institutions. * Andrews, E. B. Brief Institutes of Constitutional History, English and American. Boston, 1886. * Andrews, I. W. Manual of the Constitution of the United States. Revised edition. New York, 1888. Bryce, J. The American Commonwealth. Revised edition. Lon- don, 1 893-1 895. 2 vols. Dilke, C. W. Problems of Greater Britain. London, 1890. Eaton, D. B. Civil Service in Great Britain. New York, 1879. Fiske, J. American Political Ideas. New York, 1885. Fiske, J. Civil Government in the United States. Boston, 1890. Freeman, E. A. Growth of the English Constitution. London, 1872. Hosmer, J. K. Short History of Anglo-Saxon Freedom. New York, 1890. Johnston, A. History of American Politics. New York, 1879. Nordhoff, C. Politics for Young Americans. New York, 1875. Peterman, A. L. Elements of Civil Government. New York, 1896. Wilson, W. Congressional Government. Boston, 1885. Winchester, B. The Swiss Republic. Philadelphia, 1891. Law. Black, H. C. Dictionary of Law. St. Paul, 1891. *HadIey, J. Introduction to Roman Law. New York, 1873. * Holland, T. E. Elements of Jurisprudence. 6th edition. Oxford, 1893. *Lea, H. C. Superstition and Force. Philadelphia, 1866. * Maine, H. S. International Law. London, 1888. Parsons, T. Political, Personal, and Property Rights of Citizens of the United States. Hartford, 1874. NATURAL SCIENCE. Buckley, A. B. Short History of Natural Science. London, 1889. Huxley, T. H. Science Primers : Introductory. London, 1880, I/O NATURAL SCIENCE. Lubbock, J. Fifty Years of Science. London, 1890. Proctor, R. A. Light Science for Leisure Hours. New York, 1873. Periodicals. Nature. London. Weekly. Popular Science Monthly. New York. Monthly. Science. New York. Weekly. * Science Progress. London. Monthly. Scientific American, and Supplement. New York. Weekly. Mathematics. Abbott, E. A. Flatland ; a Romance of Many Dimensions. Lon- don, 1884. Cajori, F. History of Mathematics. New York, 1894. Davies, C. Nature and Utility of Mathematics. New York, 1873. Davies, C, and Peck, W. G. Mathematical Dictionary. New York, rSss. De morgan, A. Study and Difficulties of Mathematics. London, 1830. Physics. *Goodeve, T. M. Manual of Mechanics. London, 1886. * Stewart, B. Conservation of Energy. London, 1873. * Stewart, B. Physics. New edition. London, 1878. Thurston, R. H. Heat as a Form of Energy. Boston, 1890. Tyndall, J. Six Lectures on Light. London, 1873. Tyndall, J. Sound. London, 1867. Chemistry. Clarke, F. W. Elements of Chemistry. New York, 1895. Faraday, M. Chemical History of a Candle. London, i86i. Storer, F. H., and Lindsay, W. B. Elementary Manual of Chemistry. New York, 1 894. * Watts, H. Dictionary of Chemistry. Revised by H. F. Morley and M, M. P. Muir. London, 1 888-1 894. 4 vols, NATURAL SCIENCE. 171 Astronomy. Ball, R. S. Story of the Heavens. London, 1886. Gierke, A. M. Popular History of Astronomy. Edinburgh, 1885. Langley, S. P. The New Astronomy. New Yorlc, 1884. Proctor, R. A. Other Worlds than Ours. London, 1870. Serviss, G. P. Astronomy with an Opera-glass. New York, 1888. Natural History. Bates, H. W. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. London, 1863. Belt, T. The Naturalist in Nicaragua. London, 1873. Burroughs, J. Locusts and Wild Honey. Boston, 1879. Darwin, C. Journal during Voyage round the World. London, 1884. Thoreau, H. D. Excursions. Boston, 1863. Thoreau, H. D. Walden. Boston, 1854. Wallace, A. R. Island Life. London, i88o. Wallace, A. R. The Malay Archipelago. London, 1869. White, G. Natural History of Selborne. London, 1789. Geology. Agassiz, L. Geological Sketches. Boston, 1 866-1 876. 2 vols. Dana, J. D. Geological Story Briefly Told. New edition. New York, 1895. *Dana, J. D. Manual of Geology. 4th edition. New York, 1895. *Dana, E. S. System of Mineralogy. 6th edition. New York, 1892. Geikie, A. Geology. London, 1872. Le Conte, J. Elements of Geology. New York, 1878. . Physical Geography. Agassiz, A. Three Cruises of the Blake. London, 1888. *Ferrel, W. Popular Treatise on Winds. New York, 1889. Hinman, R. Eclectic Physical Geography. New York. 1888. •Marsh, G. P. Earth as Modified by Human Action. New York, 1874. 1/2 NATURAL SCIENCE. Reclus, E. Descriptive History of the Earth. London, 187 1. 2 vols. Shaler, N. S. Aspects of the Earth. New York, 1889. Tarr, R. S. Physical Geography. New Yorlc, 1895. Waldo, F. Elements of Meteorology. New York, 1896. Botany, Apgar, A. C. Trees of the Northern United States. New York, 1892. Bailey, L. H., Jr. Talks Afield. Boston, 1885. Bessey, C. E. Essentials of Botany. New York, 1884. Chapman, A. W. Flora of the Southern States. 2d edition. New York, 1883. Coulter, J. M. Manual of the Botany of the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1885. Dana, Mrs. W. S. How to Know the Wild Flowers. New York, 1893. Dana, Mrs. W. S. Plants and Their Children. New York, 1896. Gray, A. Manual of Botany of Northern United States. 8th edition. New York, 1867. Gray, A. School and Field Book of Botany. New York, 1887. Jackson, J. Through Glade and Mead. Worcester, 1894. Biology. Brooklyn Ethical Association. Evolution ; Popular Lectures. Brook- lyn, 1 89 1. * Darwin, C. Descent of Man. London, 1871. * Darwin, C. Origin of Species. London, 1859. 2 vols. *Lankester, E. R. Advancement of Science. London, 1890. *Osborn, H. F. From the Greeks to Darwin. New York, 1894. * Sedgwick, W. T., and Wilson, E. B. General Biology. 2d edition. New York, 1895. Zoology. Agassiz, L. Methods of Study in Natural History. Boston, 1863. Comstock, J. H., and A. B. Manual for the Study of Insects. Ithaca, 1895. NATURAL SCIENCE. 1 73 Darwin, C. Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, London, 1881. Goode, G. B. American Fishes. Boston, 1887. Heilprin, A. Animal Life of Our Seashore. Philadelphia, 1888. Lubbock, J. Ants, Bees, and Wasps. London, 1882. Lubbock, J. On the Senses, Instincts, and Intelligence of Animals. London, 1888. Needham, J. G. Elementary Lessons in Zoology. New York, 1896. Packard, A. S. Zoology. New York, 1889. Romanes, G. J. Animal Intelligence. London, 1882. Romanes, G. J. Mental Evolution in Animals. London. 1883. Stearns, W. A. New England Bird Life ; edited by E. Coues. Bos- ton, 1881-1883. 2 vols. Torrey, B. Birds in the Bush. Boston, 1885. Anthropology. Brinton, D. G. Races and Peoples. New York, 1890. Joly, N. Man before Metals. New York, 1883. Leland, C. G. Gypsies. Boston, 1882. Lubbock, J. Prehistoric Times, London, 1865. Taylor, I. Origin of the Aryans. London, 1889. Medical Science. Atkinson, E. Treatise upon the Science of Nutrition. Springfield, Mass., 1892. Blaikie, W. How to get Strong. New York, 1879. Checkley, E. Natural Method of Physical Training. Brooklyn, 1890. Diinglison, R, Dictionary Of Medical Science. 21st edition. Phila- ,; delphia, 1894.; - ..... * ■ Durham, W. Food Physiology. London, 1891. Fotiiergili; J. M. Maintenance of Health. London, 1882. Huxley, T. H. Lessons in Elementary Physiology. London, 1866. Mitchell, S. W. Doctor and Patient. Philadelphia, 1888. 174 INDUSTRIAL ARTS. Thompson, H. Food and Feeding. 3d edition. London, 1884. Woodhead, G. S. Bacteria and their Products. London, 1891. INDUSTRIAL ARTS. Kent, C. Modern Seven Wonders of the World. London, 1890. Routledge, R. Discoveries and Inventions of the 19th Century. London, 1883. Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts. New York, 1892. Agriculture. Crozier, W., and Henderson, P. How the Farm Pays. New York, 1884. Elliott, J. R. American Farms. London, 1890. Henderson, P. Gardening for Profit. New York, 1893. Roe, E. P. Success with Small Fruits. New York, 1880. Storer, P. H. Agriculture in Its Relations with Chemistry. New York, 1887. 2 vols. Electricity. *Larden, W. Electricity. London, 1887. Lodge, 0. J. Modern Views of Electricity. London, 1889. Mendenhall, T. C. A Century of Electricity. New edition. Bos- ton, 1890. * Thomson, Sir W. Electricity, Heat, Electro-Magnetism. Lon- don, 1890. Tunzelmann, G. W. de. Electricity in Modern Life. London, 1889. Engineering. Baumeister, R. Cleaning and Sewerage of Cities. New York, 1 891. Billings, J. S. Principles of Ventilation and Heating. New York, 1884. Clarke, T. C, and others. The American Railway. London, 1889. * Engineering. London. Weekly.. * Engineering News. New York. Weekly. INDUSTKIAL ARTS. I75 Jeans, J. S. Waterways and Water Transport in Different Coun- tries. London, 1890. *Mahan, D. H. Civil Engineering. Revised edition. New Yorlc, 1868. Pennsylvania University. Move for Better Roads. Pliiladelphia, 1891. Raymond, W. G. Surveying. New Yorlc, 1896. Wright, A. W. American Street Railways. New York, 1888. Mechanical Arts. Hodgson, F. T. Practical Carpentry. London, 1883. Imray, J., and Biggs, C. H. First Principles of Mechanical Engi- neering. London, 1892. Knight, E. H. American Mechanical Dictionary. Boston, 1872- 1883. 