BOO 



BOO 



not worth reading. It feems neceflary, therefore, to have 

 other indications, whereby to prevent our being at the charge 

 of procuring, or the pains of perufing a worthlefs book. 

 Divers rules of this kind are given by Baillet, Struvius, 

 Stollius, and others ; which, though in reab'ty no more than 

 prefiimptions, and frequently liable to be falfilied, are not 

 without their ufe. The journalifts de Trevoiix objefted to 

 them all : " The fhorteft way," fay they, " to judge of a 

 book is to read it, if you be qualified in the fubjeA ; other- 

 wife to refer yourfelf to thole who are fo." Heuman is 

 fomewhat more explicit ; making it a mark that " a book 

 is good, when it is efteemed by perfons intelligent in the 

 fubjeft it treats of ; and when thofe who commend it re- 

 ceive no advantage from the applaufe they beltovv on it, nor 

 are leagued with the author in any cabal, for efpoufing any 

 particular principle, f^ Hem, or patty, in religion or learning." 

 Baillet, Jugem. des Sgav. torn. i. b.ii. p. 12 i. Struv. Introd. 

 ad Not. Rei Liter, cap. 5. § 3. p. 390. StoU. Introd. Hift. 

 Liter, p. i. (J 11. p. 9. Budd. de Criteriis boni libri, paflim. 

 Mem. de Trev. an. 1712. Art. ij. Heuman. Confp. Rei- 

 publ. Liter, cap. vi. $11. p. 280. 



But more particularly, it is an indication that a book is 

 good; I. If the author be known to excel in that talent 

 more immediately necelTary for fuch a fubjeft ; or have al- 

 ready publifhed any thing on the fame that is efteemed. 

 Thus we may conclude, that Julius Cxfar will teach us the 

 art of war better than Peter Ramus ; Cato, Palladius, and 

 Columella, agriculture better than Ariltotle ; and Cicero, 

 oratory better than M. Varro : add, that it is not enough 

 the author be lliilled in the faculty, but that he be fo in the 

 particular branches of it, concerning which he treats ; fome, 

 for inftance, excel in the civil law, yet not in the public 

 law ; Salmafius proved himfelf an excellent critic in his Ex- 

 ercitat. Plinian. but was much inferior to Milton in his Dc- 

 fenfio Regia. 2. If the book be on a fubjeft that requires 

 great reading, it may be prcfumed good, if the author had 

 a copious library, or could have accefs to one ; or if he lived 

 in a place where books were not wanting ; though here is 

 danger too of running into excefs of quotations ; efpecially, 

 fays Struvius, if the author be a lawyer. 3. A book which 

 took up a long time in compofmg, cannot often fail of being 

 good. 4. Books on points of doftrine by ecleftic writers, 

 are to be prefumed better than thofe writ by the retainers to 

 particular litis. 5. The age of a writer may alfo give us 

 fome indication : books, which require labour, are ufnally 

 better performed by younger perfons than thofe who are far 

 advanced in years. 6. Another indication may be taken 

 from the author's ftate and condition : thus, hiftory written 

 by a perfon who was an eye-witnefs to what he relates, or 

 is concerned in public affairs, or has accefs to the public re- 

 cords, or other monuments, from whence intelligence may 

 be drawn ; who is not biaflfed by party, or any other indi- 

 reft or finifter motive, will be fuppofed to be good. Thus 

 Salluft and Cicero were well able to write the hiftory of Ca- 

 taline's confpiracy. D'Avila, de Coraines, Guicciardin, 

 Clarendon, &c. were prefent in the civil wars they defcribe ; 

 Xenophon, having an employment in the Spartan ftate, has 

 treated excellently of that commonwealth ; and Amelot de 

 la Houflaye, by living long at Venice, was enabled to ex- 

 plain the fecrets of their policy. Camden wrote annals of 

 the affairs of his own time ; Thuanus had correfpondence 

 with the beft writers in every country ; and Puffendorf had 

 accefs to the public archives. So, in literary matters, we 

 give credit to thofe who have the direftion of libraries. 7. 

