VIII Lord Acton’s List of the Hundred Best Books
Every one has heard of Lord Avebury’s (Sir John Lubbock’s) Hundred Best Books, not every one of Lord Acton’s. It is the privilege of the Pall Mall Magazine 225 to publish this latter list, the final impression as to reading of one of the most scholarly men that England has known in our time. The list in question is, as it were, an omitted chapter of a book that was one of the successes of its year—The Letters of Lord Acton to Miss Mary Gladstone—published by Mr. George Allen. That series of letters made very pleasant reading. They showed Lord Acton not as a Dryasdust, but as a very human personage indeed, with sympathies invariably in the right place.
Nor can his literary interests be said to have been restricted, for he read history and biography with avidity, and probably knew more of theology than any other layman of modern times. In imaginative literature, however, his critical instinct was perhaps less keen. He called Heine “a bad second to Schiller in poetry,” which is absurd; and he thought George Eliot the greatest of modern novelists. In arriving at the latter judgment he had the excuse of personal friendship and admiration for a woman whose splendid intellectual gifts were undeniable.
In one letter we find Lord Acton discussing with Miss Gladstone the eternal question of the hundred best books. Sir John Lubbock had complained to her of the lack of a guide or supreme authority on the choice of books. Lord Acton had replied that, “although he had something to learn on the graver side of human knowledge,” Sir John would execute his own scheme better than almost anybody. We all know that Sir John Lubbock attempted this at a lecture delivered at the Great Ormond Street Working Men’s College; that that lecture has been reprinted again and again in a book entitled The Pleasures of Life, and that the publishers have sold more than two hundred thousand copies—a kind of success that might almost make some of our popular novelists turn green with envy. Later on in the correspondence Lord Acton quoted one of the popes, who said that “fifty books would include every good idea in the world.” “But,” continued Lord Acton, “literature has doubled since then, and it would be hard to do without a hundred.”
Lord Acton was possessed of the happy thought that he would like some of his friends and acquaintances each to name his ideal hundred best books—as for example Bishop Lightfoot, Dean Church, Dean Stanley, Canon Liddon, Professor Max Muller, Mr. J. R. Lowell, Professor E. A. Freeman, Mr. W. E. H. Lecky, Mr. John Morley, Sir Henry Maine, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Tennyson, Cardinal Newman, Mr. Gladstone, Matthew Arnold, Professor Goldwin Smith, Mr. R. H. Hutton, Mr. Mark Pattison, and Mr. J. A. Symonds. Strange to say, he thought there would be a surprising agreement between these writers as to which were the hundred best books. I am all but certain, however, that there would not have been more than twenty books in common between rival schools of thought—the secular and the ecclesiastical—between, let us say, Mr. John Morley and Cardinal Newman. But it is probable that not one of these eminent men would have furnished a list with any similarity whatever to the remainder. Each would have written down his own hundred favourites, and herein may be admitted is an evidence of the futility of all such attempts. The best books are the books that have helped us most to see life in all its complex bearings, and each individual needs a particular kind of mental food quite unlike the diet that best stimulates his neighbour. Writing more than a year later, Lord Acton said that he had just drawn out a list of recommended authors for his son, as being the company he would like him to keep; but this list is not available—it is not the one before me. That was compiled yet another twelve months afterwards, when we find Lord Acton sending to Miss Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew) his own ideal “hundred best books.” This list is now printed for the first time. Evidently Miss Gladstone remonstrated with her friend over the character of the list; but Lord Acton defended it as being in his judgment really the hundred best books, apart from works on physical science—that it treated of principles that every thoughtful man ought to understand, and was calculated, in fact, to give one a clear view of the various forces that make history. “We are not considering,” he adds, “what will suit an untutored savage or an illiterate peasant woman, who would never come to an end of the Imitation.”
However, here is Lord Acton’s list, which Mrs. Drew has been kind enough to place in the hands of the Editor of the Pall Mall Magazine. I give also Lord Acton’s comment with which it opens, and I add in footnotes one or two facts about each of the authors:
“In answer to the question: Which are the hundred best books in the world?
“Supposing any English youth, whose education is finished, who knows common things, and is not training for a profession.
“To perfect his mind and open windows in every direction, to raise him to the level of his age so that he may know the (20 or 30) forces that have made our world what it is and still reign over it, to guard him against surprises and against the constant sources of error within, to supply him both with the strongest stimulants and the surest guides, to give force and fullness and clearness and sincerity and independence and elevation and generosity and serenity to his mind, that he may know the method and law of the process by which error is conquered and truth is won, discerning knowledge from probability and prejudice from belief, that he may learn to master what he rejects as fully as what he adopts, that he may understand the origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems and the better motive of men who are wrong, to steel him against the charm of literary beauty and talent; so that each book, thoroughly taken in, shall be the beginning of a new life, and shall make a new man of him—this list is submitted”:—
1. Plato—Laws—Steinhart’s Introduction. 230a
2. Aristotle—Politics—Susemihl’s Commentary. 230b
3. Epictetus—Encheiridion—Commentary of Simplicius. 230c
4. St. Augustine—Letters. 230d
5. St. Vincent’s Commonitorium. 231a
6. Hugo of S. Victor—De Sacramentis. 231b
7. St. Bonaventura—Breviloquium. 231c
8. St. Thomas Aquinas—Summa contra Gentiles. 231d
9. Dante—Divina Commedia. 232a
10. Raymund of Sabunde—Theologia Naturalis. 232b
11. Nicholas of Cusa—Concordantia Catholica. 232c
12. Edward Reuss—The Bible. 232d
13. Pascal’s Pensées—Havet’s Edition. 233a
14. Malebranche, De la Recherche de la Vérité. 233b
15. Baader—Speculative Dogmatik. 233c
16. Molitor—Philosophie der Geschichte. 233d
17. Astié—Esprit de Vinet. 233e
18. Pünjer—Geschichte der Religions-philosophie. 234a
19. Rothe—Theologische Ethik. 234b
20. Martensen—Die Christliche Ethik. 234c
21. Oettingen—Moralstatistik. 234d
22. Hartmann—Phänomenologie des sittlichen Bewusstseins. 234e
23. Leibniz—Letters edited by Klopp. 235a
24. Brandis—Geschichte der Philosophie. 235b
25. Fischer—Franz Bacon. 235c
26. Zeller—Neuere Deutsche Philosophie. 235d
27. Bartholomess—Doctrines Religieuses de la Philosophie Moderns. 236a
28. Guyon—Morale Anglaise. 236b
29. Ritschl—Entstehung der Altkatholischen Kirche. 236c
30. Loening—Geschichte des Kirchenrechts. 236d
31. Baur—Vorlesungen über Dogmengeschichte. 237a
32. Fénelon—Correspondence. 237b
33. Newman’s Theory of Development. 237c
34. Mozley’s University Sermons. 237d
35. Schneckenburger—Vergleichende Darstellung. 238a
36. Hundeshagen—Kirckenvorfassungsgeschichte. 238b
37. Schweizer—Protestantische Centraldogmen. 238c
38. Gass—Geschichte der Lutherischen Dogmatik. 238d
39. Cart—Histoire du Mouvement Religieux dans le Canton de Vaud. 238e
40. Blondel—De la Primauté. 239a
41. Le Blanc de Beaulieu—Theses. 239b
42. Thiersch.—Vorlesungen über Katholizismus. 239c
43. Möhler—Neue Untersuchungen. 239d
44. Scherer—Mélanges de Critique Religieuse. 240a
45. Hooker—Ecclesiastical Polity. 240b
46. Weingarten—Revolutionskirchen Englands. 240c
47. Kliefoth—Acht Bücher von der Kirche. 240d
48. Laurent—Etudés de l’Histoire de l’Humanitè. 240e
