The World's Best Books : A Key to the Treasures of Literature Part 15

[328] These are epitomized by Talboys Wheeler in his "History of India."

Very interesting and broadening. (Very ancient.)

[330] Not valuable reading intrinsically, but as opening the doors of communication with the minds and hearts of whole races of men, most useful. The Vedas are the Bible of the Hindus, and contain the revelation of Brahma (15th cent.). The Koran is the Mohammedan Bible (6th cent.). The Talmud belongs to the Rabbinical literature of the Jews, and is a collection of Jewish traditions (3d cent.).

[333] The works of Hooker, Swedenborg, Newton, Kepler, Copernicus, Laplace, should be actually _handled_ and _glanced through_ to form a nucleus of experience, around which may gather a little knowledge of these famous men and what they did. This remark applies with more or less of force to all the names on the second shelf. Few can hope to _read all_ these books, but it is practicable by means of general works, such as those mentioned in Column 13, to gain an idea of each man, his character and work; and there is no better way to put a hook in the memory on which such knowledge of an author may be securely kept, than to take his book in your hands, note its size and peculiarities (visual and tactual impressions are more easily remembered than others as a rule), glance through its contents, and read a pa.s.sage or two.

SHORT COURSES.

When the reader has a special purpose in view, it is of the greatest advantage to arrange in systematic order the books that will be most helpful in the accomplishment of his purpose, study them one after the other, mark them, compare them, make cross references from one to another, digest and a.s.similate the vital portions of each, and seek to obtain a mastery of all that the best minds of the past have given us in reference to the object of his effort. For example: a person who has devoted himself exclusively to one line of ideas will be greatly benefited by reading a short course of books that will give him a glimpse of each of the great fields of thought. One who is lacking in humor should get a good list of fine humorous works and devote himself to them, and to the society of fun-loving people, until he can see and enjoy a good joke as keenly as they do,--not only to quicken his perception of humor, but that the organ of fun (the gland that secretes wit and humor) may be roused into normal activity. Again, if a gentleman finds that he does not appreciate Shakspeare, Dante, Irving, etc., as he sees or is told that literary people do; if he prefers his newspaper to the English cla.s.sics as a source of pleasure and profit; if he sees little difference between Tennyson and Tupper, enjoys Bill Nye as much or more than Holmes, and is able to compare the verses he writes to his sweetheart with Milton without any very distinct feeling except perhaps a disgust for Milton,--if any of these things are true, he has need of a course to develop a literary taste.

In the three tables following will be found a suggestion of several important short courses, and others will be found on page 123 _et seq._

TABLE II.

A short special course, to gather _ideas_ of practical importance to every life, and to make a beginning in the gaining of that _breadth of mind_ which is of such vital value by reason of its influence on morals and the aid it gives in the attainment of truth.

1. Physiology and Hygiene. Read and digest the best books. See Table I.

Col. 3.

2. "Our Country," by Strong; the Const.i.tution of the United States; the Declaration of Independence, and Washington's Farewell. (All m. R. D.)

3. Mill's Logic; at any rate, the Canons of Induction and the Chapter on Fallacies, (m. R. D. C. G.)

4. Smiles's "Self-Help." (m. R. D.)

5. Wood's books on Natural History; especially his anecdotes of animals, and evidences of mind, etc., in animals (e. R. D.). Proctor's books on Astronomy, "Other Worlds than Ours," etc. (e. R. G.). Lubbock's "Primitive Condition of Man" (m. R.). Dawson's "Chain of Life" (m. R.).

In some good brief way, as by using the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," read _about_ Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Darwin, Herschel, Lyell, Harvey, and Torricelli.

6. Spencer's "First Principles." (d. R. D. G.)

7. Green's "Short History of the English People" (m. R. D. G.).

Bancroft's "History of the United States" (m. R. D. G). Guizot's "History of Civilization" (m. R. D. G.).

