PHILOSOPHY.

[177]"French Revolution." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[178]"History of France," "Norman Conquest of England." (France, 19th cent.)

[179]"Germania." His "Life of Agricola" is also worthy of note for the insight into character, the pathos, vigor, and affection manifested in its flattering pages. (Rome, 1st cent.)

[180]"History of Rome." (Rome, 1st cent.b. c.)

[181]"The War of Catiline." (Rome, 1st cent.b. c.)

[182]History of nearly all the nations known at the time he wrote. (Greece, 5th cent.b. c.)

[183]"Anabasis, the Retreat of the Greek Mercenaries of the Persian King." (Greece, 5th cent.b. c.)

[184]"History of the Athenian Domination of Greece." (Greece, 5th cent.b. c.)

[185]"History of the Jewish Wars." (Jerusalem, 1st cent.)Mackenzie's "History of the Nineteenth Century" is the best English book on the subject.Rawlinson's "Five Great Monarchies" is strongly recommended.

[185]"History of the Jewish Wars." (Jerusalem, 1st cent.)

Mackenzie's "History of the Nineteenth Century" is the best English book on the subject.

Rawlinson's "Five Great Monarchies" is strongly recommended.

There have been, since the waters of thought began to flow, two great streams running side by side,—Rationalism and Mysticism. Those who sail upon the former recognize Reason as king; those upon the latter enthrone some vague and shadowy power, in general known as Intuition. The tendency of the one is to begin with sense impressions, and out of these to build up a universe in the brain corresponding to the outer world, and to arrive at a belief in God by climbing the stairway of induction and analogy. The tendency of the other is to start with the affirmed nature of God, arrived at, the thinker knows not how, and deduce the universe from the conception of the Divine Nature. If this matter is kept in mind, the earnest student will be able to see through the mists sufficiently to discover what the philosophers are talking about whenever it chances that they themselves knew. Spencer, Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Locke, are all worthy of a thorough reading; and Comte's philosophy of Mathematics is of great importance.

The manner of reading good philosophic works should be: R. D. G.

[186]Spencer's Philosophy is the grandest body of thought that any one man has ever given to the world. No one who wishes to move with the tide can afford to be unfamiliar with his books, from "First Principles" to his Essays. He believes that all ideas, or their materials, have come through the avenues of the senses. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[187]Plato and Socrates are a double star in the sky of Philosophy that the strongest telescopes have failed to resolve. Socrates wrote nothing, but talked much. Plato was a pupil of his, and makes Socrates the chief character in his writings. Ten schools of philosophy claimed Socrates as their head, but Plato alone represented the master with fulness. Considering the times in which he lived, the grandeur of his thought, the power of his imagination, and the nobility, elegance, originality, and beauty of his writings, Plato has no superior in the whole range of literature. With Plato, ideas are the only realities, things are imperfect expressions of them, and all knowledge is reminiscence of what the soul learned when it was in the land of spirit, face to face with ideas unveiled. Read his dialogues, especially "Phædo" and the "Republic." (Greece, 429-348b. c.)

[188]A most acute idealist, whose argument against the existence of matter is one of the great passages of literature. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[189]Kant argues that theformsofthought,time, andspaceare necessarily intuitive, and not derived from sensation, since they are prerequisites to sensation. Read the "Critique of Pure Reason," "Critique of Practical Reason," in which he treats moral philosophy, and "Observations on the Sublime and Beautiful." (Germany, 18th cent.)

[190]Locke bases knowledge on sensation. His "Essay on the Conduct of the Understanding" is one of the most valuable books in the language. Spencer, Mill, and Locke have so fully imbibed all that was good in Hobbes that it is scarcely necessary to read him. (Eng., 17th cent.)

[191]Comte's "Positive Philosophy" rejects intuitive knowledge. It is characterized by force of logic, immense research, great power of generalization (which is frequently carried beyond the warrant of facts), and immense bulk. (France, 19th cent.)

