The Washington herald., 1909-03-28

Hence he crossed out all the Latins on
Lubbocks list except Lucretius and Ca
tullus. though he had a few good words
for Virgil in dismissing him
On his own list he placed the Morse
Sagas FrOissarts Chronicles" Omar
Khayyam, Blake-'that part OF him which
a mortal can understand and q great
deal OF Defoe. five books In all. He dis
carded Milton entirely, winding up by in
Guiding George Borrow's "Lavengro" and
''Romany Rye Mores Utopia" and
Grimms 'Teutonic Mythology"
When AIgernon Charles Swinburne made
out list he called II "the list OF stu
dent whose reading has lain mainly.
though by no means exclusively, IN the
line Of imaginative and creative literature
Instead OF the entire Bible. he maintained
that merely sections should be read. His
list Of poets and dramatists was particu-
larly extensive, comprising, besides most
Of those of Lubbocks list, Pindar. Villon.
MRrlowe. Webster, Rabelais, Landor. Mrs.
Browning. Ben JoRson, Beaumont. and
Fletcher, Ford, Dekkar. Rossetti. Donne,
Massinger, Congreve. Venbrugh. Collins,
Sucking. Prior, and De Mussett Other
special preferences OF Mr.. Swinburne
were Boccaccio. Lamb La Fontaine, Di-
derot Stendhal. Jane Austin. Leigh Hunt.
Mrs. Gaskell, and the Bronte sisters
Difference in Taste.
A list far different from that Of Sir John
Lubbock-One which shows how far per-
sonal tastes can diverge and how ex-
tremely difficult II is to decide what are
the best books-is that made some years
ago by Lord Acton, a well-known English
scholar. At first he thought OF asking for
list OF best books from a number OF
friends whose opinion IN the matter he
considered Of value. AS he was acquaint-
ed with James Russell Lowell. Tennyson,
Cardinal Newman. Gladstone Matthew
Arnold GOldwin Smith. John Morley. Sy-
monds. Laeky and Max Muller, these
lists. II obtained would have made inter
esting reading
Eventually. however. Lord Acton mere
" made out his own list The predomi-
nance Of authors on Il who are absolutely
unknown to the average reader is fairly
astounding. Only One-Dante-is OF the
authors whose work belongs 20 what De
Quincy called the literature OF power. In
contradistinction % the literature OF
knowledge. St. Bonaventure. Raymund OF
Sabunde, Molitor, Astie. Punjer, Oettin-
gen, Schneckenburger lie Blanc de Beau
lieu. and Donoso Cortes-th0se are some
OF the men whom Lord Acton exaits 70
the seats OF the mighuest.
ShOrter's Selections.
Clement K. Shorter became especially
wrought up as Lord ActOns august but
uDconvincing procession filed past his
eyes Finally he grasped pen and paper
himself and proceeded 20 make out a list
after his own heSrt. quite different from
Lord Acton's and considerably different
from Sir John LubbOck's.
Shorter reminded his readers that James
Payn had observed OF the latter list that
Ell would make a student a prig," adding
that his own list would do nothing OF the
sort
In fiction Shorter departed from Sir
John Lubbock's standards when he IN
cluded among his ''bests'' Richardson's s
"Clarissa." Johnson's "Rasselas," ," "Sterne's
Sentimental Journey" ana Peacocks s
Nightmare Abbey" also some Bronte.
Trollope. Hugo, Mrs. Gasken, George
sand, and Charles Lever
His twenty-five miscellaneous books"
included John Lothrop Motley. Steele.
Lamb. De Quincy, Haziitt.f Borrow, En-
ersOn. LandOr HoWells Taine de Toe
Queville. and IZaak Walton.
Among biographical and autobiographi-
cal works he put in LOckhart's Scott.
Pepys' Diary, the letters Of Sir Horace
WalpOle, SOutheys Nelson. Rousseau.
AmieTs Journal. Benjamin Franklin's Au-
photography, Forster's Dickens, Newman's =
Apologize. Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiog
raphy, and Brownies Religion BedicL
Frederic Harrison is another author who
has devoted many pages 20 the subject OF
the best books TO read. Regarding Shakes
J peare he says: 1T is better TO know his
/ eight or ten masterpieces thoroughly
rather than 20 treat his supposed pieces
with equal veneration."
Doubt on Some Points.
There may be doubts about the third
and fourth rank" he adds. but the first
4 and second are hardly open TO discussion
Putting aside the iced air OF the diff
cult mountain tops Of epic. tragedy. and
I psalm. there are some simple pieces which
may serve as an unerriug test OF a
/ healthy or a vicious taste for imaginative
work. II the cid. the Vita Nuova,' the
/ Canterbury Tales Shakespeares 'Son-
nets and Lyeidas pail on a man: II he
care not for Malory's Morte D'Arthur-
and the Red Cross Knight; II he thinks
| 'CrusOe' and the Vicar books for the
\ young; IL he thrill not with the ode to
/ the West Wind and the ode 10 a Grecian
I Urn II he have no stomach for 'Christa-
| belle or the lines written on The Wye
/ Above Tintern Abbey he should fall on
his knees and pray for a cleaner ana
/ quieter spirit"
some Curious Lists.
Among the lists OF best books made out
al various times there are some more val
liable as curiosities than as anything else
IN 1856 there was printed in London a
/ Directions for the Proper Choice OF Au-
/ thors 10 Form a Library" which. 10 the
reader OF the present day, is quaint pro-
/ duction. After enumerating some dozens
OF ancient philosophers and poets. the
compiler comes 10 a section OF wit and
/ HumOr," where appear Don QuixOte. ."
''Gil Bias" and Fielding. whose Amelia"
/ is called his best work Swift. too. is in
/ cluded, though apparently with great re-
! luctance. likewise Smollett
/ The best English dramatic authors. ac-
cording 10 this eighteenth century author
! -