49. Ferrari—Rèvolutions de l’ltalie. 241a
50. Lange—Geschichte des Materialismus. 241b
51. Guicciardini—Ricordi Politici. 241c
52. Duperron—Ambassades. 241d
53. Richelieu—Testament Politique. 242a
54. Harrington’s Writings. 242b
55. Mignet—Négotiations de la Succession d’Espagne. 242c
56. Rousseau—Considérations sur la Pologne. 243a
57. Foncin—Ministère de Turgot. 243b
58. Burke’s Correspondence. 243c
59. Las Cases—Mémorial de Ste. Hélène. 243d
60. Holtzendorff—Systematische Rechtsenzyklopädie. 244a
61. Jhering—Geist des Römischen Rechts. 244b
62. Geib—Strafrecht. 244c
63. Maine—Ancient Law. 245a
64. Gierke—Genossenschaftsrecht. 245b
65. Stahl—Philosophie des Rechts. 245c
66. Gentz—Briefwechsel mit Adam Müller. 246a
67. Vollgraff—Polignosie. 246b
68. Frantz—Kritik aller Parteien. 246c
69. De Maistre—Considérations sur la France. 246d
70. Donoso Cortès—Ecrits Politiques. 247a
71. Périn—De la Richesse dans les Societes Chretiennes. 247b
72. Le Play—La Réforme Sociale. 247c
73. Riehl—Die Bürgerliche Sociale. 247d
74. Sismondi—Etudes sur les Constitutions des Peuples Libres. 248a
75. Rossi—Cours du Droit Constitutionnel. 248b
76. Barante—Vie de Royer Collard. 248c
77. Duvergier de Hauranne—Histoire du Gouvernement Parlementaire. 249a
78. Madison—Debates of the Congress of Confederation. 249b
79. Hamilton—The Federalist. 249c
80. Calhoun—Essay on Government. 249d
81. Dumont—Sophismes Anarchiques. 250a
82. Quinet—La Révolution Française. 250b
83. Stein—Sozialismus in Frankreich. 250c
84. Lassalle—System der Erworbenen Rechte. 251a
85. Thonissen—Le Socialisme depuis l’Antiquité. 251b
86. Considérant—Destines Sociale. 251c
87. Roscher—Nationalökonomik. 251d
89. Mill—System of Logic. 251e
90. Coleridge—Aids to Reflection. 252a
91. Radowitz—Fragmente. 252b
92. Gioberti—Pensieri. 252c
93. Humboldt—Kosmos. 253a
94. De Candolle—Histoire des Sciences et des Savants. 253b
95. Darwin—Origin of Species. 253c
96. Littré—Fragments de Philosophie. 253d
97. Cournot—Enchaînements des Idées fondamentales. 253e
98. Monatschriften der wissenschaftlichen Vereine. 254
This list, written in 1883 in Miss Gladstone’s (Mrs. Drew’s) Diary, must always have an interest in the history of the human mind.
But my readers will, I imagine, for the most part, agree with me that there are others besides untutored savages and illiterate peasant women to whom such a list is entirely impracticable. It indicates the enormous preference which on the whole Lord Acton gave to the Literature of Knowledge over the Literature of Power, to use De Quincey’s famous distinction. With the exception of Dante’s Divine Comedy there is practically not a single book that has any title whatever to a place in the Literature of Power, a literature which many of us think the only thing in the world of books worth consideration. Great philosophy is here, and high thought. Who would for a moment wish to disparage St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, or Aquinas the Angelic? Plato and Pascal, Malebranche and Fenelon, Bossuet and Machiavelli are all among the world’s immortals. Yet now and again we are bewildered by finding the least important book of a well-known author—as for example Rousseau’s Poland instead of the Confessions and Coleridge’s Aids to Reflection instead of the Poems or the Biographia Literaria. Think of an historian whose ideal of historical work was so high that he despised all who worked only from printed documents, selecting the Memorial of St. Helena of Las Casas in preference not only to a hundred-and-one similar compilations concerning Napoleon’s exile, but in preference to Thucydides, Herodotus and Gibbon.
Sometimes Lord Acton names a theologian who is absolutely out-of-date, at others a philosopher who is in the same case. But on the whole it is a fascinating list as an index to what a well-trained mind thought the noblest mental equipment for life’s work. At the best, it is true, it would represent but one half of life. But then Lord Acton recognized this when he asked that men should be “steeled against the charm of literary beauty and talent,” and he was assuming in any case that all the books in aesthetic literature, the best poetry and the best history had already been read, as he undoubtedly had read them.
“The charm of literary beauty and talent!” There is the whole question. Nothing really matters for the average man, so far as books are concerned, but this charm, and I am criticizing Lord Acton’s list for the average man. The student who has got beyond it need not worry himself about classified lists. He may read his Plato, and Aristotle, his Pascal and Newman, his Christian apologists and German theologians, as he wills; or he may read in some other quite different direction. Guidance is impossible to a mind at such a stage of cultivation as Lord Acton had in view.
Only minds at a more primitive stage of culture than this most learned and most accomplished man seemed able to conceive of, could be bettered by advice as to reading. Given, indeed, contact with some superior mind, which out of its rich equipment of culture should advise as to the books that might be most profitably read, I could imagine advice being helpful. It would be of no value, it is true, to an untutored savage or illiterate peasant, but to a youth fresh from school-books and much modern fiction, to a young girl about to enter upon life in its more serious aspects, it would be immensely serviceable. It was of such as these that Mr. Ruskin thought when he wrote of “King’s Treasures” in Sesame and Lilies, and the same idea was doubtless in Sir John Lubbock’s mind when he lectured on the “Hundred Best Books.” But Lord Avebury’s list had its limitations, it seems to me, for any one who has an interest in good literature and guidance to the reading thereof. To give “Scott” as one book and “Shakspere” as another was I suggest to shirk much responsibility of selection. Scott is a whole library, Shakspere is yet another. One may give “Keats” or “Shelley” because they are more limited in quantity. Even to name novels by Charles Kingsley and Bulwer Lytton in this select hundred was to demonstrate to men of this generation that Lord Avebury being of an earlier one had a bias in favour of the books that we are all outgrowing. To include Mill’s Logic is to ignore the Time Spirit acting on philosophy; to include Tennyson’s Idylls its action on poetry. Mill and Tennyson will always live in literature but not I think by these books.
But the fact is that there is no possibility of naming the hundred best books. No one could quarrel with Lord Avebury if he had named these as his hundred own favourites among the books of the world. Still, it might have been his hundred; it could not possibly have been any one else’s hundred because every man of education must make his own choice. No! the naming of the hundred best books for any large, general audience is quite impossible. All that is possible in such a connexion is to state emphatically that there are very few books that are equally suitable to every kind of intellect. Temperament as well as intellectual endowment make for so much in reading. Take, for example, the Imitation of Christ. George Eliot, although not a Christian, found it soul-satisfying. Thackeray, as I think a more robust intellect, found it well nigh as mischievous as did Eugene Sue, whose anathematizations in his novel The Wandering Jew are remembered by all. Other books that have been the outcome of piety of mind leave less room for difference of opinion. Surely Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, make an universal appeal. That universal appeal is the point at which alone guidance is possible. There are great books that can be read only by the few, but surely the very greatest appeal alike to the educated and the illiterate, to the man of rich intellectual endowment and to the man to whom all processes of reasoning are incomprehensible. Hamlet is a wonderful test of this quality. It “holds the boards” at the small provincial theatre, it is enacted by Mr. Crummles to an illiterate peasantry, and it is performed by the greatest actor to the most select city audience. It is made the subject of study by learned commentators. It is world-embracing.
