Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-12-17

lished annually; 5000 of them will 500
pass into oblivion. With books as wit
men the dead vastly outnumber the living
OF the $50 authors in Campbell specimen
II the Bri ish poets, says Lori Jeffrey, on
ly about thirty can now READ. Besides
many of the boz ks published are profes
sinnal and without special interest to thu
reader. AS rule read, except cursorily
none but the best books. This will release
you from tile great major ity even Of pop
ular books. Then of the good choose the
best. Even fifty books we'll chosen and
thoroughly read would put man en- rappor,
with intelligent society and ft him to ap.
preciate and be appreciated by it.
In general literature, both the kind
and the amount Of books, will depend on
your tastes, your att,inments and the time
at your command. Choice reading, good
society, and clear thinking will produce
good English, if anything will. This gen.
eral literature Is more or less read by all
classes OF men, but is not read in the same
way nor for the same purpose. Each read.
or should have an aim and object of lis
own. Side by side by the regular course of
task work, there should be collateral
course Of reading for 1ecreation-anythine
that gives one delight, whether it be light
reading or favorite science not directly
bearing on ones calling. A clergyman,
for example, may take special pleasure in
brittany, or mineralogy, or geology, or in
antiquarian research, OI In local history; it
makes but little what. if it serves to re-
create the mind. Even tins incidental, l
might say accidental knowledge, will in the
Course Ut time prove very useful for illus
tration. and will increase his influence ov.r
the minds Of men. AN knowledge is power,
and one will himself be surprised to see in
how many ways knowledge thus picked up
will be as valuable to hiU as any other
kind of knowledge. johnson says that che
that shall steadily and resolutely assign to
any science or language thoss insterstitial
vacancies which intervene i'll the most
busy employment woul find every day new
irradiati"hs of knowledge"
DO not avoid works of fiction, nor.
on the other hand make them your
chief reading. The latter units one
for real life by creating distaslt
for its ordinary and homely duties; it gives
undue prominence to the romantic side of
life. Furthermore, it gives no exercise to
the Intellectual faculty, and trains one to
indolent, passive, mental habit. 1t is
ready made pap, md gives to the mind no
exercise in receiving or digestin9 it. BIT
tiction has Its legitimate office. The Book
IT Job is undoubtedly drama. the visions
of Isaiah are divine poe rs, our Lord spoke
in parabl g, and the greatest modern work
on practical religion is the allegory OF
John Bunyan, the. dreamer of Bedford
jill. All good writing has in it an ele-
nent of fiction, not in the facts. but in the
,rtistic arrangement Of them, which the
original documents never furnish. Glib
bln aud Macaulay owe almost as much to
the imagination rs Scott does. Their
works are grand epics, not differing f,om
those Of poets in plan, but in being wholly
founded on facts. Sc ut, in some of his
novels, gives the spirit Of an age more
rlly, perhaps. than any historian.
To bring course Of reading Within
very ones reach, will give a selection j.
chronological order both of authors and OF
:heir works, which miy b abri lged il
necessary. Passing over Chaucer and
spencer, the two earliest, on account I
tneir antique dress, you may take of s axis.
'eare, Macbeth, OthellO, LIAR and TEN.
pest; of Bacon, his + says on Studies, Dis
course, Frien iship and Great Place; OF
Hooker, the first book Of his Ecclesiastical
tsulity; OF Hall, a few OF his earliest Con-
temptations; and of Taylor, his Holy Liv.
Ing, or Life Of Christ. Those whose timr
is very limited can omit the foregoing.
Then ynu may take--of Milton the frs,
iW'k Of Paradise Lost, and his smaller
,rems; OF Adds IN. select essays of the
spectator, SUCH rs K yer de Coveriy; OF
Pope, the Essay on Man and Rape Of the
Lock; Of Goldsmith, his Traveller, Desert
ed Viii Sc, and Citizen OF the Wo.li; of
Chillingworlh, the R,ligi N Of the Protest.
ants (but this may b omitted); of Johnson.
the Rambler, or Lives Of the Poets, Bos-
vell's Life OF Johnson; Of Thompson, The
seasons, and C.stl Of Incidence; OF Cow
per, The Task, and his Letters; of Burke,
Foster. his SAY ON Decision of Char &C.
| ter; of Hall, OIL NJ ,dern Infi lefty; of By
ron, Childe Harold, AL for epistolary
| style, lis letters; of Rogers, Italy, and the
Pleasures Of Memory; Of Coleridge, his
shorter poems; Chalmers Astronomical
discoveries; Macintosh's Defence Of the
French Revolution; Of Macaulay, his Cri-
tical aud Historical Essays; of Washing
ton Irving, his Life of Washington, and
Columbus, and the works Of Scott, Thack-
cray. dickens, Tennyson and Longtellow
from whom will m Ike no selections, for
! you can hardly 60 amiss.
| have but gone partially over great
subject, giving only few hints on read.
ing. A full treatment of all its parts, for
which do not profess to be competent
would require too much time for the occa-
sion. Literature is many sided and nj
Ole man can ever have all sides in his view.
Each can give only the aspect under which
he contemplates it and would be likely to
give Only the impressions it has made on
his individual mind. You have one mem.
Der, probably more who could instruct and
entertain you Oh other parts of this subject,
or supplement those facts upon which
have merely .ouched and 1 conclude by
Recommending that you call upon that
member to contribute at some convenient
| time from his stores of knowledge what he
can SO we'll Say on the subject Of reading