Jiine 20, 1891. 



OUR COLUMNS. 



19 



wisdom is stored up I What a plenitude of instruction and pleasure may we derive from 

 them if ^ye will ! Yes, literature is indeed an invaluable resource for those to turn to who 

 have time at their disposal. It is a perennial fountain of living Avaters, of whose sweetness 

 when once we have tasted anon we thii'st for more — 



Quo plus sunt potae plus sithmtur aquae. 



And we are not, Tantalus-like, doomed to disappointment ; for we may di'aw for ever from 

 the wells of wisdom, and still find them ever full. Of course Ave cannot be always 

 poring oA'er books, nor is it wholesome that Ave should be. I am conA'inced, hoAA'ever, that 

 if people in general Avere to take up books only on occasions Avhen they really had nothing 

 else in particular to attend to, they Avould be all the happier for it. The late Lord 

 Liverpool, Avho presided over the government of this country during the immortal 

 victories of "Wellington, used to make it his rule to read every day books to diA'ert him 

 from the cares of office. And he AA'as Avise. As Gliomas Hood once Avittily suggested, a 

 load of cares may be lightened by a load of books. Charlotte Eronte found it so. " I 

 have recourse," said she, " to books as to friends. They shorten and cheer many an horn- 

 that would be too long and desolate otherwise." And AA'hat Cicero thought of the 

 healthful solace afforded to the mind by literary studies all Latin scholars well knoAv. 



Hacc sfuch'a," he AATote, '''' adulescentiam alufit, senectutem ohlectant ; secundas ?'es ornant^ 

 adversis solatium et perfugium praehent ; delectant domi, non impediunt foris ; pernoctant 

 nohiscum., peregrinantu}\ rusticantury 



Truly, books are an invaluable heljD to fill up our A'acant hours. Still, as has been 

 implied already, temperance in reading is just as necessary as temperance in everything 

 else. The rule we should be guided by is this — to observe a due proportion in the exercise 

 of mind and body. Although I Avoidd seriously impress upon all members of our Library 

 the great adA-antage of being readers, and of aA'ailing themseh^es of the stores of 

 information and entertainment to be found on our sheWes, I Avould urge them to be 

 temperate readers, not mere skimmers of light and sensational novels, but readers of good, 

 sound, solid books, calculated to afford them good, sound, solid intellectual nourishment, as 

 good, sound, AA-holesome food is better adapted to promote their bodily strength than a 

 perpetual diet of jam-tarts and sugar-plums. 



Happy is the man AA'ho possesses a good library of his own, and makes a diligent use of 

 it. But scarcely less happy are those who have access to a good public library, such as 

 ours is, and are earnest students of its contents. 



The few remarks I haA'e noAv penned, I am fully aAvare are very trite and common-place. 

 If, howcA'er, they should induce any readers of Our Columns to appreciate more than 

 before the value of the Bedford Literary and Scientific Institute and General Library, and 

 to persuade their friends to join it, I shall be amply rewarded for this fugitiA^e paper, and 

 ?hall have contributed, it may be, a wee bit to the sum of human happiness. 



Is the portrait which has been for some time past on vicAv in the Library that of 

 Nicholas Roaa'c, Poet Laureate, the translator of Lucan, and the author of " The Fair 

 Penitent," " Jane Shore," and other dramas ? If so, it ought to be added to our collection 

 of local celebrities. Though belonging to a DcA'onshire family, he was undoubtedly born 

 at Little Barford, in this Coimty, and consequently Bedfordshire has an equitable right to 

 claim him. Steps are being taken to establish the authenticity of the picture. Whether 

 it is the Avork of Kneller or not can only be decided by an expert, but there can hardly be 

 tAvo opinions as to its artistic excellence. 