Are there in the English language, including translations, a hundred books that stand the test as Hamlet stands it? No two men would make the same list of books that answer to this demand of an universal appeal, and obviously each nation must make its own list. Mine is for English boys and girls just growing into manhood and womanhood, or for those who have had no educational advantages in early years. I exclude living writers, and I give the hundred in four groups.
Poetry
1. The Bible. 260a
2. The Odyssey, translated by Butcher and Lang. 260b
3. The Iliad, translated by Lang, Leaf and Myers.
4. Aeschylus, translated by George Warr. 261a
5. Sophocles, translated by J. S. Phillimore.
6. Euripides, translated by Gilbert Murray.
7. Virgil, translated by Dryden. 261b
8. Catullus, translated by Theodore Martin. 261c
9. Horace, translated by Theodore Martin. 261d
10. Dante, translated by Cary. 262a
11. Shakspere, Hamlet. 262b
12. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. 262c
13. FitzGerald, Omar Khayyám. 263a
14. Goethe, Faust. 263b
15. Shelley. 263c
16. Byron. 263d
17. Wordsworth. 264a
18. Keats. 264b
19. Burns. 264c
20. Coleridge. 264d
21. Cowper. 264e
22. Crabbe. 265a
23. Tennyson. 265b
24. Browning. 265c
25. Milton. 265d
Fiction
1. The Arabian Nights Entertainment. 266a
2. Don Quixote, by Cervantes. 266b
3. Pilgrim’s Progress, by Bunyan. 266c
4. Robinson Crusoe, by Defoe. 266d
5. Gulliver’s Travels, by Swift. 267a
6. Clarissa, by Richardson. 267b
7. Tom Jones, by Fielding. 267c
8. Rasselas, by Johnson. 267d
9. Vicar of Wakefield, by Goldsmith. 268a
10. Sentimental Journey, by Sterne. 268b
11. Nightmare Abbey, by Peacock. 268c
12. Kenilworth, by Walter Scott. 268d
13. Père Goriot, by Balzac. 268e
14. The Three Musketeers, by Dumas. 269a
15. Vanity Fair, by Thackeray. 269b
16. Villette, by Charlotte Brontë. 269c
17. David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. 269d
18. Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope. 269e
19. Boccaccio’s Decameron. 269f
20. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë. 270a
21. The Cloister and the Hearth, by Charles Reade. 270b
22. Les Misèrables, by Victor Hugo. 270c
23. Cranford, by Mrs. Gaskell. 270d
24. Consuelo, by George Sand. 270e
25. Charles O’Malley, by Charles Lever. 270f
Miscellaneous.history, Essays, etc.
1. Macaulay, History of England. 271a
2. Carlyle, Past and Present. 271b
3. Motley, Dutch Republic. 271c
4. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 271d
5. Plutarch’s Lives. 272a
6. Montaigne’s Essays. 272b
7. Richard Steele, Essays. 272c
8. Lamb, Essays of Elia. 272d
9. De Quincey, Opium Eater. 272e
10. Hazlitt, Essays. 273a
11. Borrow, Lavengro. 273b
12. Emerson, Representative Men. 273c
13. Landor, Imaginary Conversations. 273d
14. Arnold, Essays in Criticism. 273e
15. Herodotus, Macaulay’s Translation. 273f
16. Howell’s Familiar Letters. 274a
17. Buckle’s History of Civilization. 274b
18. Tacitus, Church and Brodribb’s Translation. 274c
19. Mitford’s Our Village. 274d
20. Green’s Short History of the English People. 274e
21. Taine, Ancient Régime. 275a
22. Bourrienne, Napoleon. 275b
23. Tocqueville, Democracy in America. 275c
24. Walton, Compleat Angler. 275d
25 White, Natural History of Selbourne. 276a
Biographical and Autobiographical
1. Boswell’s Johnson. 276b
2. Lockhart’s Scott. 276c
3. Pepys’s Diary. 276d
4. Walpole’s Letters. 277a
5. The Memoirs of Count de Gramont. 277b
6. Gray’s Letters. 277c
7. Southey’s Nelson. 277d
8. Moore’s Byron. 277e
9. Hogg’s Shelley. 278a
10. Rousseau’s Confessions. 278b
11. Froude’s Carlyle. 278c
12. Rogers’s Table Talk. 279a
13. Confessions of St. Augustine. 279b
14. Amiel’s Journal. 279c
15. Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. 279d
16. Lewes’s Life of Goethe. 279e
17. Sime’s Life of Lessing. 280a
18. Franklin’s Autobiography. 280b
19. Greville’s Memoirs. 280c
20. Forster’s Life of Dickens. 280d
21. Madame D’Arblay’s Diary. 280e
22. Newman’s Apologia. 281a
23. The Paston Letters. 281b
24. Cellini’s Autobiography. 281c
25. Browne’s Religio Medici. 281d
My readers for the most part have read every one of these books. I throw out this list as a tentative effort in the direction of suggesting a hundred books with which to start a library. The young student will find much to amuse, and certainly nothing here to bore him. These books will not make him a prig, as Mr. James Payn said that Lord Avebury’s list would make him a prig. They will make the dull man less dull, the bright man brighter. Here is good, cheerful, robust reading for boy and girl, for man and woman. There are many sins of omission, but none of commission. Our young friend will add to this list fast enough, but there is nothing in it that he may not read with profit. These books, I repeat, make an universal appeal. The learned man may enjoy them, the unlearned may enjoy them also. They are, as Hamlet is, of universal interest. Devotion to science will not impair a taste for them, nor will zest for abstract speculations. Not even those who are “better skilled in grammar than in poetry” can fail to appreciate. These hundred books will in the main be the hundred best books of many of my readers who are quite capable of selecting for themselves. One last word of advice. Let not the young reader buy large quantities of books at once or be beguiled into subscribing for some cheap series which will save him the trouble of selecting. He may buy many books from such cheap series afterwards, but not his first hundred, I think. These should be acquired through much saving, and purchased with great thought and deliberation. The purchase of a book should become to the young book-lover a most solemn function.
Footnotes
3 Richard Garnett (1835-1906) was son of the philologist of the same name who was for a time priest-vicar of Lichfield Cathedral. He attended the Johnson Celebration on Sept. 18, 1905, and proposed “the Immortal Memory of Dr. Johnson.” He died on the following Good Friday, April 13, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery April 17, 1906.
6 Anna Seward (1747-1809). Her works were published after her death:—The Poetical Works of Anna Seward. With Extracts from her Literary Correspondence. Edited by Walter Scott, Esq. In three volumes—John Ballantyne & Co., 1810. Letters of Anna Seward written between the Years 1784 and 1807. In six volumes. Archibald Constable & Co., 1811. “Longwinded and florid” one biographer calls her letters, but by the aid of what Scott calls ‘the laudable practice of skipping’ they are quite entertaining.
8 Sir Robert Thomas White-Thomson, K.C.B., wrote to me in reference to this estimate of Miss Seward from Broomford Manor, Exbourne, North Devon, and his letter seemed of sufficient importance from a genealogical standpoint for me to ask his permission to make an extract from the letter: “I have read your address in a Lichfield newspaper. Apart from the wider and more important bearings of your words, those which had reference to the Seward family were especially welcome to me. You will understand this when I tell you that, with the exception of the Romney portrait of Anna, and a few other objects left ‘away’ by her will, my grandfather, Thomas White, of Lichfield Close, her cousin and residuary legatee, became possessed of all the contents of her house. Some of the books and engravings were sold by auction, but the remainder were taken good care of, and passed to me on my mother’s death in 1860. As thus, ‘in a way’ the representative of the ‘Swan of Lichfield,’ you can easily see what such an appreciation of her as was yours means to me. Of course I know her weak points, and how the pot of clay must suffer in trying to ‘bump’ the pot of iron in midstream, but I also know that she was no ordinary personage in her day, when the standard of feminine culture was low, and I have resented some things that have been written of her. Mrs. Oliphant treats her kindly in her Literary History of England, and now I have your ’appreciation’ of her, for which I beg to thank you.”