[192]Sensationalist. A very strong writer. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[193]"Limits of Religious Thought." A very powerful exposure of the weakness of human imagination. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[194]"Matter and Force." A powerful presentation of Materialism. (Ger., 19th cent.)

[195]"Freedom of the Will." A demonstration of the impossibility of free will. (Amer., 18th cent.)

[196]A very acute English philosopher. (Eng., 1748-1832.)

[197]Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[198]A deep, clear thinker, of sceptical character, who laid bare the flaws in the old philosophies. (Eng., 1711-1776.)

[199]One of the most profound metaphysicians the world can boast, and inventor of quaternions, the latest addition to Mathematics. (Scot., 19th cent.)

[200]Aristotle was the Bacon of the Old World. His method was the very opposite of Plato's. He sought knowledge chiefly by carefully looking out upon the world, instead of by introspection. No one has exerted a greater influence on the thought of the world than this deep and earnest thinker. (Greece, 4th cent.b. c.)

[201]A very beautiful writer of the idealist school, though he claims to be eclectic. (France, 19th cent.)

[202]Hegel endeavored, by the method set forth in his "Absolute Logic," to reduce all knowledge to one science. (Ger., 1770-1831.) Schelling, in his "Philosophy of Identity," tries to prove that the same laws hold in the world of spirit as in the world of matter. Schelling bases his system on anintuitionsuperior to reason, and admitting neither doubt nor explanation. (Ger., 1775-1854.)

[203]Fichte carries the doctrines of Kant to their limit: to him all except the life of the mind is a delusion. (Ger., 18th cent.)

[204]A great German philosopher of the time of Luther (16th cent.), very learned, refined, and witty. Read his "Familiar Colloquies."

[205]"Cosmic Philosophy." (Amer. 19th cent.)

[206]"Rational Cosmology, or the Eternal Principles and Necessary Laws of the Universe." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[207]Scottish Philosophy. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[208]Theologico-politico-moral, voluminous dissertations. (Amsterdam, 17th cent.)

Next to Shakspeare's Plays, Emerson's Essays and Lectures are to me the richest inspiration. At every turn new and delightful paths open before the mind; and the poetic feeling and imagery are often of the best. Only the music and the power of discriminating the wheat from the chaff were lacking to have made one of the world's greatest poets. To pour into the life the spirit of Emerson, Bacon, and Montaigne is a liberal education in itself. Addison's"Spectator" is inimitable in its union of humor, sense, and imagination. A number of eminent men, Franklin among them, have referred to it as the source of their literary power.

Read these essays: R. D. C. G.

[209]Emerson's Essays and Lectures certainly deserve our first attention in this department, because of their poetic beauty and stimulating effect upon the imagination and all that is pure and strong and noble in the character. (Amer., 19th cent.)

[210]Nowhere can be found so much wit and wisdom to the square inch as in Bacon's Essays. (Eng., 1600.)

[211]Montaigne is the most popular of all the world's essayists, because of his common-sense, keen insight, and perfect frankness. The only author we certainly know to have been in Shakspeare's own library. (France, 1580.)

[212]Ruskin's "Ethics of the Dust," "Crown of Wild Olives," "Sesame and Lilies," while somewhat wild in substance as well as in title, are well worthy of reading for the intellectual stimulus afforded by their breadth of view, novelty of expression and illustration, and the intense force—almost fanaticism—which characterizes all that Ruskin says. Ruskin is one of three living writers whom Farrar says he would first save from a conflagration of the world's library. Carlyle is another of the same sort. Read his "Past and Present," a grand essay on Justice. (Eng., 19th cent.)So far as style is concerned, Addison's Essays in the "Spectator" are probably the best in the world.

So far as style is concerned, Addison's Essays in the "Spectator" are probably the best in the world.

In modern times much that is best in literature has gone into the pages of the novel. The men and women of genius who would in other days have been great poets, philosophers, dramatists, essayists, and humorists have concentrated their powers, and poured out all their wealth to set in gold a story of human life. Don't neglect the novels; but be sure to readgoodones, and don't read too many.