8. Max Muller's philological works, or some of them (m. R.). Taylor's "Words and Places" (m. R.).

9. In some public library, if the books are not accessible elsewhere, get into your hands the books named in Columns 12 and 13 of Table I., and not already spoken of in this table, and glance through each, reading a little here and there to make a rapid survey of the ground, acquire some idea of it, and note the places where it may seem to you worth while to dig for gold.

TABLE III.

A short course of the choicest selections from the whole field of general literature. It may easily be read through in a year, and will form a taste and provide a standard that will enable the reader ever after to judge for himself of the quality and value of whatever books may come before the senate of his soul to ask for an appropriation of his time in their behalf.

Very few books are requisite for this course, but it will awaken a desire that will demand a library of standard literature. No. 1, No. 2, etc., refer to the numbers of the "100 Choice Selections." Monroe's "Sixth Reader" and Palgrave's "Golden Treasury" are also referred to, because they contain a great number of these gems, and are books likely to be in the possession of the reader.

For the meaning of the other abbreviations, see the last section of the Introductory Remarks.

GROUP I.--_Poetry._

[*] in headings denotes "Degree of Difficulty."

+-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ [*] Manner of Where found. Reading. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ 1. SHAKSPEARE. Hamlet, especially noting Hamlet's Shakspeare's conversations with the Ghost, Plays are with his mother and Ophelia, his published advice to the players, his separately, soliloquy, and his discourse on d. R.D.C.G. and also the n.o.bleness of man together, Merchant of Venice, especially Richard Grant noting the scene in court, and White's the parts relating to Portia e. R.D.C.G. edition being Julius Caesar, especially noting the the best. speeches of Brutus and Antony, and the quarrel of Brutus and m. R.D.C.G. Ca.s.sius Taming of the Shrew e. R.G. Henry the Eighth m. R.D. Henry the Fourth, read for the wit of Falstaff m. R.D. Henry the Fifth, noting especially the wooing m. R.D. Coriola.n.u.s, noting especially the grand fire and force and frankness of Coriola.n.u.s m. R.D.C.G. Sonnets in Palgrave's Golden Treasury, Nos. 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 36, 46 m. R.D.C. 2. MILTON. The Opening of the Gates of h.e.l.l, one of the sublimest conceptions in literature. It is in Paradise Lost, about six pages from the end of Book II. Read sixty lines beginning, "Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe" d. R.D.G. Milton's Satan's Throne, ten lines at the Poems. beginning of Book II. m. R.D.G. Opening of Paradise Lost, 26 lines at the beginning of Book I. m. R.D.G. The Angels uprooting the Mountains and hurling them on the Rebels. Fifty lines beginning about the 640th line of Book VI., "So they in pleasant vein," etc. m. R.D.G. "Hail, Holy Light," fifty-five lines at the beginning of Book m. R.D.G. III. Comus, a masque, and one of the masterpieces of English d. R.D.C.G. Milton's literature Poems. L' Allegro, a short poem on mirth d. R.D.C.G. The last Il Penseroso, a short poem three of this on melancholy d. R.D.C.G. list are in Lycidas, a celebrated elegy d. R.G. Palgrave. 3. HOMER. Homer has had many Pope's translation. At least the translators, first book of the Iliad. A Pope, Derby, simple, clear story of battles Worsley, and quarrels, and counsels, Chapman, charming in its sublimity, Flaxman, pathos, vigor, and naturalness. Lang, Bryant, The world's greatest epic e. R.D.C.G. etc. 4. aeSCHYLUS. Potter, Morshead, Prometheus Bound, the sublimest of Swanwick, the sublime. Be sure to reach and Milman, and grasp the grand picture of the Browning have human race and its troubles which translated underlies this most magnificent aeschylus. The poem d. R.D.C.G. first two are Agamemnon, the grandest tragedy the best. in the world m. R.D.G. Flaxman's designs add much. 5. DANTE. Divine Comedy. Read Farrar's little Translated by Life of Dante (John Alden, Longfellow, N. Y.), and then take the Comedy Carey, John and read the thirty-third canto, Carlyle, the portions relating to the Butler, and h.e.l.ls of Incontinence and of Dean Church. Fraud, thepicture of Satan, and the whole of the Purgatorio d. R.D.G. 6. SPENSER. Faerie Queen, noting specially the first book and the book of Britomart, endeavoring to grasp and apply to your own life the truths that underlie the rich and beautiful imagery d. R.D.G. Spenser's Hymn in Honor of his own Wedding d. R.D.G. Poems. The Fable of the Oak and the Briar, in Calendar is Shepherd's Calendar, February m. R. published separately. 7. SCOTT. Lady of the Lake e. R. Scott's Poems, Marmion e. R. or separate. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+