4 vols. Napier, J. Manufacturing Arts in Ancient Times. London, 1874. Rose, J. Complete Practical Machinist. Philadelphia, 1876. Thurston, R. H. History of the Growth of the Steam Engine. New York, 1878. Military Arts. Dodge, T. A. Gustavus Adolphus ; a History of the Art of War [378-1712]. Boston, 1895. Maurice, J. F. Balance of Military Power in Europe. New York, 1888. Maurice, J. F. War. London, 1891. VioUet-le-Duc, E. E. Annals of a Fortress. London, 1875. Wilhelm,T. Military Dictionary. Revised edition. Philadelphia,! 88 r. Nautical Arts. Brooks, E. S. Story of the American Sailor. Boston, 1888. Froude, J. A. English Seamen of the Sixteenth Century. London, 1895. Hamersley, L. R. Naval Encyclopedia. Philadelphia, 1 881. *Mahan, A. T. Influence of Sea Power upon History. Boston, 1890. * Mahan, A. T. Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire. Boston, 1893. 2 vols. Preble, G. H. Chronological History of Steam Navigation. Phila- delphia, 1883. 176 FINE A Jits. FINE ARTS. Chesneau, E. Education of the Artist. London, 1886. Clement, C. E. Handbook of Legendary and Mytliological Art. I3tli edition. Boston, 1881. Goodyear, W. H. History of Art. New York, 1888. Hamerton, P. G. Graphic Arts. London, 1882. Lacroix, P. Arts in the Middle Ages. London, 1875-1880. 5 vols. Liibke, W. Outlines of the History of Art. 3d edition. London, 1875. Ruskin, J. Lectures on Art. Oxford, 1870. Taine, H. A. Lectures on Art. New edition. New York, 1876. Architecture. Longfellow, W. P. P. Cyclopaedia of Architecture, New York, 1895. Moore, C. H. Development and Character of Gothic Architecture. New York, 1890. Horton, C. E. Historical Studies of Church Building in the Middle Ages. New York, 1880. Parker, J. H. Introduction to Gothic Architecture. 8th edition. Oxford, 1888. Ruskin, J. Seven Lamps of Architecture. London, 1849. Ruskin, J. Stones of Venice. London, 1851-1853. 3 vols. Statham, H. H. Architecture for General Readers. New York, 1895. Viollet-le-Duc, E. E. Habitations of Man in all Ages. London, 1876. Sculpture. Liibke, W. History of Sculpture. New edition. London, 1878. 2 vols. Ruskin, J. Aratra Pentelici : Elements of .Sculpture. London, 1880. PAI-N'TIN'G. *Champlin, J. D.,/r., and Perkins, C. C. Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings. New York, 1887. 4 vols. FINE ARTS. 177 Heaton, Mrs. C. Concise History of Painting. London, 1873. Hunt, W. M. Talks on Art. Boston, 1875-1883. 2 vols. Ruskin, J. Modern Painters. London, 1843-1860. 5 vols. Engraving. Hamerton, P. 6. Etching and Etchers. London, 1875. Woodberry, G. E. History of Wood-Engraving. New Yorlc, 1883. Photography. Black, A. Photography Indoors and Out. Boston, 1893. Harrison, W. J. History of Photography. London, 1887. Wood, H. T. Modern Methods of Illustrating Books. London, 1887. Decoration. Dtesser, C. Principles of Decorative Design. London, 1873. Leland, C. G. . Minor Arts : Porcelain Painting, Wood-Carving, Mo- saic Work. New York, 1880. Meyer, F. S. Handbook of Ornament. New York, 1892. Prime, W. C. Pottery and Porcelain. New York, 1877. Music. Elson, L. C. Theory of Music. Boston, 1890. Gow, G. C. Structure of Music. New York, 1895. Mathews, W. S. B. How to understand Music. Philadelphia, 1880. Naumann, E. History of Music. London, 1886. TJpton, G. P. Standard Cantatas. Chicago, 1888. Upton, G. P. Standard Operas. Chicago, 1886. Upton, G. P. Standard Oratorios. Chicago, 1887. Upton, G. P. Standard Symphonies. Chicago, 1889. Amusements; Doran, J. Annals of the English Stage. London, 1887. 3 vols. Hoyle, E. The Modern Hoyle. London, 1887. KOOP. MAST. OF BKS. —12 178 LANGUAGE'. Staunton, H., and Wormald, E. B. Laws and Practice of Chess. London, 1881. Thompson, M. The Witchery of Archery. New York, 1878. Walton, I. Compleat Angler ; edited by G. W. Bethune. New York, 1888. 2 vols. Winter, W. Shadows of the Stage. New York, 1 892-1 895. 3 vols. LANGUAGE. Peile, J. Phifology. London, 1877. Whitney, W. D. Language and the Study of Language. New York, 1867. Whitney, W. D. Life and Growth of Language. New York, 1875. English Language. Baskervill, W. M., and Sewell, J. W. English Grammar. New York, 1896. Corson, H. Primer of English Verse. Boston, 1892. Lounsbury, T. E.; History of the English Language. New York, 1879- Skeat, W. W. Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 2d edition. London, 1893. Smith, C. J. Synonyms Discriminated. London, 1871. Sweet, H. Short Historical English Grammar. Oxford, 1893. Webster, N. International Dictionary of the English Language. Springiield, Mass., 1894. Foreign Languages. Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; by J. Bosworth, edited by T. N. Toller. Oxford, 1882-1887. Parts 1-4. Deutsche Grammatik ; by J. C. A. Heyse, edited by Otto Lyon. Hanover, 1886. French Dictionary, International English and; by L. Smith, H. Hamilton, and E. Legros. London, 1869. RHETORIC AND ELOCUTION. 179 German and English Dictionary, Compendious ; by W. D. Whitney. New Yorlc, 1877. Grammaire compare de la langue fran9aise ; by C. Ayer. Paris, 1885. Greek-English Lexicon ; by H. D. Liddell and R. Scott. 7th edi- tion. London, 1883. Greek Grammar ; by J. Hadley ; revised by F. De F. Allen. New York, 1884. Italian and English Dictionary; by J. Millhouse; edited by Bracci- forti. London, 1889. 2 vols. Italian Grammar; by C. H. Grandgent. Boston, 1887. Latin Dictionary, Harper's ; by C. T. Lewis and C. Short. New York, 1879. Latin Language, Grammar of the ; by A. Harkness. New York, 1881. Old English Grammar; by E. Sievers. 2d edition. Boston, 1887. Spanish and English Languages, Pronouncing Dictionary of the ; by M. Velasquez de la Cadena. New edition. Lontion, 1870. Spanish Language, Grammar of the Modern; by W. I. Knapp. Boston, 1882. RHETORIC AND ELOCUTION. Legouve, E. Reading as a Fine Art. Boston, 1887. Murdoch, J. E. Analytic Elocution. New York, 1884. Quackenbos, J. D. Practical Rhetoric. New York, 1896. Spencer, H. Philosophy of Style. New York, 1872. Wendell, B. English Composition. New York, 1891. Warman, E. B. The Voice and How to Train It. Boston, 1890. LITERATURE. General Works. Botta, Mrs. A. C. L. Handbook of Universal Literature. New edi- tion. Boston, 1884. I.S'O LITERA TURK. *Hallam, H. Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th- 17th Centuries. 4th edition. London, 1854. 3 vols. Lacroix, P. Science and Literature in the Middle Ages and Renais- sance. London, 1877. Longfellow, H. W. Poets and Poetry of Europe. Philadelphia, 1845. Mathews, W. Oratory and Orators. Chicago, 1879. Sears, L. History of Oratory. Chicago, 1896. Warren, F. M. History of the Novel. New York, 1895. English Literature. *Allibpne, S. A. Critical Dictionary of English Literature. Phila- delphia, 1858-1891. 3 vols.; and Supplement, 2 vols. Brooke, S. English Literature. New edition. New York, 1894. Galton, A., editor. English Prose, from Maundeville to Thackeray. London, 1888. *Jusserand, J. J. Literary History of the English People. New York, 1895. Vol. I. Matthews, B. Introduction to American Literature. New York,i896. Richardson, C. F. American Literature, 1607-1885. New York, 1 886-1 889. 2 vols. Underwood, F. H. Handbook of English Literature: British Authors — American Authors. Boston, 1871-1872. 2 vols. Watkins, M. C. American Literature. New York, 1895. Poetry. *Courthope, W. J. History of English Poetry. New York, 1895. Vol. I. Gummere, F. B., editor. Old English Ballads. Boston, 1894. Palgrave, F. T., editor. Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrical Poems. London, 186 1. Stedman, E. C. Poets of America. Boston, 1885. Stedman, E. C. Victorian Poets. 13th edition. Boston, 1887. Stedman, E. C, editor. Victorian Anthology. Boston, 1895. Ward, T. H., editor. English Poets, a Selection. London, 1880. 4 vols. LITERATURE. l8l [As the authors enumerated under English literature are so many, and complete lists and critical estimates of their works so accessible, it seems sufficient here to indicate the date of each author, and the titles of their leading works. Where an author's name appears under more than one division of English Literature, only such works as are appropriate to the subject are given under each division.] Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. 1836- . Mercedes ; Wyndham Towers. Arnold, Sir Edwin. 1832- . Light of Asia; Indian Song of Songs ; Light of the World. Arnold, Matthew. 1822-1888. Empedocles on Etna; Merope ; Sohrab and Rustum ; Tristram and Iseult. Browning, ^rj. Elizabeth Barrett. 