In fiction, England, America, and France are far ahead of the rest of the world. Scott may well be held to lead the list, considering the quantity and quality of what he wrote; and Dickens, I presume, by many would be written next, though I prefer the philosophic novelists, like George Eliot, Macdonald, Kingsley, Hugo, etc. Fielding, Richardson, Goldsmith, Sterne, and Defoe, Jane Austen, Cooper, and Marryat all claim our attention on one account or another.

The United States can boast of Hawthorne, Tourgée, Wallace, Hearn, Aldrich, Warner, Curtis, Jewett, Craddock, and many others.

France has a glorious army, led by Victor Hugo, George Sand, Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, Mérimée, etc. But the magnificent powers of these artists are combined with sad defects. Hugo is the greatest literary force since Goethe and Scott; but his digressions are sometimes terribly tedious, his profundity darkness,and his "unities," his plot, and reasons for lugging in certain things hard to find. Balzac gives us a monotony of wickedness. George Sand is prone to idealize lust. "Notre Dame" and "Les Misérables," "Le Père Goriot" and "Eugénie Grandet," "Consuelo" and "La Mare au Diable," "Capitaine Fracasse" and "Vingt Ans Après," are great books; but they will not rank with "Tom Jones" artistically, nor with the "Vicar of Wakefield," "Ivanhoe," "Adam Bede," "Romola," or "The Scarlet Letter," considering all the elements that go to make a great novel.

Germany, Italy, and Spain have no fiction that compares with ours.

No doubt many will be surprised to find Fielding, Balzac, Tolstoï, and others placed so low in the list as they are. The reason is that the moral tone of a book is, with us, a weightier test of its claims on the attention of the general reader, than the style of the author or the merit of his work from an artistic point of view. There might be some doubt whether or no we ought not to exclude from our tables entirely all books that are not noble enough in character to admit of their being read aloud in the family. The trouble is that much of the finest literature of the world would have to be excluded. So there seems to be no course but to admit these men, with a note as to their character.

One who wishes to make a study of the novel will be interested in Dunlop's "History of Fiction," Tuckerman's "History of English Prose Fiction," Hazlitt's"English Novelists," Lanier's "Novel," Masson's "British Novelists and their Styles," and Jeaffreson's "Novels and Novelists."

The best fiction should be read: R. D. G.

[213]"Heart of Midlothian," "Waverley," "Ivanhoe," "Kenilworth," "Guy Mannering," "The Antiquary," "Rob Roy," "Old Mortality," "Red Gauntlet," etc. Scott is by very many—and among them some of the greatest—loved more than any other novelist. The purity, beauty, breadth, and power of his works will ever place them among the most desirable reading. (Eng., 19th cent.) Hutton's "Sir Walter Scott," Carlyle's "Essay on Scott," Hazlitt's Essay in "The Spirit of the Age," and other books referred to in the head notes to Poetry and Fiction will be useful to the student of Scott.

[214]"Adam Bede," "Mill on the Floss," "Romola," "Silas Marner," etc. Deep philosophy and insight into character mark all George Eliot's writings. (Eng., 19th cent.) Lanier's "Development of the Novel" is practically only an enthusiastic study of George Eliot.

[215]"Pickwick," "David Copperfield," "Bleak House," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Old Curiosity Shop," etc. Dickens needs no comment. His fame is in every house. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[216]Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," "Marble Faun," "Great Stone Face," etc., are by universal consent accorded the first place in the lists of American novels, and are among the best to be found anywhere. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[217]"Vicar of Wakefield." One of Goethe's earliest favorites. (Eng., 18th cent.)