+---------------------------------------------------------+ Transcriber's note: Numbers 8 and 9 are missing in the original. +---------------------------------------------------------+

GROUP II.--_Short Poetical Selections._

+-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ Manner [*] of Where found. Reading. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ 10. PAYNE. Home, Sweet Home e. C. LONGFELLOW. Psalm of Life. R.D.C. Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride Poems. The Building of the Ship e. R. (These may be found in most of the reading-books.) e. Suspiria, and the close of Morituri Salutamus m. R.D. HOLMES. Nautilus; the last stanza Autocrat of commit m. R.D. the The Stars and Flowers, a Breakfast- lovely little poem,--the Table. first verses in the Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table e. R.D. HUNT. Abou Ben Adhem e. R.D. Monroe. CAREW. The True Beauty e. R.D. Palgrave, 87. GRAY. Elegy in a Country Churchyard m. R.D.C. " 147. Hymn to Adversity m. R.D. " 159. Progress of Poesy m. R.D. " 140. The Bard m. R.D. " 123. SAXE. The Blind Men and the Elephant e. R.D. No. 4. JACKSON. Poems of The Release m. R.D. H. H. Jackson. 11. HOOD. Bridge of Sighs m. R.D. Palgrave, 231. Song of the Shirt e. R.D. No. 2. BURNS. Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon e. R.D. Palgrave, 139. To a Field-mouse e. R.D. " 144. Mary Morrison e. R.D. " 148. Bonnie Lesley e. R.D. " 149. Jean e. R.D. " 155. John Anderson e. R.D. " 156. A Man's a Man for a' that e. R.D. Burns's Poems. Auld Lang Syne e. R.D. Robert Bruce's Address to his Army e. R.D. MOORE. The Light of other Days e. R.D. Palgrave, 225. Come rest in this Bosom e. R.D. Irish Melodies At the Mid Hour of Night e. R.D. Irish Melodies Those Evening Bells e. R.D. Monroe. COLERIDGE. Rime of the Ancient Mariner d. R.D.G. Coleridge's Kubla Khan; a Picture of the Poems. Stream of Life d. R.D.G. Vale of Chamouni e. R. Monroe. WHITTIER. The Farmer's Wooing, in Among the Hills m. R.D.C. Whittier's The Harp at Nature's Advent Poems. Strung, etc., in Tent on the Beach m. R.D.C. Snow Bound, Centennial Hymn (No. 13), and at least glance athis Voices of Freedom m. R.D.C. Barefoot Boy e. R.D.C. TENNYSON. "Break, break, break, on thy Tennyson's cold gray Stones, O Sea" m. R.D.C. Poems. "Ring out, wild Bells," in the In Memoriam m. R.D.C. Bugle Song, in The Princess m. R.D.C. No. 2. Charge of the Light Brigade e. R.D.C. No. 2. The Brook e. R.D.C. Monroe. CHAUCER. The Clerk's Tale, or the Story of Grisilde, in the Chaucer's Canterbury Tales m. R. Poems. 