1806-1861. Aurora Leigh; Son- nets from the Portuguese ; Casa Guidi Windows. Browning, Robert. 1812-1889. Bordello; Pippa Passes ; A Blot on the 'Scutcheon ; Men and Women ; Dramatis Personae ; The Ring and the Book ; Dramatic Idyls. Bryant, William Cullen. 1 794-1878. Thanatopsis ; To a Water- fowl ; A Forest Hymn ;' The Flood of Years, Burns, Robert. 1759-1796. Tam o' Shanter ; Twa Dogs; Cotter's Saturday Night. Byron, George Noel Gordon, Zo?'a?. 1 788-1 824. Childe Harold ; He- brew Melodies; Don Juan ; Cain. Campbell, Thomas. 1777-1844. Lochiel's Warning ; Hohenlinden ■, Ye Mariners of England; Pleasures of Hope. Chaucer, Geoffrey. 1340 (?) -1400. House of Fame; Troilus and Cressida ; Legend of Good Women ; Canterbury Tales. Clough, Arthur Hugh. 1819-1861. Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich ; Amours de Voyage ; Dipsychus. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. 1 772-1834. Ancient Mariner ; Christabel. Cowper, William. 1731-1800. The Task ; John Gilpin. Dryden, John. 1 631 -1700. Absalom and Achitophel ; Annus Mi- rabilis ; Alexander's Feast. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. 1803-1882. The Sphinx; The Problem; May-Day ; Threnody. Goldsmith, Oliver. 1728-1774. Deserted Village ; Traveller. 1 8 2 LITER A TURE. Halleck, Fitz-Greene. 1 790-1 867. Marco Bozzaris; Burns; Fanny. Harte, Francis Bret. 1839- . Heathen Chinee ; Jim ; Thompson of Angel's. Hay, John. 1838- . Jim Bludso ; Little Breeches. Herrick, Robert. 1591-1674. Hesperides. Holmes, Oliver Wendell. 1809-1894. Old Ironsides; The Cham- bered Nautilus ; The Last Leaf ; The Wonderful " One-Hoss Shay ; " The Voiceless. Jackson, Afr.y. Helen Fiske Hunt. 1831-1885. Spinning; The Way to Sing. Keats, John. 1795-1821. Endymion; Hyperion; Ode on a Grecian Urn. Lanier, Sidney. 1 842-1 881. Centennial Ode; Hymns of the Marshes ; Revenge of Hamish ; Psalm of the West. Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. 1807-1882. Building of the Ship; Evangeline; Hiawatha; Courtship of Miles Standish ; Christus; Michael Angelo. Lowell, James Russell. 1819-1891. Biglow Papers; Cathedral; Vision of Sir Launfal ; Commemoration Ode. Milton, John. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained; Comus ; Samson Agonistes. Morris, William. 1834- . Earthly Paradise; Jason; Sigurd the Volsung. Poe, Edgar Allan. 1811-1849. The Raven; The Bells; Ulalume ; Annabel Lee. Pope, Alexander. 1 688-1 744. Essay on Man; Rape of the Lock; Essay on Criticism ; Satires ; Epistles. Scott, Sir Walter. 1771-1832. Lay of the Last Minstrel; Mar- mion; Lady of the Lake. Shakspere, William. 1564-1616. Venus and Adonis; Lucrece; Sonnets. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. 1792-1822. Prometheus Unbound; Alas- tor; TheCenci; Revolt of Islam ; Adonais ; Ode to a Skylark. Spenser, Edmund. 1552-1599. Shepherd's Calendar ; Faerie Queene; Epithalamlum. LITERATURE. 1 83 Stedman, Edmund Clarence. 1833- . John Brown; The Door- step ; Pan in Wall Street ; The Blameless Prince. Stoddard, Richard Henry. 1825- . The Fisher and Charon ; The Dead Master ; The Hymn to the Sea ; Adsum ; The King's Bell. Swinburne, Algernon Charles. 1837- . Atalanta in Calydon ; Erechtheus ; Chastelard ; Mary Stuart ; Bothwell. Taylor, Bayard. 1825-1878. Picture of St. John; The Prophet; Masque of the Gods; Lars ; Deukalion. Tennyson, Alfred. 1809-1892. Locksley Hall; The Princess; In Memoriam ; Maud ; Idylls of the King ; Enoch Arden ; Queen Mary ; Harold ; Becket. Watson, William. 1855- . The Prince's Quest ; Wordsworth's Grave ; The Purple East. Whitman, Walt. 1819-1892. Leaves of Grass; Drum Taps; Cen- tennial Songs. Whittier, John Greenleaf. 1807-1892. Voices of Freedom; Snow- Bouiid ; Tent on the Beach ; Maud Muller ; The Reformer. Woodberry, George Edward. 1855- . The North Shore Watch. Wordsworth, William. 1 770-1 850. Prelude ; Excursion ; Laodamia ; We are Seven ; Intimations of Immortality. Drama. Dowden, E. Shakespeare ; a Critical Study of his Mind and Art. London, 1875. Gervinus, G. G. Shakespeare Commentaries. London, 1863. 2 vols. Symonds, J. A. Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama. London, 1884. Ward, A. W. English Dramatic Literature. London, 1875. 2 vols. Beaumont, Francis. 1585-1615. Written in conjunction with Fletcher: Philaster ; Thierry and Theodoret ; Maid's Tragedy. Bulwer, Edward George Earle Lytton, Lord Lytton. 1 805-1 873. Lady of Lyons ; Richelieu. Fletcher, John. 1576-1625. Faithful Shepherdess; Two Noble Kinsmen; Bonduca ; Beggar's Bush; Elder Brother. 1 84 LITER A TURE. Goldsmith, Oliver. 1 728-1 774. Good-Natured Man; She Stoops to Conquer. Jonson, Ben. 15 74-1 63 7. Every Man in his Humour; Every Man out of his Humour ; Sejanus ; Catiline ; Volpone ; Silent Woman ; Alchemist. Marlowe, Christopher. 1564 (?) -1593. Doctor Faustus ; Edward II.; Tamburlaine ; Jew of Malta. Shakspere, William. 1 564-1 61 6. Histories, comedies, and trage- dies. The Globe edition presents the uncorrected text. The Variorum edition contains the fullest commentary, but has been completed for only a few plays. The best edition for study of the text is the Cambridge Shakespeare. For general reading the Harvard edition of Hudson, and the Friendly edition of Rolfe, are especially to be commended. The most important plays are conveniently given in the Eclectic English Classics. Sheridan, Richard Brinsley Butler. 1751-1816. Rivals; School for Scandal; Critic. Fiction. Johnson, E. R., editor. Little Classics. Boston, 1874- 1880. 18 vols. Lanier, S. The English Novel and the Principle of Its Develop- ment. New York, 1883. Tuckerman, B. History of English Prose Fiction. New York, 1882. Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. 1836- . Marjorie Daw; Prudence Palfrey ; Stillwater Tragedy. Austen, Jane. 1775-18 17. Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Preju- dice ; Northanger Abbey. Barr, Mrs. Amelia Edith Huddleston. 1831- . Jan Vedder's Wife ; Daughter of Fife ; Remember the Alamo. Beckford, William. 1 760-1844. Vathek. Bellamy, Edward. 1850- . Looking Backward; Miss Luding- ton's Sister. Besant, Walter. 1838- . All Sorts and Conditions of Men; Children of Gibeon ; For Faith and Freedom, LITERATURE. 1 85 Black, William. 1841- . Princess of Thule ; Judith Shake- speare; Madcap Violet; Green Pastures and Piccadilly. Blackmore, Richard Doddridge. 1825- . Lorna Doone ; Mary Annerly. Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth. 1848-1895. Falconberg ; Gunnar ; Daughter of the Philistines. Bronte, Charlotte. 1816-1855. Jane Eyre ; Shirley. Bulwer, Edward George Earle Lytton, Lord Lytton. 1805-1873. Caxtons ; Last Days of Pompeii ; Harold ; My Novel. Bunyan, John. 1 628-1 688. Pilgrim's Progress ; Holy War. Burnett, Mrs. Frances Eliza Hodgson. 1849- . That Lass o' Lowrie's ; Little Lord Fauntleroy. I Cable, George Washington. 1844- Bonaventure; Dr. Sevier; Grandissimes. Caine, Thomas Henry Hall. 1853- . Deemster; Manxman. Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. 1835- . Prince and Pauper ; Pud- d'nhead Wilson. Collins, William Wilkie. 1824-1889. Moonstone; Woman in White ; No Name. Cooper, James Fenimore. 1 789-1 851. Leather Stocking Tales; Sea Tales ; The Spy. Craddock, Charles Egbert (Afzj- J- Murfree). 1850 (?)- . Prophet of the Great Smol excellent lists of books for libraries, the first of 500 volumes, the second of an additional 500 volumes, and the third of an additional 1000 volumes. Aclana, A. H. D., A Guide to the Choice of Boolis. London, 1891. A list of books with a minute index to subjects and authors. The main divisions are: Books of Reference. — Antiquities and Archaeology. — Biography. — Children's Books. — Domestic Economy. — Education. — Geography and Travel. — Government PubUcations. — History. — Languages. — Literature. — Philosophy. — Political and Social Economy. — Political Science. — Science. 