# Literary Taste: How to Form It/Chapter XII

Layout 2After dealing with the formation of a library of authors up to John Dryden, I must logically arrange next a scheme for the period covered roughly by the eighteenth century. There is, however, no reason why the student in quest of a library should follow the chronological order. Indeed, I should advise him to attack the nineteenth century before the eighteenth, for the reason that, unless his taste happens to be peculiarly "Augustan," he will obtain a more immediate satisfaction and profit from his acquisitions in the nineteenth century than in the eighteenth. There is in eighteenth-century literature a considerable proportion of what I may term "unattractive excellence," which one must have for the purposes of completeness, but which may await actual perusal until more pressing and more human books have been read. I have particularly in mind the philosophical authors of the century.

### Prose writers

| | £ | s. | d. |
| JOHN LOCKE, Philosophical Works: Bohn's Edition (2 vols.) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| SIR ISAAC NEWTON, Principia (sections 1, 2, and 3): Macmillan's | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Gilbert Burnet, History of His Own Time: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| William Wycherley, Best Plays: Mermaid Series | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| WILLIAM CONGREVE, Best Plays: Mermaid Series | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Jonathan Swift, Tale of a Tub: Scott Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels: Temple Classics | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| DANIEL DEFOE, Robinson Crusoe: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DANIEL DEFOE, Journal of the Plague Year: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele, Essays: Scott Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| William Law, Serious Call: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lady Mary W. Montagu, Letters: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| George Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge: New Universal Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| SAMUEL RICHARDSON, Clarissa (abridged): Routledge's Edition | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| John Wesley, Journal: Everyman's Library (4 vols.) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| HENRY FIELDING, Tom Jones: Routledge's Edition | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| HENRY FIELDING, Amelia: Routledge's Edition | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| HENRY FIELDING, Joseph Andrews: Routledge's Edition | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| David Hume, Essays: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| LAURENCE STERNE, Tristram Shandy: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| LAURENCE STERNE, Sentimental Journey: New Universal Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Horace Walpole, Castle of Otranto: King's Classics | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Tobias Smollett, Humphrey Clinker: Routledge's Edition | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Tobias Smollett, Travels through France and Italy: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ADAM SMITH, Wealth of Nations: World's Classics (2 vols.) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets: World's Classics (2 vols.) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Samuel Johnson, Rasselas: New Universal Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| JAMES BOSWELL, Life of Johnson: Everyman's Library (2 vols.) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Oliver Goldsmith, Works: Globe Edition | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling: Cassell's National Library | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art: Scott Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution: Scott Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present Discontents: New Universal Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| EDWARD GIBBON, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: World's Classics (7 vols.) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Watts and Co.'s Edition | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, Plays: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Fanny Burney, Evelina: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Gilbert White, Natural History of Selborne: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Arthur Young, Travels in France: York Library | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Mungo Park, Travels: Everyman's Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals: Clarendon Press | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS, Essay on the Principle of Population: Ward, Lock's Edition | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| William Godwin, Caleb Williams: Newnes's Edition | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Maria Edgeworth, Helen: Macmillan's Illustrated Edition | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| JANE AUSTEN, Novels: Nelson's New Century Library (2 vols.) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| James Morier, Hadji Baba: Macmillan's Illustrated Novels | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| | £5 | 1 | 0 |
The principal omissions here are Jeremy Collier, whose outcry against the immorality of the stage is his slender title to remembrance; Richard Bentley, whose scholarship principally died with him, and whose chief works are no longer current; and "Junius," who would have been deservedly forgotten long ago had there been a contemporaneous Sherlock Holmes to ferret out his identity.

### Poets

| | £ | s. | d. |
| Thomas Otway, Venice Preserved: Temple Dramatists | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Matthew Prior, Poems on Several Occasions: Cambridge English Classics | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| John Gay, Poems: Muses' Library (2 vols.) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| ALEXANDER POPE, Works: Globe Edition | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Isaac Watts, Hymns: Any hymn-book | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| James Thomson, The Seasons: Muses' Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Charles Wesley, Hymns: Any hymn-book | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| THOMAS GRAY, Samuel Johnson, William Collins, Poems: Muses' Library | | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| James Macpherson (Ossian), Poems: Canterbury Poets | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| THOMAS CHATTERTON, Poems: Muses' Library (2 vols.) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| WILLIAM COWPER, Poems: Canterbury Poets | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| WILLIAM COWPER, Letters: World's Classics | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| George Crabbe, Poems: Methuen's Little Library | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| WILLIAM BLAKE, Poems: Muses' Library | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| William Lisle Bowles, Hartley Coleridge, Poems: Canterbury Poets | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ROBERT BURNS, Works: Globe Edition | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| | £1 | 7 | 0 |

### Summary of the first period

| | | | £ | s. | d. |
| 39 prose authors in | 60 | volumes costing | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 poets in | 18 | volumes costing | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 57 | 78 | | £6 | 8 | 0 |