[218]"Rienzi," "Last Days of Pompeii," "Last of the Barons," etc. Most powerful, delightful, and broadening books. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[219]"Malcolm," "Marquis o' Lossie," "David Elginbrod," etc. Books of marvellous spiritual helpfulness. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[220]"Esmond," "Vanity Fair," etc. Very famous books. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[221]"Westward, Ho!" "Two Years Ago," etc. Among the best and most famous pictures of true English character. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[222]"Ben Hur." This book has been placed close to the Bible and Bunyan. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[223]"Hot Plowshares," "The Fool's Errand," "The Invisible Empire," "Appeal to Cæsar," etc. Books widely known, but whose great merit is not fully recognized. Tourgée, though uneven, seems to us a writer of very great power. His "Hot Plowshares" is a powerful historical novel; and few books in the whole range of literature are so intensely interesting, and so free from all that is objectionable in subject or execution. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[224]"Les Misérables," "Notre Dame de Paris," "Les Travailleurs de la Mer," etc. Wraxall's translations of these great French novels are most excellent. (France, 19th cent.)Some critics think that no characters in Shakspeare are better drawn than those of Dumas. "Monte Cristo," "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" (Stevenson's favorite), "The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "The Marie Antoinette Romances," etc., are powerful and intensely interesting novels. (France, 19th cent.)

[224]"Les Misérables," "Notre Dame de Paris," "Les Travailleurs de la Mer," etc. Wraxall's translations of these great French novels are most excellent. (France, 19th cent.)

Some critics think that no characters in Shakspeare are better drawn than those of Dumas. "Monte Cristo," "The Vicomte de Bragelonne" (Stevenson's favorite), "The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "The Marie Antoinette Romances," etc., are powerful and intensely interesting novels. (France, 19th cent.)

[225]"Robinson Crusoe." There are few persons who do not get delight and inspiration from Defoe's wonderful story. (Eng., 1661-1731.)"Tom Brown at Rugby" and "Tom Brown at Oxford," by Thomas Hughes, are delightful books for boys. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[225]"Robinson Crusoe." There are few persons who do not get delight and inspiration from Defoe's wonderful story. (Eng., 1661-1731.)

"Tom Brown at Rugby" and "Tom Brown at Oxford," by Thomas Hughes, are delightful books for boys. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[226]Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was God's bugle-call to the war against slavery. Her "Oldtown Folks" and "Sam Lawson's Fireside Stories" are very humorous sketches of New England life. (U. S., 19th cent.)Cooper's "The Spy," "The Pilot," "Leather Stocking," "Deerslayer," "Pathfinder," etc., are books that interfere with food and sleep, and chain us to their pages. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Cooper's "The Spy," "The Pilot," "Leather Stocking," "Deerslayer," "Pathfinder," etc., are books that interfere with food and sleep, and chain us to their pages. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[227]"Prue and I," by George William Curtis, is one of the most suggestive stories in print, and is in every way a delightful book. "Potiphar Papers," "Our Best Society," "Trumps," "Lotus Eaters,"—in fact, everything Mr. Curtis writes, is of the highest interest, and worthy of the most careful attention. (U. S., 19th cent.)The same may be said of the works of Charles Dudley Warner,—"Being a Boy," "A Hunting of the Deer," "In the Wilderness," "Backlog Studies," "My Summer in a Garden," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)

The same may be said of the works of Charles Dudley Warner,—"Being a Boy," "A Hunting of the Deer," "In the Wilderness," "Backlog Studies," "My Summer in a Garden," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[228]T. B. Aldrich, while perhaps not destined to rank with Scott, Eliot, and Hawthorne, is nevertheless one of the most wholesome and interesting of living authors. "The Stillwater Tragedy" is his strongest book. "Prudence Palfrey," "The Story of a Bad Boy," "Margery Daw," and "The Queen of Sheba" will doubtless be read by those who once become acquainted with the author. (U. S., 19th cent.)The first part of Hearn's "Chita" exceeds in beauty and strength any other piece of descriptive writing with which we are familiar. (U. S., 19th cent.)