15 Once certainly in the lines “On the Death of Mr. Robert Levet”:—
Well try’d through many a varying year,
See Levet to the grave descend,
Officious, innocent, sincere,
Of ev’ry friendless name the friend.
18 Prayers and Meditations: composed by Samuel Johnson, LL.D., and published from his Manuscripts by George Straham, D.D., Prebendary of Rochester and Vicar of Islington in Middlesex, 1785. Dr. Birkbeck Hill suggests that Johnson could not have contemplated the publication of the work in its entirety, but the world is the better for the self revelation, notwithstanding Cowper’s remark in a letter to Newton (August 27, 1785), that “the publisher of it is neither much a friend to the cause of religion nor to the author’s memory; for by the specimen of it that has reached us, it seems to contain only such stuff as has a direct tendency to expose both to ridicule.”
19 There is an edition with a brief Introduction by Augustine Birrell, published by Elliot Stock in 1904, and another, with an Introduction by “H. C.,” was issued by H. R. Allenson in 1906.
31 The Rev. Angus Mackay, author of The Brontës In Fact and Fiction. He was Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Dean Bridge, Edinburgh, when he died, aged 54, on New Year’s Day, 1907. Earlier in life he had been a Curate at Olney.
34 John Newton (1725-1807) had been the captain of a slave ship before his ‘conversion.’ He became Curate of Olney in 1764 and published the famous Olney Hymns with Cowper in 1779. In 1780 Newton became the popular Incumbent of St. Mary Woolnoth, London.
35 See the Globe Cowper, with an Introduction by the Rev. William Benham, the Rector of St. Edmund’s, Lombard Street. Canon Benham has written many books, but he has done no better piece of work than this fine Introduction which first appeared in 1870.
36 Thomas Scott (1747-1821). His commentaries first appeared in weekly parts between 1788 and 1792, and were first issued in ten volumes, 1823-25. He was Rector of Astin Sandford in Buckinghamshire from 1801 until his death. His Life was published by his son, the Rev. John Scott, in 1822.
37 Thomas Percy (1729-1811) became Vicar of Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, in 1753. Johnson visited him here in 1764. In 1765 Percy published his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. He became Bishop of Dromere in 1782.
38a William Hayley (1745-1820) was counted a great poet in his day and placed in the same rank with Dryden and Pope. He wrote Triumphs of Temper 1781, Triumphs of Music 1804, and many other works; but he is of interest here by virtue of his Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq., with Remarks on Epistolary Writers, published in 1803.
38b Robert Southey (1774-1843), whose Life and Works of Cowper is in fifteen volumes, which were published by Baldwin & Cradock between the years 1835 and 1837. The attractive form in which the works are presented, the many fine steel engravings, and the excellent type make this still the only way for book lovers to approach Cowper. Southey had to suffer the competition of the Rev. T. S. Grimshawe, who produced, through Saunders & Otley, about the same time a reprint of Hayley’s biography with much of Cowper’s correspondence that is not in Southey’s volumes. The whole correspondence was collected by Mr. Thomas Wright, and published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1904.
38c Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) in his Literary Studies. James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) in his Essays. Mrs. Oliphant (1828-1897) in her Literary History of England; and George Eliot (1819-1880) in her Essays (Worldliness and Other Worldliness).
44 It has no bearing upon the subject that the horrors of the Bastille at the time of its fall were greatly exaggerated.
47 Theology in the English Poets, by Stopford A. Brooke.
56 Mr. Leslie Stephen, who became Sir Leslie Stephen, K.C.B., in 1902, was born in 1832 and died in 1904. In addition to the article in the D.N.B., this great critic has one on “Cowper and Rousseau” in his Hours in a Library.
62 Sir John Fenn (1739-1794), the antiquary, obtained the originals of the Paston Letters from Thomas Worth, a chemist of Diss. The following lines were first printed in Cowper’s Collected Poems, by Mr. J. C. Bailey in his admirable edition of 1906, published by the Methuens:—
Two omens seem propitious to my fame,
Your spouse embalms my verse, and you my name;
A name, which, all self-flattery far apart
Belongs to one who venerates in his heart
The wise and good, and therefore of the few
Known by these titles, sir, both yours and you.
They were written to please his cousin John Johnson who was to oblige Fenn by giving him an autograph of Cowper’s.
66 Edward Stanley (1779-1849), the father of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881), Dean of Westminster, was Bishop of Norwich from 1837 to 1849.
80 Borrow’s step-daughter, Henrietta Clarke, married James McOubrey, an Irish doctor. She outlived Borrow for many years, dying at Great Yarmouth in 1904. All her literary effects, including many interesting manuscripts, have been passed on to me by her executor, Mr. Hubert Smith, and these will be used in my forthcoming biography of Borrow.
84 I ventured to ask my friend Mr. Birrell for a line to read to my Norwich audience and he sent me the following characteristic letter dated December 8, 1903:—
“... For my part I should leave George Borrow alone, to take his own part even as Isopel Berners learnt to take hers in the great house at Long Melford. He has an appealing voice which no sooner falls on the ear of the born Borrovian, than up the lucky fellow must get and follow his master to the end of the chapter.
“However, if you will insist upon going out into the highways and hedges and compelling the wayfaring man—though a fool—to come in and take a seat at the Lavengro feast, nobody can stop you.
“The great thing is to get people to read the Borrow books: there is nothing else to be done. If, after having read them, some enthusiasts go on to learn Romany and seek to trace authorities on Gypsies and Gypsy lore—why, let them. They may soon know more about Gypsies than Borrow ever did—but they will never write about them as he did.
“The essence of the matter is to enjoy Borrow’s books for themselves alone. As for Borrow’s biography, it appears to me either that he has already written it, or it is not worth writing. Anyhow, place the books in the forefront, reprint things as often as you dare without note or comment or even prefatory appreciation, and you cannot but earn the gratitude of every true Borrovian who in consequence of your efforts come upon the Borrow books for the first time.”
97 M. René Huchon, who addressed the visitors at the Crabbe Celebration, published his George Crabbe and his Times: A Critical and Biographical Study, through Mr. John Murray, early in the present year, 1907.
98 This reproach has since been removed by the appearance of the Complete Works of George Crabbe in three volumes of the Cambridge English Classics Series, published by the Cambridge University Press, and edited by Dr. A. W. Ward, the Master of Peterhouse.
100 The original letter is in the possession of Mr. A. M. Broadley, of Bridport. It is reprinted from the Hanmer Correspondence in an appendix to M. Huchon’s biography.
106 But M. Huchon makes it clear in George Crabbe and his Times that Crabbe declined at the last moment to marry Miss Charlotte Ridout, who seems to have been really in love with him.
138 This monument, a fine statue facing the house which replaces the one in which Sir Thomas Browne lived, was unveiled in October, 1905.
144 For every student Cunningham’s nine volumes have been superseded since this Address was delivered by the sixteen volumes of the Letters of Horace Walpole, edited by Mrs. Paget Toynbee for the Clarendon Press.
145 The other side of the picture may, however, be presented. Horace, says Cunningham (Walpole’s Letters, vol. i.), hated Norfolk, the native country of his father, and delighted in Kent, the native country of his mother. “He did not care for Norfolk ale, Norfolk turnips, Norfolk dumplings and Norfolk turkeys. Its flat, sandy aguish scenery was not to his taste.” He dearly liked what he calls most happily, “the rich, blue prospects of Kent.”
153 Goldsmith doubtless had more than one experience in his mind when he wrote of:—
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.
