The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-08 00:00:00

SEA-SIDE READINO.

Timms is a special season for special books, and
in the summer time the worthy but weighty authors
appreciated by a December fire-side are neglected
for livelier, although more trivial companions.
Many, indeed, at this season are tempted to
fling books aside altogether, and to believe that
Nature has lessons pleasanter to read and better
worth the reading. What is oven Sliismseminz
in the presence of the Jungfrau ? What Mums' a
description of Eden when rejoicing in that English
Paradise, the Vale of Grasmere? Are not the
Trosachs in July sunshine, dearer to us than the
'• Lady of the Lake" ? Do we not prefer the
cataract at Lodore to SorramY's rippling melody
about it; and is it not better to roam in solitude
or with one dear companion beneath the solemn
shade of the forest trees, than to read the finest
description ever penned of woodland recesses and
bosky solitudes ? Yet there are hours when books
are essential even in the finest scenery, and the
ordinary country excursionist who takes his holi-
day after the ordinary fashion, at some popular
resort, should not venture to indulge in a month's
idleness without subscribing to the circulating
library or taking a moderate supply of volumes
in his portmanteau. At the sea-side espe-
cially, to judge from what we may see any
summer morning upon the beach, a course of
sensational novel-reading is considered indis-
pensable. /t is a relief to vacuity of thought,
and yet it may enjoyed without thinking; it is
an idle amusement for people who are bent upon
being idle without ennui, and who want excite-
ment without exertion. Young ladies, if adepts
in the art, can flirt and admire Miss:
Bssn-
DON at the same time; young men can criticise
faces and costumes, smoke cigars, and read
an extravagant fiction by WHTrE-MELVILLE,
while lolling upon the sands in their morning jack-
ets and wideawakes. A fellow, they say, must do
something, even by the seaside, and as it is rather
tedious work to watch for long together the inele-
gant plunges of dripping nymphs and water
babies, or the fortifications valiantly erected with
wooden spades, the only resource that remains
when the daily paper has been read is a tale in
three volumes. Novels and watering-places, whe-
ther inland or marine, seem indeed to be made for
each other. Very grave folk who strive when at
home to understand political economy and the phi-
losophy of history, who study Comm and MILL and
the excellent treatises of Mr..Heatinner SPENCER,
leave all such writers behind them when they take
their glimmer outing, and may be found immersed
in a story by Mr. SHIRLEY BROOKS, or submitting
to the attraction of M. ALEXANDER Dumas, which,
if we may believe his own assertion, is less due
to genius than to magnetism.
It would be foolish to quarrel with a passion so
universal, and a predilection so natural. With
all respect for a well-known publisher who is
advertising his very charming editions of some of
our best poets and essayists as reading for the
sea-side, we submit that great poems and wise or
humorous essays are not precisely adapted for the
easy indolence and thepetty enjoyments which mark
the life of the pleasure-taker at these familiar
resorts. It is not the best books that aro in re-
quest there, but the lightest ; not the most beau-
tiful in thought or style, but such as are moat ex-
citing and the most easily read. Just as at Christ-
mas, SHANEI4PEARE and the legitimate drama are
destined to give way to Clown and Columbine, so
in the out-door vacation hours of summer a noble
poet like WORDSWORTH, or a magnificent prose
author like RUSKIN, will remain untouched upon
our library shelves while the fascinating novelist of