The first part of Hearn's "Chita" exceeds in beauty and strength any other piece of descriptive writing with which we are familiar. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[229]Ebers' "Homo Sum," "Uarda," and "An Egyptian Princess" are very powerful studies of Egyptian life and history. (Ger., 19th cent.)"With Fire and Sword," and its sequels, "The Deluge" and "Pan Michael," by Henryk Sienkiewicz, are among the greatest books of modern times. They are historical romances of the conflict between Russia, Poland, and Sweden; and their power may be guessed from the fact that critics have compared the author favorably with Scott, Dumas, Schiller, Cervantes, Thackeray, Turgenieff, Homer, and even Shakspeare. (Poland, 19th cent.)

[229]Ebers' "Homo Sum," "Uarda," and "An Egyptian Princess" are very powerful studies of Egyptian life and history. (Ger., 19th cent.)

"With Fire and Sword," and its sequels, "The Deluge" and "Pan Michael," by Henryk Sienkiewicz, are among the greatest books of modern times. They are historical romances of the conflict between Russia, Poland, and Sweden; and their power may be guessed from the fact that critics have compared the author favorably with Scott, Dumas, Schiller, Cervantes, Thackeray, Turgenieff, Homer, and even Shakspeare. (Poland, 19th cent.)

[230]Miss Austen's "Emma," "Pride and Prejudice" (Eng., 19th cent.), and Charlotte Bronté's "Jane Eyre" (Eng., 19th cent.), are all noble and renowned novels.

[231]Louisa Alcott's "Little Women" is a lovely story of home life; and its exceeding popularity is one of the most encouraging signs of the growth of a taste for pure, gentle, natural literature. (U. S., 19th cent.)Mrs. Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy" deservedly met at once a high reward of popularity, and was placed in the front rank among stories of child-life. As a teacher of gentleness and good manners it is invaluable. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Mrs. Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy" deservedly met at once a high reward of popularity, and was placed in the front rank among stories of child-life. As a teacher of gentleness and good manners it is invaluable. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[232]Cable's "Grande Pointe," "The Grandissimes," etc., should be read by all who wish to know the best living novelists. (U. S., 19th cent.)Craddock's "Where the Battle was Fought," "Despot of Broomsedge Cove," "Prophet of Great Smoky Mountain," "Story of Keedon Bluffs," and "Down the Ravine" are fascinating stories, the last two being fine books for children. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[232]Cable's "Grande Pointe," "The Grandissimes," etc., should be read by all who wish to know the best living novelists. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Craddock's "Where the Battle was Fought," "Despot of Broomsedge Cove," "Prophet of Great Smoky Mountain," "Story of Keedon Bluffs," and "Down the Ravine" are fascinating stories, the last two being fine books for children. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[233]Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's "Sights and Insights," though somewhat too wordy for this busy world, is worthy a place here, because of its spiritual beauty and its keen common-sense in respect to marriage and courtship. (U. S., 19th cent.)Sarah Orne Jewett has won a good name by her excellent stories, "Deephaven," "Betty Leicester," etc. Her "Play Days" is a fine book for girls. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Sarah Orne Jewett has won a good name by her excellent stories, "Deephaven," "Betty Leicester," etc. Her "Play Days" is a fine book for girls. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[234]Fielding, Le Sage, and Balzac are writers of great power, whose works are studied for their artistic merit, their wit, and the intense excitement some of them yield; but the general moral tone of their writings places them below the purer writers above spoken of in respect to their value to the general reader, one of whose deepest interests is character-forming.Fielding's "Tom Jones" is by many considered the finest novel in existence; and it undoubtedly would be, if along with its literary skill it possessed the high tone of Curtis or Scott. "Jonathan Wild" is also a powerful story. (Eng., 18th cent.)"Gil Blas," by Le Sage, is one of the most famous and widely read books in the world. (France, 1668—1747.)Balzac's best are "Le Père Goriot" (and especially the magnificent preface to this book), "La Recherche de l'Absolu," "Eugénie Grandet," "La Peau de Chagrin," etc. (France, 19th cent.)