197 198 BOQKS ON THE SUBJECT OF KEADING. Aspects of Modern Study, being university extension addresses. London, 1894. The subject of the lectures is study rather than general reading ; but the vol- ume is full of aid and inspiration for the studious reader. Atkinson, W. P. Books and Reading. Boston, i860. A lecture before an association of mill workers. A plea for miscellaneous reading, provided it be earnest. The author advocates also the choice of subjects near at hand. He recommends spending one half our leisure in the open air, if we would niake the best of the other half in reading. Atkinson, W. P. On the Riglit Use of Books. Bo.ston, 1880. Emphasizes the value of reading to business men. Azarias, .5roM«r (P. F. Mullany). Books and Reading. New York, 1891. Written from the Catholic point of view. It contains many helpful sugges- tions, but its greatest value consists in the spirit of " bookmindedness " which breathes through every paragraph. Bacon, Francis, Lord. Essay L. Of Studies. The most famous of all treatises on books and reading. It is contained in any edition of the essays ; but m_ay profitably be read with Whately's annota- tions. Baldwin, James. The Book-Lover. Chicago, 1892. This little book has reached its tenth edition and deserves all its popularity. It is really what it professes to be, " A guide to the best reading." Best Hundred Books. Boston, 1886. This contains an article on the choice of books by Ruskin, an unpublished letter by Carlyle, and numerous contributions by other writers. Best Reading; edited by F. B. Perkins; vols. 2-4 by L. E. Jones. New York, 1877-1893. Lists of the best books now in print, arranged by subjects. The first volume contains also : Readings on Reading ; Suggestions for Courses of Reading ; On Owning Books ; Hints on Book Clubs. Burt, Mary E. Literary Landmarks. Boston. 1893. One of the best guides to reading for the young. The volume contains many ingenious illustrations designed to fix in the pupil's mind the story of literature ; and at the end is a carefully selected list of 700 books. Carlyle, Thomas. On the Choice of Books. London, 1881. An address delivered without notes to the students of Edinburgh University in 1866. It is rambling, but full of inspiration to scholarship and noble living, Drummond, Henry. A Talk on Books. New York, 1891. Addressed not to brilliant students, but to those of the second rate, whom he BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF READING. I99 calls " hopeful duffers." The speaker relates his own growth in the knowledge and love of books. Foster, William, E. Libraries, and Readers. New York, 1883.— The Public Library as a Help to the Historical Student. (In New England Magazine, December, 1889.) — The Use of a Public Library in the Study of History. (Pages 105-112 of G. Stanley Hall's Methods of Teaching History, 2d edi- tion, 1889.) — The Young Writer's Use of a Library. (Pages 85-93 of T. W. Bancroft's Method of English Composition, 1885.) All these treatises by the librarian of the Providence Public Library will be found of the greatest practical benefit to readers. The last, in particular, can be commended to students for its sound advice in regard to methods of composition. Green, S. S. Library Aids. New York, 1883. Compiled by the librarian of the Worcester Public Library. A very conven- ient reference manual for all users of libraries. It contains a list of articles on Libraries as educational institutions, and appended is Mr. Foster's chapter on Books and articles on Reading, reprinted from his Libraries and Readers. Green, S.S., editor. Libraries and Schools. New York, 1883. A useful handbook ; containing articles by the editor, and by C. F. Adams, Jr., R. C. Metcalf, and W. E. Foster. Hale, Edward Everett, and others. Books That Have Helped Me. New York, 1889. Articles by various authors, reprinted from the Forum. They record per- sonal experiences in reading, and will be found both interesting and practically helpful. Hamerton, Philip Gilbert. The Intellectual Life. Boston, 1873. A book that is still as pertinent as ever to the wants of every student. It has not a dull page. Hardy, G. E. Books for the Young. New York, 1892. A graded and annotated list of 500 books of great value in selecting or direct- ing the reading of children. Harrison, Frederic. The Choice of Books. London, 1886. " The Choice of Books is really the choice of our education, of a moral and intellectual ideal, of the whole duty of man." This sentence will give a clue to the import of this well-known essay of the famous EngUsh positivist. The four chapters are headed : How to Read. — Poets of the Old World. — Poets of the Modern World. — The Misuse of Books. Decidedly a book for students and scholars. 200 BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF READING. Helps, Sir Arthur. Reading. A Chapter in Book II. of his series of thoughtful and stimulating essays entitled Friends in Council. Higginson, T. W. Books and Reading. (In The Woman's Book, vol. I, 1894.) A valuable survey of classes of reading and their influence. Ireland, Alexander. The Book-lover's Enchiridion. New York, 1893 .~ A treasury of thoughts oa the solace and companionship of books, gathered from the writings of the greatest thinkers, from Cicero to Ruskin. A hand- book that should be owned and read by every student. Kent, James. Outhne of a Course of English Reading; edited by H. A. Oakley. New York, 1853. One of the most famous of reading courses, though now greatly out of date. Nearly every subject or book has a note of explanation or suggestion. Leypoldt, A. H., and lies, G., editors. List of Books for Girls and Women and Their Clubs. Boston, 1895. Lists of books on various subjects, chosen by specialists, and furnished with descriptive and critical notes. In addition to these lists are a list of periodicals and hints for girls' and women's clubs. Lubbock, Sir John. The Pleasures of Life. New York, 1889. Contains A Song of Books, and The Choice of Books, with his famous list of 100 books. Mabie, H. W. Books and Culture. (In The Bookman, 1895.) A series of inspiring chapters by the author of My Study-fire, Short Studies in Literature. The writer is the literary editor of the Outlook. Mathews, William. Hours with Men and Books. 12th edition. Chicago, 1889. Contains his article on Professorships of Books and Reading. Few writers equal Dr. Mathews in power to stimulate love of reading. The student would do well to read also his Getting on in the World ; Great Conversers ; Words : their Use and Abuse ; Oratory and Orators ; Literary Style ; Men, Places, and Things ; and Wit and Humor. Matson, Henry. References for Literary Workers. Chicago, 1892. Contains introductions to topics and questions for debate, under the fol- lowing heads : History. — Biography. — Politics. — Political Economy. — Edu- cation. — Literature. — Art. — Science. — Philosophy Ethics. — Religion. — Miscellaneous. Matthews, Brander. Cheap Books and Good Books. New York, 1888. On the relations of copyright to the quality of books, and secondarily to the interests of the reading public. BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF READING. 20I Matthews, Brander. The Home Library ; by Arthur Penn [pseud- onym]. New York, 1883. ; Contains : A Plea for the Best Books. — On the Buying and Owning of Books. — On Reading. — On Fiction, with a List of 100 Best Books. — On the Library and Its Furniture. — On Book-binding. — On the Making of Scrap- books. — On Diaries and Family Records. — On the Lending and Marking of Books. — Hints Here and There. — List of Authors for the Home Library, with Choice of Editions, and Prices. The volume contains numerous illustrations, and is addressed to owners as well as readers of books. Maurice, J. F. D. The Friendship of Books. London, 1893. Contains also lectures on Words, on Books, and on the Use and Abuse of Newspapers. Moore, C. H. What to Read, and How to Read. New York, 1871. Classified lists of reading are given, with brief annotations, the whole being brought down to 1870. The volume resembles in plan Chapters IL and III. of the present work, but a much larger selection of books is given. The author describes his volume as " aiming to shape the literary culture of young persons." Northcote, Sir Stafford Henry. The Pleasures, the Dangers, and the Uses of Desultory Reading. London, 1885. A lecture by Lord Iddesleigh at the University of Edinburgh. Desultory is used in the sense of varied, not trifling. The little volume is beautifully printed. O'Conor, J. F. X. Reading and the Mind, with Something to Read. New York, 1890. The work of a Catholic writer appreciative of the best in literature. The last part of the pamphlet embodies lists of books arranged by classes. Parsons, F. The World's Best Books. Third edition. Boston, 1893. A lively and suggestive guidebook to the literature of the world, designed for the average adult reader. Phelps, Austen. Men and Books. New York, 1882. Designed for the literary guidance of young pastors, but containing chapters on the use of books that will be of value to the general reader. Porter, Noah. Books and Reading. 