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USING OUR EYES.

ken, nay, lie almost under our feet. That habit of observation which effects so much for the due training of our highest faculties may be readily and agreeably cultivated during our walks abroad, and made to contribute largely to our enjoyment, Whether in town or country, we shall always find ample material if we use our eyes-if we do not disdain what are called "common things;" if we remember that the blade of grass in its place and degree is not less wonderful than the great orbs which roll through the endless leagues of space. It is a special fault of boys to under-estimate the value of whatever they acquire without trouble, of whatever lies close at hand and seems to woo the gaze. But this is a fault against which the thoughtful will strive. The things of greatest beauty are often those nearest to us and easiest of access; and Milton's saying for ever holds true :

"To know

That which about us lies in daily life
Is the prime wisdom.

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"In the course of our reading we should lay up in our minds a store of goodly thoughts in well-wrought words, which should be a living treasure of knowledge always with us, and from which, at various times and amidst all the shifting of circumstances, we might be sure of drawing some comfort, guidance, and sympathy."-SIR ARTHUR HELPS.

Usefulness of reading-Brings us into contact with great men-A taste for reading a constant source of enjoyment-Sir John Herschel-A maxim from Lord Bacon-What to read-Biography-Lessons taught by the lives of the great and good-George Herbert quoted-John FosterFranklin as an example-The Duke of Buckingham as a warningDryden quoted-Plutarch's lives-Biographies that every boy ought to read-The main lesson which they teach set forth by Carlyle-The purpose of life-History-The way in which history should be studied -A course of historical reading suggested-Books of travel-Sir Humphrey Gilbert-Mungo Park-Some famous travellers-Poetry— Lord Bacon and Sir Philip Sidney quoted-Blessings of poetry— Coleridge quoted-The highest type of poet-Tennyson quoted-The best poetry only should be studied-A list of poetical works-Fiction -What should and what should not be read-A rule of conduct-List of novels-Scientific literature-The belles lettres-Theological and devotional literature-Thomas Fuller quoted-The way to read-Todd quoted-Directions.

T is unnecessary that I should inflict on the boys any commonplaces about the usefulness and value of reading. It may be assumed, from their perusal of these pages, that they acknowledge it to be both an agreeable and a profitable occupation. Nor do I know that it is possible to say on such a subject anything wiser or more pertinent than was said by the great Lord Bacon nearly three centuries ago, when he advised that we should read, "not to

200

WHAT READING DOES FOR US.

contradict and confute, nor to believe or take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." He added :—“ Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not." There is one special advantage in reading; that it brings us into direct intercourse with all the great and good men whose names emblazon the literature of the world. When I read the poems of Milton or the plays of Shakespeare, I seem admitted to the writer's company; it is as if he conversed with me, and poured into my ear his profound thoughts and thick-coming fancies. Again, it reveals to me the life of past generations, and enables me to watch the growth and decay of mighty empires; to learn the progress of great truths and lofty principles. Without reading we should be almost alone in the world, cut off entirely from the historic past of our race, severed from the populations of other lands. What would Greece or Persia, Rome or Carthage, be to us if we never read? And all those sages and heroes and statesmen who have helped to make the world what it is, they would be mere names, empty shadows, to you and me, if by reading we did not learn all about their lives, their sufferings, their achievements. Pursuing this train of reflection, I am compelled to say with Sir John Herschel, that if I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances, and be through life a source of happiness and contentment, and a shield against its ills whatever misfortunes should befall me, I would pray for a taste for reading. The man who can read, and read wisely, is superior to circumstance. He has always a refuge when the storms of fortune beat against him, a balm for every heartache, a safeguard and security in every peril.

"Give a man this taste," says Sir John Herschel, “and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making a happy man, unless, indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history-with the wisest, the wittiest, with the tenderest, the bravest, and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. You make him a denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages. The

BACON UPON BOOKS.

201

world has been created for him. It is hardly possible but the character should take a higher and better tone from the constant habit of associating in thought with a class of thinkers, to say the least of it, above the average of humanity. It is morally impossible but that the manners should take a tinge of good-breeding and civilisation from having constantly before one's eyes the way in which the best-bred and bestinformed men have talked and conducted themselves in their intercourse with each other. There is a gentle but perfectly irresistible coercion in a habit of reading well directed over the whole tenor of a man's character and conduct, which is not the less effectual because it works insensibly, and because it is really the last thing he dreams of."

Taking it, then, for granted that the boys whom I address are as satisfied as myself of the advantages and pleasures of reading, I may go on to offer some remarks upon the books to be read, and the way in which we should read them. Here we may take another saying of Lord Bacon's as our starting-point:-"Some books," he says, "are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in part, others to be read, but not curiously [i.e., with much attention]; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy [i.e., vapid] things." To this it may be added that some books are not to be read at all. These are profane and indecent books, which can be regarded only as the counters with which the devil plays his game. They are the nets in which he hopes to ensnare the unwary soul. Of these let the reader beware. Touch them not, handle them not. The moment he comes upon a phrase or a sentence that revolts his conscience, let him throw aside the book containing it. We read in order to build up and purify the mind, not to contaminate and weaken it. There may be genius in the book, but the genius cannot neutralise the effect of the infidelity or lewdness, and the young reader must no more think of dragging his intellect through its abominations than he would of wading through a sewer because it was skilfully constructed,

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READING BIOGRAPHIEs.

But what books should be and may be read?

First of all, Biographies. We cannot fail to profit by the study of the lives of the great and good. "The good life," says George Herbert, "is never out of season:" we can always contemplate it to our advantage; insensibly but surely its influence will tell upon our character. The heroic deeds done by men of true courage-deeds of generosity, unselfishness, valour, humanity, truthfulness—the fine sayings uttered by wise and eloquent lips, how can we be otherwise than better, and purer, and braver for our knowedge of these? A noble life is at once an example and an inspiration; it shows us what we ought to be, and encourages us to strive to realise the ideal.

"Lives of great men all remind us

We may make our lives sublime;"

or, if not sublime, at least good, and honest, and useful-a blessing to others as well as to ourselves. Said Dr. George Wilson :-" I read all biographies with intense interest. Even a man without a heart, like Cavendish, I think about, and read about, and dream about, and picture to myself in all possible ways, till he grows into a living being beside me, and I put my feet into his shoes, and become for the time Cavendish, and think as he thought, and do as he did." In this lies the preciousness of biography. It has a personal interest, appeals to our keenest sympathies, "slides" into the current of our blood. It peoples our solitude with friendly faces; it makes us familiar with the best of company. I read Boswell, and straightway I know as much about Johnson as he did. Carlyle introduces us to the man Cromwell; we see him as his contemporaries saw him. Characters stand revealed before us in all their littleness and all their greatness; and we know at once what to imitate and what to avoid, what to admire and what to condemn. For, be it observed, that in our biographical studies it must always be our endeavour to make them subserve our general culture, to use them as a means of education. Hence, we must consider carefully the temper, disposition, tastes, failings, special virtues, and prominent qualities of the men whom biography introduces to us. For example, we are reading the life of Benjamin Franklin. Well, what strikes us as his distinguishing merit or as the governing principle of his conduct? We

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