Fielding's "Tom Jones" is by many considered the finest novel in existence; and it undoubtedly would be, if along with its literary skill it possessed the high tone of Curtis or Scott. "Jonathan Wild" is also a powerful story. (Eng., 18th cent.)

"Gil Blas," by Le Sage, is one of the most famous and widely read books in the world. (France, 1668—1747.)

Balzac's best are "Le Père Goriot" (and especially the magnificent preface to this book), "La Recherche de l'Absolu," "Eugénie Grandet," "La Peau de Chagrin," etc. (France, 19th cent.)

[235]Rousseau's "Emile" has been called the greatest book ever written; but we presume that bias and limitation of knowledge on the part of critics (not rare accomplishments of theirs) might procure a similar judgment in respect to almost any strong and peculiar book. Rousseau's "Confessions" are worth some attention. (France, 18th cent.)Saintine's "Picciola" is a beautiful story. (France, 19th cent.)

Saintine's "Picciola" is a beautiful story. (France, 19th cent.)

[236]Coffin's "Boys of '76," "Boys of '61," "Story of Liberty," etc., are splendid books for young people. The last describes the march of the human race from slavery to freedom. (U. S., 19th cent.)Charles Reade's "Hard Cash," "Peg Woffington," "Cloister and Hearth" are fascinating stories. (Eng., 19th cent.)Warren's "Ten Thousand a Year."

[236]Coffin's "Boys of '76," "Boys of '61," "Story of Liberty," etc., are splendid books for young people. The last describes the march of the human race from slavery to freedom. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Charles Reade's "Hard Cash," "Peg Woffington," "Cloister and Hearth" are fascinating stories. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Warren's "Ten Thousand a Year."

[237]Landor's "Imaginary Conversations of Great Men." (Eng., 18th cent.)Turgenieff's "Liza," "Smoke," and "Fathers and Sons." (Russia, 19th cent.)Eugene Sue's "Wandering Jew."Manzoni's "I promessi Sposi."

[237]Landor's "Imaginary Conversations of Great Men." (Eng., 18th cent.)

Turgenieff's "Liza," "Smoke," and "Fathers and Sons." (Russia, 19th cent.)

Eugene Sue's "Wandering Jew."

Manzoni's "I promessi Sposi."

[238]Cottin's "Elizabeth."Besant's "All Sorts and Conditions of Men." (Eng., 19th cent.)Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." A book that teaches the danger of giving way to the evil side of our nature.

[238]Cottin's "Elizabeth."

Besant's "All Sorts and Conditions of Men." (Eng., 19th cent.)

Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." A book that teaches the danger of giving way to the evil side of our nature.

[239]Mrs. Ward's "Robert Elsmere" is a famous picture of the struggle in the religious mind to-day. (Eng., 19th cent.)Margaret Deland's "John Ward, Preacher," is a book of the same class as the last, but is not as interesting as her "Florida Days" or her Poems. (U. S., 19th cent.)Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" is the autobiography of a noble horse, and is tender and intelligent. A book that every one who has anything to do with horses, or indeed with animals of any sort, cannot afford to neglect. (Eng., 19th cent.)Bret Harte's "Luck of Roaring Camp" is an interesting picture of Western life, and opens a new vein of fiction. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[239]Mrs. Ward's "Robert Elsmere" is a famous picture of the struggle in the religious mind to-day. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Margaret Deland's "John Ward, Preacher," is a book of the same class as the last, but is not as interesting as her "Florida Days" or her Poems. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" is the autobiography of a noble horse, and is tender and intelligent. A book that every one who has anything to do with horses, or indeed with animals of any sort, cannot afford to neglect. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Bret Harte's "Luck of Roaring Camp" is an interesting picture of Western life, and opens a new vein of fiction. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[240]Green's "Hand and Ring," "Leavenworth Case," etc., are splendid examples of reasoning, without any of the objectionable features usually found in detective stories. (U. S., 19th cent.)Miss Mulock's "John Halifax, Gentleman," is a great and famous book. (Eng., 19th cent.)Disraeli's "Lothair," "Endymion," etc., are strong books; requiring the notice of one who reads widely in English fiction. (Eng., 19th cent.)Howells' "A Modern Instance," "The Undiscovered Country," "A Hazard of New Fortunes," "A Chance Acquaintance," "Lady of the Aroostook," etc., are not objectionable. (U. S., 19th cent.)Tolstoï's "Anna Karénina" deserves mention, though we cannot by any means agree with Howells that Tolstoï is the greatest of novelists. The motive and atmosphere of his books are not lofty, and some of his work is positively disgraceful. (Russia, 19th cent.)