Lissoy, near Ballymahon, Ireland, served to provide many concrete features of the picture, but that the author drew upon his experiences of Houghton is believed by his principal biographer, John Forster, by Professor Masson and others, and on no other assumption than that of an English village can the lines be explained:—
A time there was, ere England’s griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintained its man.
185 Originally written to serve as an Introduction to an edition of Mr. George Meredith’s Tragic Comedians, of which book Lassalle is the hero. That edition was published by Messrs. Ward Lock & Bowden, who afterwards transferred all rights in it to Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co., by whose courtesy the paper is included here.
186 Lassalle’s Tagebuch, edited by Paul Lindau, 1891.
187 Henrich Heine’s sämmtliche Werke, vol. xxii., pp. 84-99.
188 The most concise account of the affair is contained in the story of Sophie Solutzeff, entitled, Eine Liebes-episode aus dem Leben Ferdinand Lassalle’s. This booklet, which is published in German, French, and Russian, professes to be an account of Lassalle’s love for a young Russian lady, Sophie Solutzeff, some two years before he met Helene von Dönniges. He is represented as being himself in a frenzy of passion; the lady, however, rejecting as a lover the man she had been prepared to worship as a teacher. There can be little doubt that the whole story is a fabrication, in which the Countess von Hatzfeldt had a considerable part. The Countess was rightly judged by popular opinion to have played a discreditable rôle in the love passages between Lassalle and Helene; and Helene’s own account of the matter in her Reminiscences was an additional blow at the pseudo-friend who might have helped the lovers so much. What more natural than that the Countess should be anxious to break the force of Helene’s indictment, by endorsing the popular, and indeed accurate judgment, that Lassalle was very inflammable where women were concerned. This she could do by depicting him, a little earlier, in precisely similar bondage to that which he had professed to Helene. That the Countess wrote, or assisted to write, the compilation of letters and diaries, does not, however, destroy its value as a record of Lassalle’s struggle on her behalf. That account, if not written by Lassalle, was written or inspired by the other great actor in the Hatzfeldt drama, and may therefore be considered a fairly safe guide in recounting the story. Mr. Israel Zangwill, since the above was written, has published an article on Lassalle in his Dreamers of the Ghetto. He accepts Sophie Solutzeff’s story as genuine, but that is merely the credulity of an accomplished romancer.
198 Debate in the German Reichstag, April 2, 1881. Quoted by W. H. Dawson.
213 Becker’s Enthüllungen, 1868.
218 Briefe an Hans von Bülow, 1885.
225 Reprinted with alterations from the Pall Mall Magazine of July, 1905, by kind permission of the proprietor and editor; and of Miss Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew) to whom the list of books was sent in a letter.
230a Plato (b.c. 427-347). Dr. Jowett has translated the Laws. See The Dialogues of Plato With Analysis and Introductions by Benjamin Jowett. In Five Volumes. Vol. V. The Clarendon Press.
230b Aristotle (b.c. 384-322). Dr. Jowett has translated the Politics into English. Two volumes. The Clarendon Press.
230c Epictetus (born a.d. 50, died in Rome, but date unknown). His Encheiridion, a collection of Maxims, was made by his pupil Arrian. The best translation into English is that by George Long, first published in 1877. (George Bell.)
230d St. Augustine (a.d. 353-430). See a translation of his Letters edited by Mary Allies, published in 1890.
231a St. Vincent of Lerins—Vincentius Lirinensis. Native of Gaul. Monk in monastery of Lerinat, opposite Cannes. Died about 450. In 434 wrote Commonitorium adversus profanus omnium heretiecrum novitates. It contains the famous threefold text of orthodoxy—“quod ubique, quod semper, quod ad omnibus creditum est.” Printed at Paris, 1663 and later. Also in Mignes, Patrologia Latina, Vol. 50. Hallam calls the text “the celebrated rule.” It is all now remembered of St. V. by most educated men. It is shown to be of no practical value in an able criticism by Sir G. C. Lewis, Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion, 2nd ed., 1875, p. 57. Mr Gladstone reviewed this work of Lewis, Nineteenth Century March, 1877.
231b Hugo of St. Victor (1097-1141), a celebrated Mystic born at Ypres in Flanders. His collected works first appeared at Rouen in 1648.
231c St. Bonaventura (a.d. 1221-1274). Born at Bagnarea, near Orvieto, in Tuscany, became a Franciscan monk and afterwards a Professor of Theology at Paris, where he gained the title of the “Seraphic Doctor.” Made a Cardinal by Pope Gregory X, who sent him as his Legate to the Council at Lyons, where he died. In 1482 he was canonized. His writings appeared at Rome in 1588-96.
231d St. Thomas Aquinas (a.d. 1225-1274). The Angelic Doctor was born at the castle of Rocca-Secca near Aquino, between Rome and Naples. Entered the Dominican Order in 1243. Went to Paris in 1252 and attained great distinction as a theologian. His Summa Theologiæ was followed by his Summa contra Gentiles. His works were first collected in 17 volumes in 1570. Aquinas was canonized in 1323.
232a Dante (a.d. 1265-1321). The Divina Commedia has been translated into English by many scholars. The best known version is the poetical renderings of H. F. Cary (1772-1844) and W. W. Longfellow (1807-1882) and the prose translations (the “Inferno” only) of John Carlyle (1801-79) and A. J. Butler in whose three volumes of the “Purgatory,” “Paradise” and “Inferno” the original Italian may be studied side by side with the translation.
232b Raymund of Sabunde, a physician of Toulouse of the fifteenth century. He published his Theologia naturalis at Strassburg in 1496. “I found the concerts of the author to be excellent, the contexture of his works well followed, and his project full of pietie” writes Montaigne in telling us of his father’s request that he should translate Sabunde’s Theologia naturalis. Florio’s Translation. Book II, Ch. XII.
232c Nicholas of Cusa (a.d. 1401-1464) was born at Kues on the Moselle. His De Concordantia Catholica was a treatise in favour of the Councils of the Church and against the authority of the Pope. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Nicholas V.
232d Edward Reuss (1804-1891), a professor of Theology, who was born at Strassburg. Published his History of the New Testament in 1842 and his History of the Old Testament in 1881. The Bible, a new translation with Introduction and Commentaries, appeared in 19 volumes between 1874 and 1881.
233a Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662). Born at Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne. His Letters to a Provincial, written in 1656-7, made his fame by their attack on the Jesuists. His Pensées appeared after his death, in 1669, and they have reappeared in many forms, “edited” by many schools of thought. The edition edited by Ernest Havet (1813-1889) was published in 1852.
233b Malebranche, Nicolas (1638-1715). Born in Paris. The works of Descartes drew him to philosophy. The famous dictum, “Malebranche saw all things in God,” had reference to his treatise, De la Recherche de la Vérité, first published in 1674.
233c Baader, Franz (1765-1841). A speculative philosopher and theologian, born at Munich, who endeavoured to reconcile the tenets of the Church of Rome with philosophy. Of his many works his Vorlesungen über Spekulative Dogmatik is here selected. It appeared between 1828 and 1838 in five parts.
233d Molitor, Franz Joseph (1779-1860). A philosophical writer, born near Frankfurt. His Philosophie der Geschichte, oder über Tradition was published in 4 volumes between 1827 and 1853.
233e Astié, Jean Frédéric (1822-1894). A French Protestant theologian, who held a Chair of Theology in New York from 1848 to 1853. In 1856 became a Professor in Switzerland. He published his Esprit d’Alexandre Vinet at Paris in 1861. In 1882 appeared his Le Vinet de la légende et celui de l’histoire.
