AMONG My BOooKs. 314 
Dead.” There is something, I think, very delightful in - 
this idea: that we are able at our pleasure to have inter- 
course with these brilliant figures in the field of litera- 
ture. They are all there to minister to us in our every 
mood. We have them, and we have them at their best. 
‘A good book,” MILTON says in his ‘‘ Areopagitica,” 
“‘is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed 
and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” 
Of the English Essayists, LAMB holds the first place 
in my affe€tions. There is a quaint, rich, delicate fancy 
in the writings of “ The gentle Elia’—a charm of 
style which is delightful. His Essays, “ The Praise of 
Chimney Sweepers,” “‘ Mackery End in Hertfordshire,” 
“ Poor Relations,” ‘‘ A Dissertation upon Roast Pig,” 
and “ The old Margate Hoy,” are my favourites, while I 
have long entertained a very sincere regard for the memory 
of Mrs. SARAH BATTLE on account of her eminently 
sound opinions on whist. As a matter of fa&, however, 
where all is good, distinétion of this sort is invidious, 
LEIGH HUNT’s Essays charm by their delicate touches 
of fancy and imagination, and in perusing them we can- 
not fail to be struck by the wideness of his reading. 
I think it was LAMB, who said LEIGH HUNT wrote 
“ Under the shadow of Books.” LEIGH HUNT, we 
must observe, inherited Barbadian blood from his father. 
The Essays of ADDISON, HAZLITT, and DE QUINCEY 
are favourites of mine. Among ADDISON’S charaéter 
sketches, commend me to “Ned Softly, the Poet’? and 
‘‘The Political Upholsterer” for gentle but effeétive 
satire. “Sir Roger de Coverley,” the good old knight, 
will always live as an example of delicate portrayal of 
charaéter, | | 
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