[240]Green's "Hand and Ring," "Leavenworth Case," etc., are splendid examples of reasoning, without any of the objectionable features usually found in detective stories. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Miss Mulock's "John Halifax, Gentleman," is a great and famous book. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Disraeli's "Lothair," "Endymion," etc., are strong books; requiring the notice of one who reads widely in English fiction. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Howells' "A Modern Instance," "The Undiscovered Country," "A Hazard of New Fortunes," "A Chance Acquaintance," "Lady of the Aroostook," etc., are not objectionable. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Tolstoï's "Anna Karénina" deserves mention, though we cannot by any means agree with Howells that Tolstoï is the greatest of novelists. The motive and atmosphere of his books are not lofty, and some of his work is positively disgraceful. (Russia, 19th cent.)

[241]George Sand's "Consuelo" is a great book in more senses than one; and although it deserves a place in this lower list, yet there are so many better books, that if one follows the true order, life would be likely to depart before he had time to read a four-volume novel by an author of the tone of George Sand. (France, 19th cent.)Black's "Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," "Princess of Thule." (Eng., 19th cent.)Blackmore's "Lorna Doone." (Eng., 19th cent.)Olive Schreiner's "Story of an African Farm" is powerful, but not altogether wholesome. (Eng., 19th cent.)

Black's "Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," "Princess of Thule." (Eng., 19th cent.)

Blackmore's "Lorna Doone." (Eng., 19th cent.)

Olive Schreiner's "Story of an African Farm" is powerful, but not altogether wholesome. (Eng., 19th cent.)

[242]Bremer's "The Neighbors." (Norway, 19th cent.)Trollope's "Last Chronicles of Barsetshire." (Eng., 19th cent.)Winthrop's "Cecil Dreeme," "John Brent." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[242]Bremer's "The Neighbors." (Norway, 19th cent.)

Trollope's "Last Chronicles of Barsetshire." (Eng., 19th cent.)

Winthrop's "Cecil Dreeme," "John Brent." (U. S., 19th cent.)

[243]Richardson's "Pamela" and "Clarissa Harlowe" are interesting, because they were the beginning of the English novel; but they are not nice or natural, and have no attractions except their historic position. (Eng., 1689-1761.)Smollett's "Humphrey Clinker" is his strongest work. "Peregrine Pickle" is very witty, and "Adventures of an Atom" altogether a miserable book. Smollett possessed power, but his work is on a very low plane. (Eng., 18th cent.)Boccaccio's "Decameron" is a series of splendidly told tales, from which Chaucer drew much besides his inspiration. The book is strong, but of very inferior moral tone.

Smollett's "Humphrey Clinker" is his strongest work. "Peregrine Pickle" is very witty, and "Adventures of an Atom" altogether a miserable book. Smollett possessed power, but his work is on a very low plane. (Eng., 18th cent.)

Boccaccio's "Decameron" is a series of splendidly told tales, from which Chaucer drew much besides his inspiration. The book is strong, but of very inferior moral tone.

