J04 OS REAnLNG. 



If we might vniture to give a single precept comprehensively ex- 

 pressing our views on this subject, it would be this : Be careful in the 

 selection of hooks^ and read wiih attention. Dr. Arnold, in one of his 

 excellent letters, has this remark : " I would say, as a good general 

 rule, never read tlie works of an ordinary man, except on scientific mat- 

 ters, or when they contain simple matters of fact." This strikes us as 

 very sensible ; and it will serve, in some sort, as a guide in the exceed- 

 ingly difficult matter of selecting our books. For it is as important to 

 know lohat to read as how to read ; as important to read good books, as 

 to read them well. 



Choose then good books, and read them with attention. Let the 

 habit be formed of careful deliberation, and reflection on what is read. 

 The subject before us should be mastered : at least, we should understand 

 what the author means to say about it. This may be a slow process ; 

 but it is a sure one to acquire true wisdom. And if this habit be early 

 formed you will be able to read rapidly enough. Let it be borne in 

 mind that the number of books read is not the important point. It is 

 not the "mif/<a," but the ^hnuUiun, about which you should be most 

 concerned. Remember that it is not the multitude of other men's 

 thoughts crowded irregularly into your mind, that will make you truly 

 wise, and give you great weight of character. Wisdom is only to be 

 attained by your own reflection on what you read : by the independent 

 action of your own mind, sifting, separating, combining, and deducing 

 sound principles from well selected materials. There is much good 

 sense, if little poetry, in these lines of Cowper : 



" Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 

 Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells 

 In heads replete with thoughts of other men, 

 Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. 

 Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass. 

 The mere materials with which wisdom builds. 

 Till smooth'd, and squared and fitted to its place, 

 Does but encumber whom it seems t'enrich. 

 Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; 

 Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." 



It were eas^' to cite examples illustrative of the benefits of the course 

 here commended. Grinike informs us, that in the outset of iiis career, 

 he consumed a whole month in the perusal of a single moderate sized 

 duodecimo volume : and yet he afterwards became a great reader. De- 

 mosthenes, as most of our readers are aware, frequently read, and with 

 his own hand several times copied, the writings of Thucydides. And 

 modern orators have made Demosthenes, in turn, the subject of oft re- 