234a Pünjer, Bernard (1850-1884). A theologian whose Geschichte der Religions-philosophie was much the vogue with theological students at the time of its publication in 1880. It was reissued in 1887 in an English translation by W. Hastie, under the title, History of the Christian Philosophy of Religion from the Reformation to Kant. Pünjer also wrote Die Religionslehre Kant’s, published at Jena in 1874.
234b Rothe, Richard (1799-1867). A Protestant theologian. Was for a time preacher to the Prussian Embassy in Rome, and afterwards in succession Professor of Theology at Wittenberg, at Heidelberg, and at Bonn. His Theologische Ethik appeared at Wittenberg in 3 volumes between 1845 and 1848.
234c Martensen, Hans Lassen (1808-1884). A Danish theologian, born at Fleusburg and died at Copenhagen, where he was long a Professor of Theology. He became Bishop of Zeeland. Die Christliche Ethik was one of many works by him. He also wrote Die Christliche Dogmatik, Die Christliche Taufe, and a Life of Jakob Böhme.
234d Oettingen, Alexander von (1827-1905). A theologian and statistician principally associated with Dorpat in Livonia, where he studied from 1845 to 1849. He became Professor of Theology at its famous University. His principal book is entitled, Die Moralstatistik in ihrer Bedeutung für eine Sozialethik.
234e Hartmann, Karl Robert Eduard von (1842-1906). Born in Berlin, the son of General Robert von Hartmann, and served for some time in the Artillery of the German Army. He has written many philosophical works. His Phänomenologie des sittlichlen Bewusstseins was published in Berlin in 1879.
235a Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716). Born at Leipzig and died at Hanover. Visited Paris and London, and became acquainted with Boyle and Newton. In 1676 appointed to a librarianship at Hanover. His philosophical views are mainly derived from his letters. The edition of the Letters, edited by Ouno Klopp (1822-1903), appeared at Hanover between 1862 and 1884 in 11 volumes.
235b Brandis, Christian August (1790-1867). A philosopher and philologist, born in Hildesheim, studied in Gottingen and Kiel. Accompanied Niebuhr as Secretary to the Embassy to Rome in 1816. In 1822 became Professor of Philosophy in Bonn. His Handbuch der Geschichte der griechischrömischen Philosophie, doubtless here referred to by Lord Acton, was published in Berlin at long intervals (1835-66) in 3 volumes.
235c Fischer, Kuno (1824-1907). Born at Sandewalde in Silesia. Deprived of his professorship of philosophy at Heidelberg by the Baden Government in 1853 on account of charge of Pantheism, but recalled to Heidelberg in 1872. His principal book is Geschichte der Neuern Philosophie (1852-1903). His Franz Baco von Verulam appeared in 1856, and Francis Bacon und seine Schule made the 10th volume of his Geschichte.
235d Zeller, Eduard (1814- still living). Theologian and historian of philosophy. Studied at Tübingen and Berlin, became Professor of Theology at Berne, afterwards held chairs successively at Heidelberg and Berlin. His many works include The Philosophy of Ancient Greece, Platonic Studies and Zwingli’s Theological System.
236a Bartholomess, Christian (1815-1856). A French philosopher, born at Geiselbronn in Alsace. From 1853 Professor of Philosophy at Strassburg. Died at Nuremberg. Wrote a Life of Giordano Bruno, and Philosophical History of the Prussian Academy, particularly under Frederick the Great, as well as the Histoire critique des doctrines religieuses de la philosophie moderne, published in 2 volumes in 1855.
236b Madame Guyon (1648-1717) was born at Montargis in France, and her maiden name was Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe. She married at 16 years of age Jacques Guyon. Left a widow, she devoted herself to a religious mysticism which raised up endless controversies during the succeeding years. She was compelled to leave Geneva because her doctrines were declared to be heretical. She was imprisoned in the Bastile from 1695 to 1702. Her works are contained in 39 volumes.
236c Ritschl, Albrecht (1822-1889). Professor of Theology, born in Berlin, died in Göttingen. Became Professor of Theology in Bonn and later in Göttingen. He wrote many books. His Die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche first appeared in 1850.
236d Loening, Edgar (1843- still living), was born in Paris. Has held professorial chairs at Strassburg, Dorpat, Rostock, and at Halle. His Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts first appeared in 1878.
237a Baur, Ferdinand Christian (1792-1860). Born at Schmiden, near Kannstatt. Held various theological chairs before that of Tübingen, which he occupied from 1826 until his death. He wrote a great number of theological works, of which his Vorlesungen über die christliche Dogmengeschichte was published in Leipzig in 3 volumes between 1865 and 1867.
237b Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe (1651-1715). Born in Perigord in France, and famous alike as a divine and as a man of letters, his Télémaque living in literature. His controversy over Madame Guyon is well known. Louis XIV made him preceptor to his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, and later Archbishop of Cambrai. His Correspondence was published between 1727 and 1729 in 11 volumes.
237c Newman, John Henry (1801-1890). A famous Cardinal of the Church of Rome; born in London, educated at Trinity College, Oxford; first Vicar of St. Mary’s, Oxford; took part in the Tractarian Movement with some of the Tracts for the Times. His Apologia pro Vitâ Suâ appeared in 1864, his Dream of Gerontius in 1865. There is no Theory of Development by Newman. His Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine appeared in 1845, and was replied to by the Rev. J. B. Mozley in a volume bearing the title The Theory of Development.
237d Mozley, James Bowling (1813-1878). A Church of England divine; born at Gainsborough, educated at Oriel College, Oxford; became Vicar of Old Shoreham, Canon of Worcester, and, in 1871, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. His Oxford University Sermons appeared in 1876.
238a Schneckenburger, Matthias (1804-1848). A Protestant theologian; born at Thalheim and died in Berne, where he was for a time Professor of Theology at the newly founded University. His Vergleichende Darstellung des lutherischen und reformierten Lehrbegriffs was published in Stuttgart in 2 volumes in 1855.
238b Hundeshagen, Karl Bernhard (1810-1872). A Protestant theologian who held a professorship in Berne, later in Heidelberg and finally in Bonn, where he died. His many works included one upon the Conflict between the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, and the Zwinglian Churches. His Beiträge zur Kirchenverfassungsgeschichte und Kirchenpolitik insbesondere des Protestantismus was published at Wiesbaden in 1864 in 1 volume.
238c Schweizer, Alexander (1808-1888). A theologian and preacher who studied in Zürich and Berlin. He wrote his Autobiography which was published in Zürich the year after his death. His book, Die protestantischen Centraldogmen innerhalb der reformierten Kirche, appeared in Zürich in 2 volumes in 1854 and 1856.
238d Gass, Wilhelm (1813-1889). A Protestant theologian; born at Breslau and died in Heidelberg, where he held a theological chair. His best-known book is his Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik, published in Berlin between 1854 and 1867 in 4 volumes, and to this Lord Acton doubtless refers.
238e Cart, Jacques Louis (1826-probably still living). A Swiss pastor; born in Geneva; the author of many books, of which the one named by Lord Acton is fully entitled, Histoire du mouvement religieux et ecclesiastique dans le canton de Vaud pendant la première moitié du XIXe siècle. It appeared between 1871 and 1880 in 6 volumes.
239a Blondel, David (1590-1655). Born at Chalons-sur-Marne in France; a learned theologian and historian who defended the Protestant position against the Catholics. Was Professor of History at Amsterdam. His De la primauté de l’Église appeared in 1641.
239b Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Louis (1614-1675). A French Protestant theologian who enjoyed the consideration of both parties and was approached by Turenne with a view to a reunion of the churches. His position was sustained before the Protestant Academy at Sedan with certain theses published under the title of Theses Sedanenzes in 1683.