Great and successful oratory requires deep knowledge of the human mind and character, personal force, vivid imagination, control of language and temper, and a faculty of putting the greatest truths in such clear and simple and forceful form, that they may not only be grasped by untrained minds, but will break down the barriers of prejudice and interest, and fight their way to the throne of the will. Oratory is religion, science, philosophy, biography, history, wit, pathos, and poetryin action. This department of literature is therefore of the greatest value in the development of mind and heart, and of the power to influence and control our fellows. Especially read and study Demosthenes on the Crown, Burke's "Warren Hastings' Oration," Webster's"Reply to Hayne," Phillips' "Lovejoy" and "Toussaint L'Ouverture," and Lincoln's "Gettysburg," his debates with Douglas, and his great speeches in New York and the East before the War, in which fun, pathos, and logic were all welded together in such masterly shape that professors of oratory followed him about from city to city, studying him as a model of eloquence. There is a book called "Great Orations of Great Orators" that is very valuable, and there is a series of three volumes containing the best British orations (fifteen orators), and another similar series of American speeches (thirty-two orators).

In what wit consists, and why it is we laugh, are questions hard to answer (read on that subject Spencer and Hobbes, and Mathews' "Wit and Humor; their Use and Abuse"); but certain it is that a little seasoning of fun makes intellectual food very palatable, and much better adapts it for universal and permanent assimilation. Most men can keep what is tied to their memories with a joke. Considering all things, Lowell, Holmes, Dickens, and Cervantes are the best humorists the world affords. See Table III. Group4. They exhibit a union of power and purpose that is not found elsewhere. They always subordinate wit to wisdom, always aim at something farhigher than making fun for its own sake, never appear to make any effort for their effects, and always polish their work to perfection. A great deal of the keenest wit will be found in books whose general character puts them in some other column,—Poetry, Fiction, Oratory, etc. The works of Shakspeare, Addison, Eliot, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Irving, Higginson, Carleton, Thackeray, Hood, Saxe, Fielding, Smollett, Aristophanes, Molière, etc., abound in wit and humor.

The student of humor will be interested in Hazlitt's "English Comic Writers," Thackeray's "English Humorists," and Besant's "French Humorists."

[244]"Fable for Critics," "Biglow Papers." Considering the keenness and variety of wit, the depth of sarcasm, the breadth of view, and the importance of its subject, the "Biglow Papers" is the greatest humorous work of all history. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[245]"Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," "Professor at the Breakfast-Table," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[246]"Pickwick Papers." (Eng., 19th cent.)

[247]"Don Quixote." (Spain, 1547-1616.)

[248]Along with much violent scoffing, and calling of his betters by hard names, Ingersoll's speeches contain some of the keenest wit in the language. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[249]Marietta Holley's "Sweet Cicely," "Samantha at the Centennial," "Betsey Bobbet," "My Wayward Pardner," "Samantha at Saratoga," "Samantha among the Brethren," etc., are full of quaint fun, keen insight, and common-sense. They are somewhat more wordy than we wish they were, but they are wholesome, and the author's purpose is always a lofty one. Her fun is not mere fun, but is like the laughing eye and smiling lip of one whose words are full of thought and elevated feeling. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[250]G. W. Curtis's "Potiphar Papers" is a good example of quiet, refined humor. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[251]Chauncey M. Depew's Orations and After-Dinner Speeches are worthy of perusal by all lovers of wit and sense. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[252]Mark Twain is the greatest of those who make humor the primary object. He does not, like Artemus Ward, make it the sole object,—there is a large amount of keen common-sense in his "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and there is also in it an open-mindedness to the newest currents of thought that proves the author to be one of the most wide-awake men of the day. "Innocents Abroad," "The Prince and the Pauper," "Roughing It," etc., are very amusing books, the only drawback being that the reader is sometimes conscious of an effort to be funny. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[253]Charles Dudley Warner's "In the Wilderness" gives some exceedingly amusing sketches of backwoods life. See also other books mentioned under the head of Fiction. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[254]S. K. Edwards' "Two Runaways, and Other Stories" is a book that no lover of humor can afford to be without. (U. S., 19th cent.)

[255]E. E. Hale's "My Double, and How He Undid Me," and other stories contain much innocent recreation. (U. S., 19th cent.)

Back to Index Next