12. KEY. The Star-Spangled Banner e. C. No. 4. DRAKE. The American Flag e. R. No. 1. SMITH. "My Country, 'tis of thee" e. C. BOKER. The Black Regiment e. R. No. 1. CAMPBELL, full of fire and martial music. Ye Mariners of England m. R.D.C. Palgrave, 206. Battle of the Baltic m. R.C. " 207. Soldier's Dream m. R.C. " 267. Hohenlinden m. R.C. " 215. Lord Ullin's Daughter m. R.C. " 181. Love's Beginning m. R.C. " 183. Ode to Winter m. R.C. " 256. THOMSON. Rule Britannia m. R.C. Palgrave, 122. LOWELL. The Crisis d. R.D.C.G. Lowell's Harvard Commemoration Ode d. R.D.C.G. Poems. The Fountain e. R.D.C.G. HALLECK. Marco Bozzaris e. R. No. 1. MACAULAY. Lays of Ancient Rome, especially Horatius, and e. R.D. No. 2. Virginia, also the Battle of Ivry m. R.D. No. 5. O'HARA. The Bivouac of the Dead MITFORD. Rienzi's Address m. R. No. 1. CROLY. Belshazzar m. R. No. 4. 13. Sh.e.l.lEY. Sh.e.l.ley's Poems. Ode to the West Wind m. R.D.C. Palgrave, 275. Ode to a Skylark m. R.D.C. " 241. To a Lady with a Guitar m. R.D.C. " 252. Italy m. R.D.C. " 274. Naples m. R.D.C. " 227. The Poet's Dream d. R.D.C. " 277. The Cloud, Sensitive Plant, etc. m. R.D.C. BYRON. Byron's Poems. All for Love m. R.D. Palgrave, 169. Beauty m. R.D. " 171. Apostrophe to the Ocean, and The Eve of Waterloo m. R.D.C. Monroe. The Field of Waterloo m. R.D.C. No. 1. (These are among the most magnificent poems in any language.) BRYANT. Thanatopsis m. R.C.G. No. 1. PRENTICE. The Closing Year m. R.C.G. No. 1. POE. The Bells; The Raven m. R.C.G. No. 1. Annabel Lee m. R. No. 5. KEATS. Keats's Poems. The Star m. R. Palgrave, 198. Ode to a Nightingale m. R. " 244. Ode to Autumn m. R. " 255. Ode on the Poets m. R. " 167. WORDSWORTH. A Beautiful Woman e. R.C. Palgrave, 174. The Reaper m. R. " 250. Simon Lee m. R. " 219. Intimations of Immortality " 367. HERBERT. Gifts of G.o.d e. R.D.C. " 74. READ. Drifting m. R.D.C. No. 1. Sheridan's Ride e. R. " FLETCHER. Melancholy e. R. Palgrave, 104. POPE. Rape of the Lock m. R. Pope's Poems. 14. INGELOW. The Brides of Enderby m. R. No. 2. High Tide, etc. COWPER. Loss of the Royal George e. R. Palgrave, 129. Solitude of Selkirk m. R. " 160. DRYDEN. Alexander's Feast d. R. " 116. COLLINS. The Pa.s.sions d. R. " 141. JONSON. Hymn to Diana m. R. " 78. ADDISON. Cato's Soliloquy m. R. No. 1. LODGE. Rosaline m. R. Palgrave, 16. HERRICK. Counsel to Girls e. R. " 82. The Poetry of Dress e. R. " 92. 15. GOETHE. Raphael Chorus,--a wonderful chorus of three stanzas in Faust. Read Sh.e.l.ley's translations, both literal and free, in his Fragments m. R.C.G. Sh.e.l.ley's Poems. OMAR KHAYYaM. Rubaiyat, especially the "moving shadow-shape" and the "phantom caravan" stanzas, for their magnificent imagery m. R.C.G. Fitzgerald's Translation. EURIPIDES. Chorus in Medea--Campbell's translation m. R.C.G. Campbell's Poems. CALDERON. Read Sh.e.l.ley's Fragments m. R.C.G. Sh.e.l.ley's Poems. SCHILLER. Schiller's The Battle m. R. Poems. No. 4. The Song of the Bell m. R. Publ. separately. MOLIeRE. Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite e. R.D. Moliere's Le Misanthrope, or The Plays. Man-Hater e. R.D. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+