239c Thiersch, Heinrich Wilhelm Josias (1817-1885). Born in Munich and died in Basle; held for a time a Professorship of Theology in Marburg, then became the principal pastor of the Irvingite Church in Germany, preaching in many cities. He wrote many books. His Vorlesungen über Katholizismus und Protestantismus appeared first in 1846.
239d Möhler, Johann Adam (1796-1838). Born in Igersheim and died in Munich. A Catholic theologian and Professor of Theology at Tübingen. His Neue Untersuchungen der Lehrgegensatze zwischen den Katholiken und Protestanten was first published in Mainz in 1834.
240a Scherer, Edmond (1815-1889). A French theologian; born in Paris, died at Versailles. Was for a time in England, then Professor of Exegesis in Geneva. Was for many years a leader of the French Protestant Church. His Mélanges de critique religieuse appeared in Paris in 1860.
240b Hooker, Richard (1554-1600). Born in Exeter. In 1584 was Rector of Drayton-Beauchamp, near Tring, and the following year became Master of the Temple. In 1591 became Vicar of Boscombe and sub-Dean of Salisbury. His Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity was published in 1594. In 1595 he removed to Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury, where he died.
240c Weingarten, Hermann (1834-1892). Protestant ecclesiastical historian, born in Berlin, where in 1868 he became a professor, later held chairs successively at Marberg and Breslau. His book Die Revolutionskirchen Englands appeared in 1868.
240d Kliefoth, Theodor Friedrich (1810-1895). A Lutheran theologian; born at Kirchow in Mecklenburg, and died at Schwerin, where he was for a time instructor to the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and held various offices in connexion with that state. He wrote many theological works. His Acht Bücher von der Kirche was published at Schwerin in 1 volume in 1854.
240e Laurent, François (1810-1887). Born in Luxemburg and died in Gent, where he long held a professorship. His principal work, Études sur l’histoire de l’humanité, Histoire du droit des gens was published in Brussels in 18 volumes between 1860 and 1870.
241a Ferrari, Guiseppe (1812-1876) was born in Milan, and died in Rome. Achieved fame as a philosophical historian. Held a chair at Turin and afterwards at Milan. As member of the Parliament of Piedmont he was an opponent of Cavour’s policy of a United Italy. His principal book is entitled Histoire des révolutions de l’Italie, ou Guelfes et Gibelins, published in Paris in four volumes between 1856 and 1858.
241b Lange, Friedrich Albert (1828-1875). Philosopher and economic writer, born at Wald bei Solingen, died at Marburg. Held a professorial chair at Zurich and later at Marburg. His most famous book, the Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedentung in der Gegenwart, first appeared in 1866. It was published in England in 1878-81 by Trubner in three volumes.
241c Guicciardini, Francesco (1483-1540), the Italian historian and statesman, was born at Florence. Undertook in 1512 an embassy from Florence to the Court of Ferdinand the Catholic, and learned diplomacy in Spain. In 1515 he entered the service of Pope Leo X. His principal book is his History of Italy. The Istoria d’Italia appeared in Florence in ten volumes between 1561 and 1564. His Recordi Politici consists of some 400 aphorisms on political and social topics and has been described by an Italian critic as “Italian corruption codified and elevated to a rule of life.”
241d Duperron, Jacques Davy (1556-1618), a Cardinal of the Church, born at Saint Lô. He was a Court preacher under Henry III of France and denounced Elizabeth of England in a funeral sermon on Mary Stuart. It is told of him that he once demonstrated before the king the existence of God, and being complimented upon his irrefutable arguments, replied that he was prepared to bring equally good arguments to prove that God did not exist. He became Bishop of Evreux in 1591.
242a Richelieu, Cardinal—(Armand-Jean Du Plessis)—(1585-1642). The famous minister of Louis XIII; born in Paris, of a noble family of Poitou. Was made Bishop of Luçon by Henry IV at the age of twenty-two. Became Almoner to Marie de Medici, the Regent of France. Was elected a Cardinal in 1622. He wrote many books, including theological works, tragedies, and his own Memoirs. The authenticity of his Testament politique was disputed by Voltaire.
242b Harrington, James (1611-1677) was born at Upton, Northamptonshire; was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He travelled on the Continent, but was back in England at the time of the Civil War, in which, however, he took no part. He published his Oceana in 1656. He is buried in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, next to the tomb of Sir Walter Raleigh. His Writings in an edition issued in 1737 by Millar contained twenty separate treatises in addition to Oceana, but concerned with that book.
242c Mignet, François Auguste Marie (1796-1884). The historian; was born at Aix and died in Paris. Published his History of the French Revolution in 1824. His Négociations relatives à la succession d’Espagne appeared in 4 volumes between 1836 and 1842. He also wrote a Life of Franklin, a History of Mary Stuart, and many other works.
243a Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-1778), the famous writer, was born in Geneva and died at Ermenonville. Much of his life story has been told in his incomparable Confessions. In 1759 he published Nouvelle Héloïse; in 1762, L’Emile ou de l’Education. His Considerations sur la Pologne was written by Rousseau in 1769 in response to an application to apply his own theories to a scheme for the renovation of the government of Poland, in which land anarchy was then at its height. Mr. John Morley (Rousseau, Vol. II) dismisses the pamphlet with a contemptuous line.
243b Foncin, Pierre (1841- still living). A French Professor of History; born at Limoges, and has long held important official positions in connexion with education. He has written many books, including an Atlas Historique. His Essai sur le ministere Turgot appeared in 1876, and obtained a prize from the French Academy.
243c Burke, Edmund (1729-1797), the famous statesman, was born in Dublin and died at Beaconsfield, Bucks, where he was buried. His Vindication of Natural Society appeared in 1756. Burke entered Parliament for Wendover in 1765, sat for Bristol, 1774-80, and Malton, 1780-94. His Collected Works first appeared in 1792-1827 in 8 volumes, the first three of which were issued in his lifetime; his Collected Works and Correspondence was published in 8 volumes in 1852, but the Correspondence had appeared separately in 4 volumes in 1844.
243d Las Cases, Emmanuel Augustine Dieudonne Marir Joseph (1766-1842). Educated at the Military School in Paris but entered the French navy; emigrated at the Revolution; fought at Quiberon; taught French in London; published in 1802 his Atlas historique et géographique under the pseudonym of “Le Sage.” On his return to France he came under the notice of Napoleon, who made him a Count of the Empire and sent him upon several important missions. During the Emperor’s exile in Elba he again went to England. He returned during the Hundred Days and accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena. Here he recorded day by day the conversations of the great exile. At the end of eighteen months he was exiled by Sir Hudson Lowe to the Cape of Good Hope. He returned to France after the death of Napoleon and became a Deputy under Louis Philippe. His Memorial de Sainte-Hèléne, published in 1823-1824, secured a great success.
244a Holtzendorff, Franz von (1829-1889), was Professor of Jurisprudence first at Berlin and afterwards at Munich, where he died. He wrote many books concerned with crime and its punishment, with the prison systems of the world, etc. His Enzyklopädie der Rechtswissenschaft in systematischer und alphabetischer Bearbeitung was first published at Leipzig in 1870 and 1871.
244b Jhering, Rudolph von (1818-1892), was for a time professor at Basle, Rostock, Kiel and Vienna. His Geist des römischen Rechts auf den verschiedenen Stufen seiner Entwickelung appeared in Leipzig between 1852 and 1865, and is counted a classic in jurisprudence.
244c Geib, Karl Gustav (1808-1864). An eminent criminologist. Was a Professor of Zurich and afterwards of Tübingen, where he died. Wrote many books, of which the most important was his Geschichte des romischen Kriminalprozesses bis zum Tode Justinians in 1842. His Lehrbuch des deutschen Strafrechts appeared in 1861 and 1862, but was never completed.
