Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-01-14
WHAT BOOKS TO READ.
Ralph Waldo EmersOn's Advice TO Young
Men.


Ralph Waldo EmersOn's Advice TO Young
Men.
RalphWaldo Emerson lectured last week
to the law students of Howard University,
Washington. In the course of his remarks
he gave them some advice on what books
to read The opinions of such scholar
and author on such subject should be of
great interest and Importance, and we ex-
tract briefly from his remarks:
Every book has its own attractions; but
certain books would charm us all-charm
every good mind; l should give every
Young man "GibbOn's History of the
Roman Empire to read as education in
itself. No one can read it without seeing
that Gibbon was the best read man in
| England in his time, and that, therefor,
few men could have accomplished so
much.
If he wants, however, q mOralist; if he
wants a noble soul, every way lnstruc-
tive, he should read the Life of Johnson. y
Boswell's Life of Johnson is an excellent
book to read; one of the most entertaining,
one of the greatest variety in its charm,
because it brings in the history of the
brightest men in England, at q time of
great brilliancy; that is when Burke, and
Fox, and Gibbon, and Goldsmith were on
the stage together, and were continually
meeting i'll conversation.
No wise young man can do without
reading "BacOn's Essays" They are Il
little bible of eurtly wisdom. They are
full Of sense and truth. If he is led to the
Life of Lord Bacon" he thereby becomes
acquainted with the most important period
in English history; the time when the two
greatest lights of England at that period,
and one of them the greatest light that
ever was in England-Shakespea
surrounded by able men; the time of Eliza
beth and of James; the time of the great
concentration of intellectual light in Eng
land.
But outof the circle of religious books [
set Shakespeare as the one unparalleled
mind. No nation has produced anything
like his equal. There is no quality in the
human mind, there is no class of topics,
there is no region of thought, in which he
has not scared or descended; and nOnesin
which he has not said the commanding
word. All men are impressed i'll proper
ton to their own advancement in thought,
by the genius of Shakespeare. The great
est mind values Shakespeare the most.
Burke is an author that no young man,
certainly in the law, can live without.
For the nobility of his sentiment for the
truth, honor and justice of the man for
his great powers, for his great perceptions,
| should think it would be the pride of all
the young men studying law, that they
had master so commanding aud so beau
tiful as Burke always before them. His
character was as pure as his mind. There
is a period i'm the education of every young
man literally educated, when Burke is his
master. Happy is that young man.
If any of you have a taste i'll letters you
must take the German Goethe, whose
books are now almesteall translated into
English. Since Shakespeare there has been
no mind of equal compass to his. There
is the wise man. He has the largest range
of thought, the most catholic mind; q per-
son who has spoken in every science, and
has added to the scientific lore of other
students, and who represents better than
any other individual, the progressive mind
of the present age. -<E. Ef