The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-06-23

favorite books as for actresses to endorse
complexion lotions, or for writers upon
domestic economy to add the weight of
their approving word to some abso-
lutely pure baking powder. Yet the
publication of the articles first men-
toned is warranted by the interest
taken in them by the reading world.
Though it would not be safe to formu
late such a saying as "By their books
shall We know them," we feel that in
learning something of the works which
have been Instruments of pleasure or
Improvement to great author, we ap-
proach knowledge of his inner lite.
Andrew Lang remarks, in his Adoen-
tures 4 nou9 Books, {" have often Won
dered that n Biogrphia Literaria has so
seldom been attempted-a biography or
autobiography of a man in his relations
with other minds"
Lang owns that he remembers much
about books. and little about peoI lie,
and that he was born to be, from the
first, dweller in the clOisters of a ] :
brary' Certain minds. noticeably those
in which the creative gift is vigorously
developed, are the reverse of "bookish
Such was the case with Dickens, who
was a man of action and loved contact
with humanity. In early hOyhood travels
and works of fiction attracted him; but
we are told that he was no great reader
in the days of his authorship" Dickens
contemporary, Leigh Hunt, has left
record of his delight in certain poets.
He kept Sponsors poems always about
him, and preferred that bard to either
Milton or Shakespeare. Any literary
heresy might have been expected from
one who considered Shakespeare ''ovcr-
rated;'' so it is not wonderful to read
that Byron-whom Leigh Hunt tried
hard to convert to d better way of think
ing-decared he could see nothing in
Spenser. Perhaps, as Hunt suggested,
the reason TOR this lack of appreciation
was that Spenser was TOO much out OF
the world and Byron too much in it.
DIR. johnson was robust genius fiji
to grapple with whole libraries" When
he entered room containing q book
case he gravitated naturally toward that
piece of furniture, and he was not salts
fled until he had investigated its con
tents. Douglas Jerrold was one of those
readers who not only love books, but
treat them tenderly, whereas De Quin
cey's carelessness in that respect was
proverbial. 1t is nothing surprising to
learn that Coleridge's mind in childhood
nourished itself upon imaginative litera
ture, or that Charles Lamb had little
relish for works upon political economy
or the exact sciences Otherwise his
taste was catholic. He admired Shakes
peare and Milton, but did not despise
Pope and Gay; he read the works q
his contemporaries, and was deeply
versed in old English literature. Among
his favorite works were the novels oil
Smollet and Fielding, Bunyun's Hob
War, Fuller's Worthless, and Burton's
anatomy Of Melancholy. With SO much
that was dark and depressing in his life,
and the constant shadow that must have
hung over him, one cannot marvel thai
Lamb sought constantly to lose hin.
self in other mems minds" AS he sai(
himself, when | ain not walking | an
reading. l cannot sit and think book,
think for me-" Lamb was a book lender
as well as book-lo and Thoma
Westwood. whose garden adjourned his
tells something of his whimical habits
"a Leigh Hunt would come Swimming
to my feet through the branches OF thu
apple trees, or Bernard Burton woul'
be rolled down stairs after me from tn
library door. Marcan Colonna l re
member finding on my window sill, damn
with the night fog, and the Pea OF tn
Midsummer FAIRIES | licked out OF tn
strawberry bed
In an anecdote of Macaulay's child
hood there is evidence that Defoe's ia
nous tale must have taken a stron
hold upon his infantile imagination
Meeting Miss Hannah More at the doc
upon one occasion, he told her that hi
parents were absent, and asked her
she would not take "a glass of old spil
it's The scandaIized lady asked hill
what he knew about old spirits; but h
could give no better answer than tina
Robinson Crusoe often took some.
With this promising beginning it is no
strange that he became phenomena
reader. One of his contemporaries sal
that he read books faster than othe
people could skim them, and skimIne
them as fast as other people could tur
the leaves, ''seeming to read throug
the skin, "a valuable Accomplishment
in view of life's brevity and the multi
plication of books. BY virtue of hi
tremendous memory. which worked lik
some powerful and perfect machine, h
was able to quote from any department
of Observation-Disclosures from the Gree
and Latin Fathers or the latest numbe
of Punch. Mrs. Browning was anotht
omnivorous reader. Living for the mo!
part the retired life of an invalid, wit
little to distract her from intellectus
pursuits, she made swift progress throug
the fields of literature. Not Statistic
with the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis
Malachi, the Greek poets, and Plato, sh
says herself Il passed as thorough
through the flood of possible and impo
sible British and foreign novelsts, wit
slices of metaphysics laid thick betwee
the sorrows of multitudinous Celest
mas"
Southey must have been an ''engfne {
oppression to his friends; for he had
habit of reading his own terrible epics
to any one who would listen. Shelle
once found himself so victimized; but h
slipped noislessly away. and whe
Southey raised his eyes he found him
self entertaining the empty air. Sue
was Southey's persistence in quotin
that Hogg called him "a living common
place book, talking album filed wit
extracts from long forgotten authors o
unimportant subjects" SOuthey was nc
the only poet who admired his ow
works. According to Charles Mackay
Wordsworth, in latter life, owned tina
he read none but his own poetry; an