158 



The Review of Reviews. 



Auguat 1, 1906. 



ing Mill. Enakin, Mart«nsen, Wallace. A. B. Bmce. Strong, 

 Kidd, Bishop Westcott, Bellamy, George, Smith, Eogerg, 

 ■• Present Day Tracts," and many others.— Yours very truly, 



JOHN WILLIAMS. 



J. HAVELOCK WILSON (Middlesbrough). 



B. 1858, Sunderland. Ed., at sea. Occ, Sea- 

 man. 



I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 24th, in which 

 you ask me which books have been the most helpful to me 

 in fighting my way up from the ship's forecastle to the 

 House of Commons. I found Macaulay's " History of Eng- 

 land ' most useful, but the books which have been the 

 most service to me in my work are all books relating to 

 merchants' shipping laws, not only of this country, but of 

 other countries. The English Merchants' Shipping Act con- 

 tains 746 sections, in adJition to some twenty-two sche- 

 dules. I have m?de a thorough study of the Merchants' 

 Siiipping Act, and did so from my advent in the Labour 

 Movement whicli represents the seamen. 



I have of course read ordinary literature. Dickens's 

 works, and works of other eminent authors.— Yours faith- 

 fully, J. HAVELOCK WILSON. 



J. WILSON (Durham, Mid.). 



B. 1839,. Durham. Ed., Dame's School. Occ, 

 Coal-miner. Rel., Primirive Methodist. 



Eeferring to the books which have been helpful to me, 

 I have from my boyhood been a greedy reader ; but for 

 the first few years of my life up to manhood I read in a 

 desultory manner, novels, travel, and adventure. But I 

 had before the point in life I have mentioned read the 

 Bible from end to end; but this was when I was at sea 

 and could not get any other book. 



When I reached man's estate I felt the need of a wider 

 and more solid reading. I took gram m ar and logic. In 

 the poets I read Homer. Milton. Shakespeare, Whittier and 

 LoweU. Political economy— J. S. Mill. H. Geor;e and Walker, 

 of America. Historj— RoUin, Green, Molesworth and Macan- 

 lay. Speaking of novels, my lavourite is Scott, with 

 Dickens and Lytton. In addition, I have tried to keep 

 myself up to an acquaintance with modern literature in 

 various forms. 



Starting frsm a meagre point, being left an orphan at 

 nine and a half, commencing work at that time and 

 having to liattle my way up amongst strangers, I had to 

 adopt a severe mode of self-education after I married. 

 I used to take an hour or two before I went to work or 

 after I came home, the time for studv dei>ending upon the 

 shift I was in. I ofttimes took an old grammar to the pit 

 with me. and when I had a minute I committed a portion 

 to memory. J. WILSON. 



There are several ver)- interesting features about 

 this series of letters. The first and most striking of 

 all is the frank manner in which many of the mem- 

 bers express their indebtedness to the Bible as their 

 most helpful Book. For a party pledged to secular 

 education this fact is noteworthy indeed. The 

 second is the fact that Dickens has evidently had 

 more influence upon the Labour men than any 

 other novelist. The third is that Henry George has 

 left a deep impression ujion the mind of the British 

 workmen. Ruskin and Carlyle, Mazzini and John 

 Stuart Mill have all influenced many; but the " Pil- 

 grim.'s Progress," "Robinson Crusoe," Bums, 

 Shakespeare and Scott still stand first. 



OTHER READERS OF OTHER BOOKS. 



" Books that have Influenced Me " appeared in 

 the Bn'tis/i Weekly in 1887. 



The series consisted of twelve papers, including 

 as a paper a postcard from Mr. Gladstone. The 

 other contributors were Robert Louis Stevenson, 

 Sir W. Besant, John Ruskin, P. G. Hamerton, Pro- 



fessor Blackie, Dean Farrar and Dr. Parker. The 

 other contributors were Rider Haggard, Dr. Walter 

 Smith, Dr. Marcus Dods and W. T. Stead. 



Mr, Gladstone named Aristotle, St. Augustine, 

 Dante and Bishop Butler as the four authors who 

 had most influenced him. 



R. Louis Stevenson — -Shakespeare, Dumas and 

 " The Pilgrim's Progress " in the first rank, then 

 Montaigne, the New Testament, Whitman's " Leaves 

 of Grass," Herbert Spencer, Lewes' " Life of 

 Goethe," Marcus Aurelius, Wordsworth, Meredith, 

 Thoreau and Hazlitt. 



Sir Walter Besant's list began with •' The Pil- 

 grim's Progress." Then came " Nicholas Nickleby," 

 " The Tempest," Pope's '' Homer," Scott, etc. 



John Riiskin said that Horace, Pindar and Dante 

 had influenced him the most. After these " The 

 Lady of the Lake," Pope's " Homer," Byron, Cole- 

 ridge, Keats, Bums and Moliere. Byron and Scott, 

 he said, had most influenced him in his literary 

 style. 



Dean Farrar was early and strongly influenced 

 by Hooker and Butler, and the prose writings of 

 Coleridge. Of poets he was most influenced by 

 Milton. 



Dr. Parker said he had been most influenced by 

 the Bible ; but among the books he most prized 

 were Buckle's " History of Civilisation " and Lecky's 

 " History of Rationalism" and " European Morals." 



BOOKS THAT SHAPED TOLSTOY. 



In the newly published " Life of Count Tolstoy," 

 the great Russian author specifies the books that 

 influenced him at different periods. Omitting the 

 Russian authors unknown in this countr)', the follow- 

 ing is Count Tolstoy's list: — 



FBOM 14 TO 21 YEASS OP AGE. 



The degree of 

 Title of Book. their infiuenee. 



The Gospel of St. Matthew ; the Sermon on the 



Mount ... ... Powerful. 



Sterne's " Sentimental Journey * 



Very great. 



Rousseau's " Confessions " Powerful. 



Rousseau's " Emile " Powerful. 



Rousseau's " Nouvelle Heloise " Very great. 



Pushkin's " Eugene Onegin " Very great. 



Schiller's " Robbers " Very great. 



Gogol's Novels ... Great. 



TurgeniefF's " Memoirs of a Sportsman " Very great. 



Dickens's " D.^vid Copperfield Powerful. 



Lermontoff' s " The Hero of our Times " Very great. 



Prescott's " The Conquest of Mexico " Great. 



FEOM 20 TO J5 YEAES op AGE. 



Goethe's " Hermann und Dorothea " 



Hugo's " Notre Dame de Paris " 



Plato's ■' Phaedo " and " The Symposium ' 



Very great. 

 Very great. 

 . -. Very great. ; 



" Odyssey " and " Iliad " Very great. 



Of all these authors Rousseau appears to have 

 influenced Tolstoy most. At fifteen he wore a medal- 

 lion portrait of Rousseau on his neck instead of a 

 cross. " I worshipped him." Stendhal, author of 

 " Chartreuse de Parme " and " Rouge et Noir," ' 

 taught Tolstov to understand war. 



