DISLIKE OF BOOKS. 5 



important age, when the mere memory of the school- 

 boy begins to give place to the speculation of the 

 youth. Here, I found few instances in which there 

 was not a desire, and a very ardent desire, to obtain 

 knowledge, not only of all the subjects which for- 

 mally belonged to the routine, but of all collateral 

 ones, of the existence of which any glimpse could be 

 obtained ; and in the cases v/hich formed exceptions, 

 I found that a very little retrospective analysis 

 explained the cause. But, almost the moment that 

 this youthful ardour impinged upon the book, its 

 impetus was dissipated as that of a cannon shot is 

 by a mound of loose earth ; so that, in the course of 

 a very short time, that which had been gone to with 

 so much desire, and begun with so much ardour, 

 became a mere task, performed with reluctance and 

 avoided by every means possible. When however 

 the subject as actually existing could be resorted to, 

 there was no lack of ardour ; and where this was not 

 practicable, the interpolation of something oral, and 

 in ordinary language, as a vinculum or tie, to bind the 

 book and the subject, was always a very tolerable 

 substitute. 



From this (and it v/as too general and too long- 

 continued for being a mistake, and too completely 

 free from a preconceived hypothesis or an ulterior 

 object to be a prejudice,) it was very apparent to 

 me that the fault was in the book ; for the ardour 

 remained and required no excitement, when the 

 subject could be seen in any other way than through 

 that medium. I am Vv-eli aware that this failure of 

 the ordinary and formal means of knowledge is gene- 

 rally imputed to dulness, or unsteadiness and love of 

 novelty, on the part of the learner. But, any one 

 who chooses to attend practically to the subject, or 