4th edition. New York, 1881. This has long been the standard book of counsel for the student in both manner and matter of reading. It should, however, be supplemented by later works. This edition contains, in an appendix, a select catalogue of books pre- pared by J. M. Hubbard. Pryde, David. The Highways of Literature ; or What to Read, and How to Read. Edinburgh, 1882. An enthusiastic yet sensible work in which the author discusses the impor- 202 BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF READING. tance of the great divisions of literature, and the best methods of forming an acquaintance with them. Pycroft, James. A Course of Reading. New York, 1845. Valuable for anecdote and advice as to methods of reading ; but most of the books recommended have now been superseded. Quincy, J. P. The Abuse of Reading. (In his Protection of Majori- ties. Boston, 1876.) Holds up to contempt those who " read themselves into partial imbecility upon all sides of every question." The student should not overlook the chapter in the same volume on The Function of Town Libraries, in which the author protests against " a surfeit of too much poor reading." Kichardson, Charles F. The Choice of Books. New York, 1881. A well-known work by the author of the most complete history of American literature. It is especially rich in illustration. The subjects discussed are very attractive. ' Ruskin, John. Sesame and Lilies. New York, 1873. Embodies the famous author's views on reading ; more valuable, perhaps, as an incentive than a guide. Schonbach, A. E. Ueber Lesung und Bildung. Graz, 1888. A handsome little book of 144 pages. The author acknowledges his indebt- edness to Ruskin, Morley, Harrison, and particularly to Emerson. Appended are a list of 102 volumes of world literature, and a longer list of representative modern fiction. Sonnenschein, W. S. : The Best Books, a Reader's Guide. London, 1891. Sonnenschein, W. S. A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literature. London, 1895. Each of the two foregoing volumes contains references to about 50,000 books in all departments of science and literature, with dates of publication, pub- lishers' names, and prices. Of great value in the choice and purchase of books. Thwing, C. F. The Reading of Books; Its Pleasures. Profits, and Perils. Boston, 1883. A readable little volume, in which the general subject is discussed under the following heads : The Advantage of Reading. — Biography. — History. — Travel. — Fiction. — Historical Fiction. — Poetry. — Religious Books. — Books of Lit- erature. — Language, Philosophy, Science, and the Fine Arts. — Books for Children. • — Forming a Library. — Classified List of Books. Van Dyke, John C. Books and How to Use Them. New York, 1883. A racy and suggestive book, by the author of the well-known work. How BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT OF READING. 203 to Judge a Picture. It is one of the best treatises on reading and the use of libraries that have been written for college students. Verniolles, J., AbbL La Lecture et le Clioix des Livres. Paris, 1877. Letters of advice to a young man who has finished his education. They are written from a thoroughly French literary standpoint. The author is an eccle- siastic, and his work is quite as much a guide to conduct as to literature. What Shall I Read ? New York, 1878. " A confidential chat on books," by a mother, whose careful advice is addressed to immature minds. A catalogue of books recommended is given, as also a course of reading covering the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Willmott, R. A. Pleasures, Objects, and Advantages of Literature. 4th edition. London, 1855. The product of a mind full of books, and well fitted to attract any one to the delights of reading. Winchester, C. T. Five Short Courses of Reading in English Litera- ture. Boston, 1892. An excellent httle handbook written by the professor of English literature in Wesleyan University. The courses, which are all short, cover the period from Marlowe to Newman. After each course are blank pages for additional references. The volume is an inexpensive one, and might profitably be owned and consulted by every College student in his use of the library. INDEX. Adams, H. B., 119, 121, 127. Addison, Joseph, 33. .lEschylus, 18, 25, 40. Africa, history of, 158, 159. travels and description, 164, 165. Agriculture, 174. Allusions, 144. Almanacs, 53, 142. Alwato, 98. America, history of, 159-161. travels and description, 165, 166. American Library Association, 115, 121, 132, 197. American literature, 28, 55, 56. American poets, 28. Amicis, E. de, 136. Amusements, 177, 178. Analogical method of language study, 105. Anglo-Saxon literature, 195. Annuals, 64. Anthropology, 173. Antiquities, 153, 154. Apocalypse, 23. Apperceptionists, 82. Appleby, F., "90, 93. Architecture, 176. Aristotle, 87. . - Arnold, Matthew, 28-30, 33, 44." . Arnold, Thomas,. 50, 118. Arts, 137, 138, 174-178-. decorative, 177. dictionaries of, 56. fine, 13S, 176-178. Arts — Continued. industrial, 137, 174, 175. mechanical, 175. military, 175. nautical, 175. Asia, history of, 158. travels and description, 164. Associationists, 82. Astor Library, 61, 117. Astronomy, 171. Attention and memory, 85. Aubrey manuscripts, 50. Augustine, St., 45. Aurelius Antoninus, Marcus, 45. Austrian history, 155. Authors, reading by, 44. Azarias, Brother, 80. Bacon, Francis, Lord, 6, 15, 33, 45, 125, 131, 137. Bacon, J. H., 90, 93. Bacon, Roger, 89. Bad books, 30-33. Bancroft, George, 19. Beaumont, Francis, 27. Beniowski, Major, 89. Berlitz School, 104. Bible, 22-24, 25, 145, 146. Bibliographies, 49, 61. Bibliography, 142. Billings Library, 126. " \ Biography, 16, 34, 43, 134, 148-153. collective, 148-150. dictionaries of, 57, 58. individual, 150-153. 205 2o6 INDEX. Biology, 172. Blaikie, William, 15. Bleibtreu, Karl, 16. Boileau, Nicolas, 80. Books. (See also Reading.) as tools, 42. bad, 30-33. choice of, 140. classified list of, 132, 142-196. new and old, 12. of reference, 42, 48-62, 132, 133, 142-144. on memory, 93. on reading, 197-203. Bossuet, J. B., 80. Boston Public Library, 197. Boswell, James, 12, 34. Botany, 172. British classic poets, 27. British Museum Library, 22. British Philological Society, 55. Brooks, C. T., 27. Brown, John, 79. Brown University, 67, 103, 123. Browne, Sir Thomas, 45. Browning, Robert, 26, 28. Brux, Adam, 80. Bryant, W. C, 27, 28. Buckley, A. B., 137, 141. Buffalo Public Library, 117, 121. Bulwer, E. G. E. L., Lord Lytton, 44. Bunyan, John, 139. Burns, Robert, 28. Business men, 14. and culture, 29. Byron, G. N. G., Lord, 28, 34. Cable, G. W., 30. Csesar, Caius Julius, 79. Cainbridge University, 117, 118. Camp meeting, 119. Canadian history, 159. Cards for note-taking, 92. Carlyle, Thomas, 19, 34, 35, 39, 44. 62, lOI. Catalogues, 49, 60, 61. Cathedrals, 76, 77. Catiline, 43. Cautions about fiction-reading, 30, 3 1 . Chamberlin, J. E., quoted, 14 note. Chapman, George, 27- Character building, 15, 45. Charlatan memory teachers, 90. Charles V., 109. Chatterton, Thomas, 38. Chaucer, Geoffrey, 26, 27. Chautauqua, 119, 121, 125. Chemistry, 170. Childhood and language-learning, 94, 95. Christianity, 146. Chronology, 57, 153. Church history, 147. Cities, history of, 43, 44. Civilization, history of, 154. Clap, Thomas, 113 note. Clarke, J. F. 133. Classic poets, British, 27. Classical dictionaries, 58. Classics to be read first, 27. Classified list of books, 142-196. Clough, A. H., 28. Coffin, C. C, 117. Coleridge, S. T., 28. Columbia University, 123. Columbus, Christopher, 63, 77. Commencement orations, 76. Commerce, 168. Concordances, 60. Condensed cyclopedias, 52." Conditions of memory, 83. Confusion and niemory , 84. , ■ " .' Conversation, reading.for, 14,'"".':' INDEX. 207 Cowversations-Lexikon, 14. Cooke, G. F., 80. Cooper, J. F., 30. Cornell University, 123, 126. Corson, Hiram, 20. Countries, description of, 162-166. history of, 155-161, Courses of reading, 128-141. Coverdale, Miles, 23. Cowper, William, 28, 34. Cranch, C. P., 27. Crawford, F. M., 30, 99. Crerar Library, 126. Crime, 166. Criminal concealed in a library, 114. Crunden, F. M., 117. Culture, 13, 29, 40. Cumulative method of language study, 104, 105. Cutter, C. A., 115, 132. Cyclopedias, 51-53, I43- D^uesseau, H. F. , 80. Daily papers, 63, 69-77. Dangers, 30-33. in excessive specialization, 125. in the new education, 125. Danish, 97. Dante.Alighieri, 26, 27, 40, 45. Daudet, Alphonse, 31. Dead languages, study of, 102. Decimal classification, 115. Decorative art, I77- De Quincey, Thomas, 15, 17, 24, 33. Desultory reading, 39. Dewey, Melvil, 115, 127. Diaries, 35. Dickens, Charles, 16, 30. Dictionaries, 53-59. biographical, 57, 58. classical, 58. English, 54. . Dictionaries — Continued. French, 55. German, 55. of fine arts, 56. of geography, 58. of history, 57, of industrial arts, 56. of language, 54, 55. of literature, 55. of quotations7 59. of social science, 57. of synonymous words, 59. of theology, 59. Diligence, 39. D'Israeli, Isaac, 21. " Dogberry," quoted, 6. DoUinger, Ignaz von, 19. Dowden, Edward, 17. Drake, S. A., 117. Drama, English, 183, 184. Dreyspring, Adolph, 105. Drugs and memory, 83. Dryden, John, 23, 28. Duruy, Victor, 43. Dutch history, 157. Dutch language, 97. Ear memory, 88. Ecclesiastical history, 147. Eckermann, J. P., 34. Educated man, mark of an, 9. Education, g, 10, 166, 167. Educational place, of languages, 96. of libraries, 111-127. Eggleston, Edward, 30. Electricity, 174. Eliot, George, 30. Elocution, 139, 179. Emerson,R.W., 15, 28, 33,34,45, 86. Engineering, 174, 175. England, travels and description, 162, 163. English Bible, 145, 146. 