THE CHARM OF A BOOK. 29 



wonderful displays of Creative Wisdom which birds, 

 more strikingly than any other creatures, evince, 

 duly felt, without some knowledge of the principles 

 of mechanics, of geography, of the seasonal changes 

 on the earth and in the atmosphere, and of various 

 other collateral subjects. 



But these, instead of being objections to the 

 treating of ornithology in a manner rather more 

 scientific than is done in the usual books, are the 

 very strongest arguments in its favour. If the mind 

 has been rightly trained, so that the desire for know- 

 ledge has not been blunted, if the subject is interest- 

 ing, and if the manner of treating it is not repulsive, 

 then, the more forcibly that it brings before the 

 reader the fact, that there is not only still more know- 

 ledge to be sought after, but that the obtaining of 

 this additional knowledge is absolutely necessary to 

 the full and perfect enjoyment of that which is 

 already known, the greater is its value, because it is 

 calculated to effect the greater good. 



This is, in fact, at once the usefulness and the 

 charm of every book; and there is no volume which 

 the reader closes with regret that it should extend no 

 further, but which produces this effect chiefly by 

 hinting to him that there are other matters of which 

 he is still ignorant, and which it would be very 

 delightful to know. Indeed, this is the grand merit 

 of instruction, whether it is attempted by books or 

 by any other means. For the mind is a wonderful 

 thing in its working: it heeds none of those mecha- 

 nical obstacles which impede, or those lengths of 

 distance which fatigue, the body on its marches. If 

 the desire of knowledge can once be excited up to the 

 necessary ardour, the mind will find the means of 

 informing itself; so true is the saying, that " where 

 there is a wiU, there is a way." 