 The time or age wherein the author lived may give fome 

 light ; every age having, according to Barclay, its peculiar 



genius and excellency. See Bartholin. Struv. BiidJ. 

 Heuman. Baill. lib. cit. 



Some judge by the bulk or fize of books ; following the 

 grammarian Callimachus's rule, that even- great book is of 

 courfe an ill one, jitya. l?tc?M-j, jx'.ya y.ay.r>v ; a fingle leaf of 

 the Sybil was doubtlefs pieferable to the vaft annals of Vo- 

 luiius : yet Pliny's obfervations will neverthelefs hold true, 

 that " a good book is fo much the better by hov/ much it 

 is bigger." Plin. Epill. 20. lib. i. Martial prefcribes a re- 

 medy againft the lavgenefs of a book, when that is the only 

 complaint, read but a little of it : 



" Si nimius vidtar, feraque coronide longus 



EITe liber, Icgito pauca, libellus ero." ^ 



Yet is the fmallnefs of a book a real prefumption in its 

 favour: he muft be a poor author, who cannot furnifh a 

 pamphlet, or loofe flieet, \\ ith things curious, and written 

 with ipirit ; but to fupport the fame through a volume in 

 folio, requires very extraordinary abilities indeed. Addif. in 

 Spec. N'^ 124. 



There are fome general miftakes, which perfons are fre- 

 quently guilty of in paffing judgment on the books which 

 they read. One is, when a treatife is written but tolerably 

 well, we are ready to pronounce a favourable judgment of 

 it, and fametimes to exalt its charafter far beyond its merit, 

 if it agree with our own principles and fupport the opinions 

 of our party. On the other hand, if the author be of dif- 

 ferent fentiments, and efpoufe contrary principles, we can 

 find neither wit nor reafon, good fenfe, nor good language 

 in it. For avoiding or corredling this error, it (hould be 

 confidered, that books are never to be judged of merely by 

 their fubjeft, or the opinion they reprefent, but by the juft- 

 nefs of their fentiments, the beauty of their manner, the 

 force of their expreflion, or the ftrength of reafon, and the 

 weight of juft and proper argument, which appear in them. 

 Another niiftake, which fome perfons fall into, is this : 

 When they read a treatife on any fubjeft, with which they 

 have but little acquaintance, they find almoft every thing 

 new and ftrange to them, their underftandings are much 

 gratified and improved by many things unknown to them 

 before ; and hence they are led to admire the treatile, and 

 commend the author: whereas, if they had previoufly attained 

 a confiderable degree of fliiil in that fcicnce, perhaps they 

 would have found that the author had written very indiffer- 

 ently, that neither his fenfe nor his method was juft and 

 proper, and that he delivered nothing that was not very 

 common or very trivial, in his dilcourfes on that fubjeft. 

 On the other hand, if we have made ourfeives matters of 

 any particular theme of knowledge, and fnrveyed it long oa 

 all fides, there is fcarcely any writer who much pleafes us 

 afterwards, becaufe we find little or nothing new in him ; 

 and yet in a true judgment perhaps his fentiments are unex- 

 ceptionably juft, his illuftrations clear, and his reafonings 

 forcible, and all the parts of the difcourfe are well connefted 

 and fet in a happy light ; but we knew moft of thefe thmgs 

 before, and therefore they do not ttrike us, and we are in 

 danger of difcommending them. There are fome other foU 

 lies into which perfons are apt to be betrayed in forming' 

 their judgment of books. Some perfons, who are of a for- ■ 

 vyard and lively temper, and who are fond of intermeddling 

 with all appearances of knowledge, will give their judgment 

 of a book as foon as the title of it is mentioned, for they 

 would not feem ignorant of any thing that others k now ; 

 and efpecially, if they happen to have any fuperior character 

 or poffeflions, they fancy they have a right to talk freely 

 and to pronounce magifterially on every thing, even of a hte-' 

 rary kind, that occurs. Thus, blind men will talk of the 



beauty 