208 INDEX. English classic poets, 27. English dictionaries, 54. English drama, 183, 184. English fiction, 184-189. English history, 155, 156. English language, 178. English literature, 180-192. dictionaries of, 55. professor of, 96, 97 note. English poetry, 180-183. Engraving, 177. Epitomes, 49, 50. Erasmus, Desiderius, 87. Essays, 33, 190, 191. Ethics, 145. Europe, history of, 155-158- Evans, W. L., 90, 93. Examination, study for, 84, 85. Expansive classification, 132. Eye memory, 88. Eyes, care of, 20. False education, 10. Faraday, Michael, 134. Fatigue and memory, 84. Fauvel Gouraud, Francis, 89. Feinaigle, Gregor von, 89. Fellows, G. S., 88. Fiction, 16, 30, 140. cautions about reading, 30, 31. English, 184-189. historical, 44. Fielding, Henry, 31. Fields, J. T., 61. Fine arts, 138, 176-178. dictionaries of, 56. Fiske, John, 34, 46. Fiske, Mrs. J. M., 126. Flammarion, Camille, quoted, 14 note, 70, 71- Fletcher, John, 27. Folk-lore, 147, 148. Foreign classics, 26, 27. Foreign languages, 178, 179, Foreign literature, 196. Fortnightlies, 67. Foster, F. H., 127. France, travels and description, 163. Franklin, Benjamin, 44, 117. French cyclopedias, 53. French dictionaries, 55* French history, 156. French literature, 25, 26, 194. French selection of world-literature, 25. Fries, Laurenz, 83, 84. Geography, 136, 162- dictionaries of, 58. historical, 58. physical, 171, 172. Geology, 171. George III., 48. German cyclopedias, 52. German dictionaries, 55- German history, 156. German literature, 195. German selection of world-literature, 26 note. Germanic languages, 97, 109. Germany, travels and description, 163- Gladstone, W. E., 19. Goethe, J. W. von, 26, 27, 34. Goldsmith, Oliver, 28- Goodyear, W. H., 138. Goschen, G. J., 29, 30. Gracchi, 43. Grammar, unimportance of, 108. Granville, G. L. G., Lord, 79. Granville, Mortimer, 88. Greece, travels and description, 163. Greek history, 156. Greek language, 101. INDEX. 209 Greek literature, 192. Green, J. R., 124. Green, S. S., 116, 117, 127. Grey, Richard, 89. Grimm, Jakob, 99. Groups of languages, 96, 97, 108. Hacklander, F. VV., 16. Haggard, H. R., 39. Hale, E. E., 117. Hall, E. W., 127. Hall, G. S., 94 note, 127. Hamerton, P. G., 80, 138. Harper, W. R., 120. Harvard note-book, 92. Harvard University, 123. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 30, 75, 117. Health, and memory, 83. and reading, ig. Heine, Heinrich, 26. Heness, Gottlieb, 103. Herbert, George, 39. Historical fiction, 44. Historical geography, 58. History, 35, 135, 153-161. church, 147. dictionaries of, 57. of Africa, 158, 159. of America, 159-161, of Asia, 158. of cities, 43. of Europe, 155-158. of islands, 161. of periods, 155. Holbrook, M. L., 80, 93. Holland, history of, 157. travels and description, 163. Holland, Sir Henry, 84. Holmes, O. W., 28, 34, 35, 115. Homer, 26, 27, 40. " Hop o' My Thumb," 78, 88. Horace, 25. Hough, F. B., 46. Hour-hand memory, 91. Hovey, Alvah, 38. Howells, W. D., 30, 37, 38, 117. Hudson, H. N., 31. Hugo, Victor, 25, 26. Humor, 35. Humor and satire, 189. Huxley, T. H., 137, 139. Hymns, 146. Ibsen, Henrik, 32. Icelandic, 97, Index rerums, 92. Indexes, 62, 143. Industrial arts, 137, 174, 175. dictionaries of, 56. Industry, 167, 168. Information, reading for, 14, 41. Interest and memory, 86. Irish history, 157. Irving, Washington, 34, 140, 141. Islands, history of, 161. Italian language, 97. Italian literature, 193. Italy, history of, 157. travels and description, 163. Jesus Christ, 23, 146. Johns Hopkins University, 119. Johnson, Samuel, 12, 13, iS, 33, 34, 75. 134- Jonson, Ben, 27. Jordan, memorial of crossing the, 8S. Journalism, 70-77. party spirit in, 73. Kay, David, 93. Keats, John, 28. Keller, J. W., 71. Kent, C, 140. Kingsley, Charles, 118. Kothe, Hermann, 89. KOOP. MAST. OK BKS. 2IO INDEX. Labor, 167, 168. Lacombe, Paul, 135. Lamb, Charles, 30, 33. Lamp, student, 20. Language, 138, 178, 179. dictionaries of, 54, 55. groups, 96, 97, 108. Italian, 97. Latin, 98, loi, 103, 108. schools of, 104. universal, 98. Language study, 94-110. analogical method of, 105. by groups, 108. cumulative method of, 104. grammar and, 108. heroic method of, 107. in childhood, 94. Mastery system of, 105. Meisterschaft system of, 100, 105. methods of, 103-107. mnemonical aids to, 102. moral effect of, 109. natural method of, 103. phonograph in, 106. Rosenthal system of, I05. use of translations in, 106. Languages, and other studies, 96. correct method of acquiring, 95. dead, 102. Germanic, 97. how to study, 102-109. knowledge of, required by student, 99-101. modern, 103. northern, 96 note. philology of, 100. reading knowledge of, 99, loi. retention of, lOI, 102. Romance, 97. Scandinavian, 96 note. Lanier, Sidney, 28. Larned, J. N., 1 1 7. Latin language, 98, loi, 103, 108. Latin literature, 193. Law, 169. Laws of memory, 86. Leighton, Robert, 43. Lenox Library, 114, 126. Lessing, G. E., 26. Letters, 34, 192. Lever, Charles, 16. Librarianship, 126. Libraries, endowment of, 126. Library, and schools, 116. and university extension, 121. books of reference on the, 127. history of the, 112-117. its place in education, III-127. modern movement, 115, 116. science, 143. Lincoln, Abraham, 36. Literature, 139, 140, 179-196. American, 28, 55, 56. Anglo-Saxon, 195. dictionaries of, 55. English, 180-192. French, 25, 26, 194. general works, 179, 180. German, 195. Greek, 192. Italian, 193. Latin, 193. of power, 24. Portuguese, 194. Russian, 97 note^ 196. Scandinavian, 196. Spanish, 194, 195. world, 25, 26 note. Loisette, Alphonse, go. Longfellow, H. W., 27, 28, 34, 134. Lowell, J. R., 15, 23, 28, 33, 35, 46. Luther, Martin, 23. Lyceum lectures, 119, 121. Macaulay, T. B. , Lord, 15, 33, 34, 41, 62, 79-81, 13s, 139. Magazines, 65-67. Magliabechi, Antonio, 80. Map of human knowledge, 131. Marlowe, Christopher, 27. Marsh, G. P., 19, 46, 97. INDEX. 21 I Masson, David, 42, 50. Mastery system of language study, 105. Mathematics, 170. Mathews, Wm., 15,85, 109, 127, 138. Maurice, J. F. D., 118. McCosh, James, 19, 46. Mechanical arts, 175. Medical science, 173, 174. Meisterschaft system of language study, 100, 105. Memory, and attention, 85 . and confusion, 84. and drugs, 83. and fatigue, 84. and health, 83. and interest, 86. and language study, 102. and note-taking, 78-93. books on, 93. conditions of, 83. definition of, 79- education of, 81-91. eye and ear, 88, laws of, 86. organs of, 87. philosophy of, 82. powerful, 78, 79. self-training in, go. systems of training the, 88-90. teachers, 89, 90. teaching, systems of, 88. tributes to, 81. Mental philosophy, 144. Mental review, 38. Mental vision, training of, 11. Meridians of newspaper world, 73. Mexican history, 159. Michigan University, 123. Middleton, A. E., 78 note, 80, 93. Miles, Pliny, 89. Military arts, 175. Milton, John, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 40-42, 50, 107, 130. Minute-hand memory, 91. Modern languages, study of, 103. Molifere, J. B. P., 25, 26. Money, 168. Montaigne, M. E. de, 33. Monthly magazines, 65. Moral philosophy, 145. Morris, William, 28, 140. Motley, J. L., 141. " Museum" library, 114. Music, 177. Mythology, 147, 148. Napoleon I. , 74. National institutions, 169. National spirit, 26. Natural history, 171. Natural method of language study, 103. Natural' science, 169-174. Nautical arts, 175. Neander, J. A. W., 17. Netherlands, history of, 157. New and old books, 12. Newberry Library, 126. Newspaper, origin of, 63. the epic of modern life, 76. Newspapers, 69-77. classes of, 73- daily, 70. faults of, 70. party spirit in, 73. the mirror of the world, 76. Newton, Isaac, 86. Niebuhr, B. G., 80. North America, travels and descrip- tion, 165. Northern languages, 96 note. Norton, C. E., 27. Norway, travels and description, 163. Note-taking, 92. Novels, 16, 30, 31, 140, 184-1S9. historical, 44. 