The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-03-02

OfClassic Verses When MemOrized-Com-
ments on Some English Poets-Good
Books the Best Companions.
Speaking as an old lawyer, l may say
that few things compare in usefulness with
a retentive, accurate memory. 1t is in
youth that this faculty is formed and
trained, and one of the best methods of
strengthening it is the habit of learning
by heart passages we admire from authors,
both in verse and prose. What we learn
in youth we are apt to remember well.
Mental impressions at that period of life
do not easily fade, and although they are
easily received they are indelibly retained,
and if they are impressions Of noble
thoughts clothed in noble language we are
laying up a store of intellectual pleasure
at one end of life for enjoyment at the 9th
er Many of us live to grow old. If we
do, our minds, if not ourselves, grow lone
ly The interests of the world fade away,
and the fashion of the beauty of it vanish
eth, and n time comes when we feel that
'Tis meet that we should pause awhile
Ere we put off this mortal coil,
And in the stiffness of old age
Muse on our earthly pilgrimage.
At such time the recollection of great
thoughts, of lovely images, of musical
words, comes to us with n comfort, with
an innocent pleasure which it is difficult
to eXaggerate And what should you
learn? Speaking generally, the safest rule
to follow is to learn that which pleases you
best. | assume that it is not bad. But as
to what is best taste is very varied, and
that which commends itself to one man
perhaps repels another. My own taste you
must take just for what it is worth. But
leaving out for obvious reasons all Greek
and Latin writer's, before and above every
ore, including them, | should myself place
Shakespeare, an ineXhaustible stOrehouse
OF wisdom, instruction and exquisite die
ton, indispensable to any one who has
anything to do with speaking or writing.
Next Shakespeare l for one should put
Milton. Have any of you not heard the
magnificent eloquence of John Bright? He
told me himself that he was built on Mil
ton, and if you heard him-nay, even if you
read him-you can see that he is stepped
in the spirit of this great poet, and that,
though he does not initiate Milton, he
speaks after Milton. And next for use
yes, for daily use-read Wordsworth. Much
of Wordsworth has passed into the Ian
gUage, the poet of nature and of lofty spir
itual thought, whose verse makes bright
things brighter and happy men happier,
the man of whose song Matthew Arnold
says that when he spoke
Our forchcads felt the wind and rain
Our youth returned. for there was shed
On spirits that had long been dead,
Spirits dried up and closely furled,
The freshness of the early world.
There is ore man in English literature
perhaps there are two-who wrote too
little. Gray is one. Every word he wrote
is precious. He has the perfection of die
ton and of melody. Every line contains n
thought or picture complete in itself,
and you cannot change a word without
marring its perfection. The other perhaps
is Wolfe. Every one knows his lines on
the Burial of Sir John Moore, - of which,
in my judgment, no higher praise is posi-
BILE than to say they are worthy of their
subject But he wrote also go, Forget
Me, and "If Had Known Thou Couldst
Have Died." two poems now but little
known, but of which, if it is too much to
say they are as fine as the one on Sir John
Moore, it is not too much to say that they
are worthy of the poet who wrote it. The
time would fail me if l were to speak
at length of Shelley, of Keats, of Scott of
Ben Jonson, of Ford, of Massinger of
Dryden, Pope and Young not to mention
more recent authors Coleridge l omit, of
course. Tennyson / omit, because know
that any estimate which places him, as |
should place him, in an order of men far
below Shakespeare is at present the mark
of Philistine.
Browning ] omit, because, though |
have admired him since ! was Il boy Mt
school, | have not been so fortunate as al
ways to understand him. He once rebuked
me in n way which relate for the comfort
of those small striving souls who watch
his flights and try to follow his course in
vain, till he disappears from them in
clouds. He was so kind as to give me
many of his volumes, and he knew | hon
estly read them. Soon after one had thus
been given me he asked me how liked it.
| replied that what / could understand l
heartily admired and that parts Of it,
thought ought to be immortal but that
as to much of it | really could not tell
whether | admired it or no, as l could not
understand it. "Ah, well, - he said eff
reader of your caliber understands 10 per
cent of what write, think he ought to
be content"
Whether for present or future comfort
cannot too earnestly recommend your ac-
quainting yourselves with good books.
They are the best of companions. In
sickness, in misfortune, in sorrow, in sleep
less nights and days of pain, you will find
your recollection of great and wholesome
literature a constant solace and refresh
ment. And as man is known by the
company he keeps, still more truly is
he known by the books he reads and
The authors he loves. Read only the
best books and never read bad ones. Good
books will nerve you for the work-the Sc
rious and earnest work, which is the lot of
all true and good men. For, to quote
great writer, DR.. Young, the author of the
"Night Thoughts, " not from that book,
however, but from his "Satires," book
much less known:
This is the scene of combat, not Of rest.
Mans is laborous happiness at best.
On this side death his labors never cease.
His joys are joys of conquest, not of peace.
Il ord COleridOe in COntemnorar Reviey