GROUP III.--_Short Prose Selections._

+-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ Manner [*] of Where found. Reading. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ 16. LINCOLN. Gettysburg Oration. Famous for its calm, clear, simple beauty, breadth, and power m. R.C. No. 2. IRVING our greatest master of style; his prose is poetry. Rip Van Winkle e. R.D.C. Sketch Book. The Spectre Bridegroom e. R.D.C. " " The Art of Book-Making e. R.D.C. " " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow e. R.D.C. " " 17. BACON. Essay on Studies. Note the clearness and completeness of Bacon, and his tremendous condensation of thought m. R.D.C. Bacon's Essays. CARLYLE. Apostrophe to Columbus, p. 193 of Past and Present,-- Carlyle's finest pa.s.sage m. R.D.C. Await the Issue m. R.D.C. Monroe. The account of the conversational powers of Coleridge, given in Carlyle's Life of Sterling e. R.D.C. 18. WEBSTER. Liberty and Union,--a selection from the answer to Hayne in the United States Senate, on the question of the power of a State to nullify the acts of Congress, and to withdraw from the Union,--the greatest of American orations, and worthy to rank side by side with the world's best m. R.D.C. No. 1. PHILLIPS. Comparison of Toussaint L'Ouverture with Napoleon, Phillips's in his oration on Toussaint m. R.D.C. Speeches. 19. EVERETT. Discoveries of Galileo m. R. No. 1. BURRITT. One Niche the Highest e. R. No. 7. 20. HUGO. The Monster Cannon, one of the great Frenchman's master strokes,--a very thrilling scene, splendidly painted e. R. No. 11. Rome and Carthage m. R. No. 6. DE QUINCEY. n.o.ble Revenge m. R. No. 7. 21. POE. Murders in the Rue Morgue d. R. Little Cla.s.sics. INGERSOLL. Oration at the funeral of his Ingersoll's brother m. R. Prose Poems. 22. SCOTT. Thirty-sixth chapter of the Heart of Midlothian m. R. CURTIS. Nations and Humanity m. R. No. 11. 23. TAYLOR. The sections on Temperance and Chast.i.ty in the Holy Living and Dying m. R.D. BROOKS. Pamphlet on Tolerance,--the best book in the world on a most vital subject m. R.D. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+

GROUP IV.--_Wit and Humor_--_Short List._

+-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ Manner [*] of Where found. Reading. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+ 24. LOWELL. Biglow Papers e. R.D. Lowell's Fable for Critics d. R.D. Poems. The Courtin' e. R.D. HOLMES. Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table m. R.D. 25. CARLETON. Farm Ballads, especially the Visit of the School Committee, and The Rivals e. S. STOWE. Laughin' in Meetin' e. S. No. 11. TWAIN. On New England Weather e. S. No. 13. European Guides, and Innocents Turkish Baths e. S. Abroad. 26. d.i.c.kENS. Pickwick Papers e. S. JAMES DE MILLE. c.u.mnock's A Senator Entangled e. S. Choice Readings. LOVER. The Gridiron e. S. " " WHATELY. Historic Doubts regarding Publ. Napoleon e. S. separately. +-------------------------------------+-----+----------+---------------+

TABLE IV.

SUPPLEMENTARY GENERAL READING.

In addition to the short courses set forth in Tables II. and III., at the same time, if the reader has a sufficiency of spare hours, but always in subordination to the above courses, it is recommended that attention be given to the following books:--

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. (e. R. D.)

Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. (e. S.)

d.i.c.kens' Christmas Carol (m. R. D.); Cricket on the Hearth. (m. R. D.)

Ruskin's Crown of Wild Olive (m. R. D.); Ethics of the Dust (m. R. D.); Sesame and Lilies. (m. R. D.)