212 INDEX. " One book," 130. Oratory, 189, 190. Organ, cathedral, 112. Organs of memory, 87. Oxford University, 117, 118. Painting, 176, 177. Paper, perishability of, 69 nolle. Parallel New Testaments, 107. Paris, Aime, 89. Parkman, Francis, 21, 141. Party spirit in journalism, 73. Pastime, reading for, 20, 37. Pepys, Samuel, 35. Periodicals, 63-77, 143. of science, 170. Periods of history, 155. Perishability of modern paper, 65 noie. Perkins, F. B., 127. Personal preferences, 32. Personal reading habits, 46. Personal religion, 146. Peruvian history, 159. Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), 25. Phillips, L. B., 42. Philology, study of, 100. Philosophy, 133, 144, 145. Phonograph in language teaching, 106. Photography, 177. Physical geography, 171, 172. Physics, 170. Pick, Edward, 79, 87, 90, 93, I05. Plato, 45, 108. Poe, E. A., 28. Poetry, 10, 29. English, 180-183. Political economy, 167. Political science, 168, 169. Pompey, 43. Pope, Alexander, 27, 28, 62, Portuguese language, 97. Portuguese literature, 194. Poverty, 166. Prendergast, Thomas, 105. Prescott, W. H., 21, 141. Proctor, R. A., 86. Production, 167, 168. reading for, 15, 45. Providence Public Library, 116, 117, 127. Psychology, 144. Quarterlies, 65. Quotations, 59, 144. Rabelais, Franjois, 35. Ranke, L. von, 19, 123. Rapid reading, 46. Reading, an art, 6. and health, 19. books on the subject of, 197-203. by authors, 44. by subjects, 43, 116, 124. choice of, 22, 140, 141. clubs, 122. courses, 128-141. desultory, 39. diligence in, 39. for. character, 45. for conversation, 14. for general culture, 13. for information, 14, 41. for inspiration, 15. for pastime, 37. for production, 15, 45. how much to read, 17-21. how to read, 37-47- importance of, 11. individual tastes ii, 130. limits to, 18, 19. method of, 37. of fiction, 30-32. rapid, 46. superstitions of, 11, 12. topical, 43, 116, 124. variety in, 129-131. what not to read, 30-33. what to read, 22-36. INDEX. 213 Reading — Continued. why to read, 9-16. with atlas and dictionary, 39. Recollection, 78. Reference books, 42, 48-62, 132, 142-144. Religion, 133, 134, 145-148. dictionaries of, 59. personal, 146. Reventlow, C. O., 89. Review, mental, 38. Reviews, 65. "Revue Bleue," 25. Rhetoric, 139, 179. Robertson, F. W., 118. Robinson, O. H., 127. Roehrig, F. L. O., 105. Rollins, Mrs. A. W. 63. Roman history, 157. Romance languages, 97. Rosenthal system of practical linguis- try, 105. Ruskin, John, 45, 62, 138. Russia, history of, 157. travels and description, 163. Russian literature, 97 note, jgS. St. Louis Public Library, 117, 121. Salmasius, Claudius, 42. Salter, W. M., 133. Salvation army, 119. Sambrook, John, 90. Sauveur School, 104. Savages and a watch, iii. Scandinavian history, 157. Scandinavian languages, 97 and 7ii>u. Scandinavian literature, 196. Schiller, J. C. F. von, 25, 26. Schonbach, A. E., 26 tioU. Schopenhauer, Arthur, 9. Schwegler, A., 133. Science, 137, 169-174. Scipio, 79. Scotland, travels and description, 164. Scott, Sir Walter, 28, 30, 34, 140. Sculpture, 47, 176. Semiannuals, 64. Seminary method, 122-124, '27. Sermons, 147. Seth, James, 133. Shakspere, William, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31. 63, 76, 77, 86, 108. Shelley, P. B., 17, 26, 28. Sicilian history, 158. Simonides, 89. Small, A. W., 137. Smiles, Samuel, 138, 141. Smollett, T. G., 31. Social science, 136, 166-169. dictionaries of, 57. Society for home study, 121. Socrates, 9. Sophocles, 25, 40. South America, travels and descrip- tion, 165, 166. Southey, Robert, 107. Spain, travels and description, 164. Spanish history, 158. Spanish language, 96 no/s, 97. Spanish literature, 194, 195. Speech, writing, and print, relative value of, 12. Speed, J. G., 73 no/e. Spelin, 98. Spenser, Edmund, 27. Spinoza, Baruch de, 9. Stedman, E. C., 30. Steele, Richard, 33. Stern School, 104. Sterne, Laurence, 31. Stevenson, R. L., 140. Stoddard, R. H., quoted, 139, 140. Stuart, Prof. James, 118. 214 INDEX. Student and the library, 5. Student lamp, 20. Subject reading, 43. Summary of chapters, 7. Summer schools, 122. Sunday papers, 68. Superstition, 10-12. Swift, Jonathan, 34. Swinburne, h. C, 28, 99. Switzerland, travels and description, 164. Synonyms, dictionaries of, 59. Syracuse University, 123. Tasso, Torquato, 83 note. Taxation, 168. Taylor, Bayard, 27, 34, 136. Teachers of memory, 89, 90. Tennyson, Alfred, 25, 26, 28, 44. Thackeray, W. M., 30, 35. Thomistocles, 79, 80. Theology, 145-148. dictionaries of, 59. Thoreau, H. D., 15, 28, 35. Tilden Library, 126. Topical reading, 43, 116, 124. Townshend, N. H., 81, 82. Translations, 27, 97 note, 106. Travels and description, 34, 136, 162- ■ 166. Africa, 164, 165. Asia, 164. Europe, 162-164. North America, 165. Oceans, 166. South America, 165, 166. Trevelyan, G. O., 34. Turkey, travels and description, 164. Twain, Mark, 129, 130. Tyndale, William, 23. United States history, 159-161. Universal history, 154. Universal language, 98. University extension, 117-123. in America, 119. in England, 118. University of the State of New York, 127. University of Vermont, 126. Van Dyke, J. C, 138. Vergil, 27, 40. Verne, Jules, 137, 140. Vincent, G. E., 137. Volapiik, 98. Voltaire, F. M. A. de, 35. "Wade, Richard," 5. Watch found by savages. III. Webster, Daniel, 48, 134. Webster, Noah, 54. Weed, Thurlow, 82. Weekly papers, 67-69. Whipple, E. P., 15, 33. White, A. D., 134. White, R. G., 108. Whitman, Walt, 28. Whitney, W. D., 138. Whittier, J. G., 28. Winsor, Justin, 127. Winthrop, Theodore, 5. Woman, 167. Wordsworth, William, 15, 26. Workingmen's College, 118. World-English, 98, 99. World-literature, 25, 26 note. Wyclif, John, 23. Yale College, 113 note. Yearbooks, 53- Zola, fimile, 16, 32, 74. Zoology, 172, 173. Eclectic English Classics for Schools This series is intended to provide selected gems of English Literature for school use at the least possible price. The texts have been carefully edited, and are accompanied by adequate explanatory notes. 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Sufficiently elementary for the lower grades of high school classes and complete enough for all secondary schools. Copies of the above books will be sent prepaid to any address, on receipt of the price ^ by the Publishers : American Book Company New York ♦ Cincinnati ♦ Chicago (80) Webster's School Dictionaries REVISED EDITIONS Webster's School Dictionaries in their revised form constitute a progressive series, carefully graded and especially adapted for Primary Schools, Common Schools, High Schools, Academies, etc. They have all been thoroughly revised, entirely reset, and made to conform in all essential points to the great standard authority — Webster's International Dictionary. WEBSTER'S PRIMARY SCHOOL DICTIONARY 48 cents Containing over 20,000 words and meanings, with over 400 illustrations. , WEBSTER'S COMMON SCHOOL DICTIONARY 72 cents Containing over 25,000 words and meanings, with over 500 illustrations. WEBSTER'S HIGH SCHOOL DICTIONARY . 98 cents Containing about 37,000 words and definitions, and an appendix giving a pronounc- ing vocabulary of Biblical, Classical, Mythological, Historical, and Geographical proper names, with over 800 illustrations. WEBSTER'S ACADEMIC DICTIONARY . . . $1.50 Abridged directly from the International Dictionary, and giving the ortliography, pronunciations, definitions and synonyms of the large vocabulary of words in common use, with an appendix containing various useful tables, with over 800 illustrations. The Same, Indexed $1.80 SPECIAL EDITIONS Webster's Condensed Dictionary. Cloth . . $1.44 The Same, Indexed . . . 1 .75 Webster's Condensed Dictionary Half calf 2.40 Webster's Handy Dictionary. Cloth . . . .15 cents Webster's Pocket Dictionary. Cloth . . 57 cents In Roan Flexible . . .69 cents In Roan Tucks . . 78 cents Webster's American People's Dictionary and Manual 48 cents. Webster's Practical Dictionary. Cloth . 80 cents Webster's Countinghouse Dictionary. Sheep, Indexed . $2.40 Copies of any of Webster's Dictionaries will be sent prepaid to any address^ on receipt of the price ^ by the Publishers: American Book Company New York • Cincinnati * Chicago (77) Mythology Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome Cloth, i2mo, 428 pages. Illustrated .... $l.5o Guerber's Myths of Northern Lands Cloth, i2mo, 319 pages. Illustrated .... $1.50 Guerber's Legends of the Middle Ages Cloth, l2mo, 340 pages. Illustrated .... $1-50 By H. A. GUERBER, Lecturer on Mythology. These companion volumes present a complete outline of Ancient and Mediseval Mythology, narrated with special reference to Literature and Art. They are uniformly bound in cloth, and are richly illustrated with beautiful reproductions of masterpieces of ancient and modern painting and sculpture. While primarily designed as manuals for the use of classes in schools where Mythology is made a regular subject of study and for collateral and supplementary reading in classes studying literature or criticism, they are equally well suited for private students and for home reading. For this purpose the myths are told in a clear and charming style and in a connected narrative without unnecessary digressions. To show the wonderful influence of these ancient myths in literature, numerous and appropriate quotations from the poetical writings of all ages, from Hesiod's " Works and Days " to Tennyson's " CEnone," have been in- cluded in the text in connection with the description of the different myths and legends. Maps, complete glossaries and indexes adapt the manuals for conven- ient use in schools, libraries or art galleries. Copies of the above books will be sent prepaid to any address^ on receipt of the price, by the Publishers : American Book Company New York « Cincinnati * Chicago (37) An Advanced English Grammar FOR THE USE OF HIGH SCHOOL, ACADEMY AND COLLEGE CLASSES BY W. M. BASKERVILL Professor of the English Language and Literature in Vanderbilt University^ Nashville^ Ti^nn. J. W. SEWELL Of the Fog^ High School^ Nashville^ Tenn. Cloth, 12mo, 349 pages .... 90 cents This new Grammar is designed for advanced students who desire to extend their studies in English beyond the course ordinarily pursued in Common or Grammar Schools. In this work, grammar is treated as a science based on facts and principles derived from the actual use of the language and not from technical rules and traditions. Its aim is to lead the pupil to deduce for himself grammatical rules from the best examples of construction and style to be found in English literature and to acquire skill in their use. For this purpose abundant and apposite quotations from standard authors are given to illustrate each grammatical relation and construction and to show the student that he is dealing with the facts of the language and not with the theories of the grammarians. While the book represents original and advanced methods it is at the same time conservative in treatment, and aims to preserve what is good in the older methods. Copies of Bajkervill and Sewell's English. Grammar will be sent prepaid to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers: American Book Company New York ♦ Cincinnati ♦ Chicago (29) General History Appletons' School History of the World By John D. QuACKENBOs, A.M. Cloth, i2mo. 492 pages, $1.22 A comprehensive history of the world from the earliest ages to the present time, written in a clear, concise and interesting style, and copi- ously illustrated with numerous maps and engravings. Barnes's Brief General History of the World By J. UoRMAN Steele and Esther B. Steele. Cloth, i2mo. 642 pages, . . ' . . $1.60 A complete history of ancient, mediteval and modern peoples, as interesting to the general reader as it is valuable as a text-book. Whether considered for its choice of material, its teaching quality, its charm of style or its richness of illustration, this book stands preeminent as a manual for the class room or for the general reader. It is one of the best known and most widely used text-books on the subject. Fisher's Brief History of the Nations By George Park Fisher, LL.D. Cloth, i2mo. 613 pages, with Illustrations, etc., . $1.50 This is an entirely new work, specially prepared to meet the needs of High School students and general readers. It presents in compact form a graphic and impressive delineation of the world's progress in civiliza- tion from the earliest historical period down to the present time. It is by far the most attractive, impartial, and trustworthy text-book on the subject ever written. Swinton's Outlines of the World's History By Wm. SwiNTON. Revised Edition. Cloth, i2mo. 510 pages, $1.44 This is a work on ancient, mediceval and modern history, with special reference to the history of civilization and the progress of mankind. It is inspiring to the student and its use will stimulate him to wider reading and research. Thalheimer's General History By M. E. Thalheimer. Revised Edition. Cloth, i2mo. 448 pages, . . . $1.20 These outlines of General History aim to combine brevity with a clear and simple narrative. The large number of sketch and colored maps and apposite illustrations constitute an important feature of the book, greatly adding to its value as a text-book or for reference. Copies of any of these books ivill he sent, prepaid, to any address on receipt of the price by the Publishers : American Book Company New York ♦ Cincinnati . Chicago (30) Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern History Barnes's Brief History of Ancient Peoples Cloth, i2mo. 330 pages. With maps and illustrations $1 .00 Being the same as the first half of Barnes's General History of the World. In this work the political history is condensed to the salient and essential facts, in order to give room for a clear outline of the literature, religion, architecture, character and habits of each nation. Though de- signed primarily for a text-book, it is well adapted for the general reader. Barnes's Brief History of Modern Peoples Cloth, i2mo. 314 pages. With maps and illustrations $1.00 Being the same as the last half of Barnes's General History of the World, and comprising the period from the fall of Rome to the present time. Thalheinaer's Manual of Ancient History Cloth, 8vo. 376 pages. With maps and illustrations . $1.60 A manual of ancient history from the earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, with a full index in which pronunciations are indicated. The book is also issued in three parts, each part sufficiently full and comprehensive for the academic and university course : — Part I., Eastern Empires, 80 cts. Part II., History of Greece, 80 cts. Part III., History of Rome, 80 cts. Thalheimer's Mediaeval and Modern History Cloth, 8vo. 480 pages. 12 double-page maps . . . $1.60 A sketch of fourteen centuries, conveying by a simple narration of events, an impression of the continuity of the civil history of Europe. Barnes's Brief History of Rome Cloth, i2mo. 316 pages. Illustrated . . . . $1.00 With select readings from standard authors, on the plan of Brief History of Greece. It gives a very good idea of the history of that great empire, together with a graphic description of Roman customs, arts, literature, etc. Barnes's Brief History of Greece Cloth, i2mo. 201 pages. Illustrated . . .75 cents This consists of two parts : first, the chapters on the political history and the civilization of Greece in Barnes's Brief History of Ancient Peoples, including numerous illustrations and ten colored maps; and second, a number of appropriate selections from the works of famous historians. Copies of any of these books will be sent prepaid to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers: American Book Company New York ♦ Cincinnati ♦ Chicago (40) Eclectic School Readings A carefully graded collection of fresh, interesting, and instructive supplementary readings for young children. The books •are well and copiously illustrated by the best artists, and are handsomely bound in cloth. Folk-Story Series Lane's Stories for Children First Reader Grade. l2mo, 104 pages . Baldwin's Fairy Stories and Fables Second Reader Grade. i2mo, 176 pages Baldwin's Old Greek Stories Third Reader Grade. i2rao, 208 pages . Famous Story Series Baldwin's Fifty Famous Stories Retold Second Reader Grade. i2mo, 172 pages Baldwin's Old Stories of the East Third Reader Grade. i2mo, 215 pages Defoe's Robinson Crusoe Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, 246 pages Clarke's Arabian Nights Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, pages Historical Story Series Eggleston's Stories of Great Americans Second Reader Grade. i2mo, 159 pages Eggleston's Stories of American Life and Adventure Third Reader Grade. i2mo, 214 pages Guerber's Story of the Greeks Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, 288 pages Guerber's Story of the Romans Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, 288 pages Guerber's Story of the Chosen People Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, 240 pages Clarke's Story of Troy Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, pages Natural History Series Kelly's Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors Third Reader Grade. i2mo, 214 pages Dana's Plants and Their Children Fourth Reader Grade. i2mo, 272 pages 25 cents 35 cents 45 cents 35 cents 45 cents 50 cents 40 cents 50 cents 60 cents 60 cents 60 cents 50 cents 65 cents Cofies of any of these books will be sent prepaid to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers: American Book Company New York (■5) Cincinnati Chicago