245a Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner (1822-1888). Jurist; born in Kelso, Scotland; educated at Christ’s Hospital, London, and at Pembroke College, Cambridge; was Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, 1847-54. In 1862 he became a legal member of Council in India and held the office for seven years. In 1871 he became a K.C.S.I. and had a seat on the Indian Council. In 1877 he was elected Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and in 1887 became Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge. He died at Cannes. His principal work is his Ancient Law: its Connexion with the Early History of Society and its Relation to Modern Ideas, first published in 1861.
245b Gierke, Otto Friedrich (1841-still living), was born in Stettin; was Professor of Law in Breslau, Heidelberg and Berlin successively. Served in the Franco-German War of 1870. His principal work, Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht, appeared in 3 volumes in Berlin, the first in 1868, the third in 1881.
245c Stahl, Friedrich Julius (1802-1861), was born in Munich of Jewish parents, died in Brückenau. Held chairs of law and jurisprudence in Berlin and other cities, and wrote many books. His Die Philosophie des Rechts und geschichtlicher Ansicht appeared at Heidelberg in 2 volumes in 1830 and 1837.
246a Gentz, Friedrich von (1764-1832). A distinguished publicist and statesman; born in Breslau, died at Weinhaus, near Vienna; studied Jurisprudence in Königsberg. One of his earliest literary efforts was a translation of Burke’s Reflections upon the French Revolution. Played a very considerable part in the combination of the powers of Europe against Napoleon in 1809-15. He was the author of many books. His Briefewechsel mit Adam Müller was published in Stuttgart in 1857—long after his death.
246b Vollgraff, Karl Friedrich (1794-1863), was for a time Professor of Jurisprudence at Marburg, where he died. His two most important books were: (1) Der Systeme der praktischen Politik im Abendlande; (2) Erster Versuch einer Begründung der allgemeinen Ethnologie durch die Anthropologie und der Staats und Rechts Philosophie durch die Ethnologie oder Nationalität der Völker, published in 4 volumes in 1851 to 1855. It is in this last volume that a section is devoted to Polignosie.
246c Frantz, Konstantin (1817-1891). Distinguished publicist; born at Halberstadt and died at Blasewitz, near Dresden, where he made his home for many years. Was for a time German Consul in Spain. His great doctrine laid down in his Die Weltpolitik, 1883, was the union of Central Europe against the growing power of Russia and the United States of America. His Kritik aller Parteien was published in Berlin in 1862.
246d Maistre, Joseph Marie Comte de (1753-1821). A distinguished French publicist; born at Chambéry; studied at the University of Turin. Lived for some years at Lausanne, where he published in 1796 his Considerations sur la Révolution française.
247a Donoso Cortès, Jean François (1809-1853). A famous Spanish publicist; born in Estremadura; played a considerable part in Spanish affairs under Marie-Christine and Queen Isabella. Was for a time Spanish Ambassador to Berlin, and later to France, where he died in Paris. He wrote much upon such questions as the Catholic Church and Socialism.
247b Périn, Henri Charles Xavier (1815- ), a Belgium economist, born at Mons; became an advocate at Brussels and also Professor of Political Economy in that city. His book De la Richesse dans les Sociétés Chrétiennes appeared in Paris in 2 volumes in 1861.
247c Le Play, Pierre Guillaume Frédéric (1806-1882). Born at Honfleur. He directed the organization of the Paris International Exhibitions of 1855 and 1867. He wrote many books. His La réforme sociale en France déduite de l’observation comparée des peuples Européens was published in two volumes in 1864.
247d Riehl, Wilhelm Heinrich (1823-1897). A well-known author; born at Biebrich-am-Rhein, died in Munich. He was associated with several German newspapers, and edited from 1848 to 1851 the Nassauische Allgemeine Zeitung, from 1851 to 1853 the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, and afterwards became a Professor of Literature at Munich. In 1885 he became the director of the Bavarian National Museum. He wrote many books, the one referred to by Lord Acton having been published in 1851 under the title of Die bürgerliche Gesellschaft.
248a Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Sismonde de (1773-1842), the distinguished historian of the Italian republics, was born at Geneva of an Italian family originally from Pisa. He resided for a time in England. His famous book the Histoire des Républiques Italiennes de Moyen-Age appeared between 1807 and 1818 in 16 volumes. His Etudes sur les Constitutions des Peuples Libres, was one of many other books.
248b Rossi, Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo (1787-1848). An Italian publicist; born at Carrara. Keenly sympathized with the French Revolution and served under Murat in the Hundred Days, after which he fled to Geneva. In later years he became a nationalized Frenchman, occupied a Chair of Constitutional Law, and finally became a peer. As Comte Rossi he went on a special embassy to Rome. He was assassinated in that city during the troubles of 1848. His Traité du Droit Constitutionnel appeared in 2 volumes.
248c Barante, Aimable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de (1782-1868), historian and politician, was born at Riom. He was made a Counciller of State by Louis XVIII in 1815, and a peer of France in 1819. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1828. Under Louis Philippe he became Ambassador first at Turin and afterwards at St. Petersburg. After the revolution of 1848 he devoted himself entirely to literature. He wrote many historical and literary studies, and translated the works of Schiller into French. His Vie politique de Royer-Collard has several times been reprinted.
249a Duvergier de Hauranne, Prosper (1798-1881), was a distinguished French publicist, born at Rouen. He was parliamentary deputy for Sancerre in 1831 and took part in most of the political struggles of the following twenty years. He was exiled from France at the time of the Coup d’État, but returned during the reign of Napoleon III. Henceforth he devoted himself exclusively to historical studies. His Histoire du gouvernement parlementaire en France, published in 1870, secured his election to the French Academy.
249b Madison, James (1751-1836). The fourth President of the United States; born at Port Conway, Virginia. Acted with Jay and Hamilton in the Convention which framed the Constitution and wrote with them The Federalist. He had two terms of office—between 1809 and 1817—as President. He died at Montpelier, Virginia. His Debates of the Congress of Confederation was published in Elliot’s “Debates on the State Conventions,” 4 vols., Philadelphia, 1861.
249c Hamilton, Alexander (1757-1804). A great American statesman, who served in Washington’s army, and after the war became eminent as a lawyer in New York. He wrote fifty-one out of the eighty-five essays of The Federalist. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury to the United States in 1789. He was mortally wounded in a duel by Aaron Burr in 1804. His influence upon the American Constitution gives him a great place in the annals of the Republic.
249d Calhoun, John Campbell (1782-1850). An American statesman; born in Abbeville County, South Carolina and studied at Yale. As a Member of Congress he supported the war with Great Britain in 1812-15. He was twice Vice-President of the United States. He died at Washington. A Disquisition on Government and a Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States were written in the last months of his life. His Collected Works appeared in 1853-4.
250a Dumont, Pierre Etienne Louis (1759-1829). A great publicist; born in Geneva, and principally known in England by his association with Bentham, to whom he acted as an editor and interpreter. Lived much in Paris, St. Petersburg, and, above all, in London, where he knew Fox, Sheridan, and other famous men, and taught the children of Lord Shelburne. Dumont’s Sophismes Anarchiques appears in Bentham’s Collected Works as Anarchical Fallacies.
250b Quinet, Edgar (1803-1875). French historian and philosopher; born at Borg and died in Paris. His epic poem of Ahasuerus was placed upon the Index. Of his many books his La Révolution Française is the best known. It was written in Switzerland, where he was an exile during the reign of Napoleon III. He returned to France in 1870.
250c Stein, Lorenz von (1815-1890). Writer on economics, studied in Kiel and in Jena. In 1855 he became Professor of International Law in Vienna. He wrote books on statecraft and international law. His work entitled Der Sozialismus und Kommunismus des heutigen Frankreich appeared in Leipzig in 1843.
251a Lassalle, Ferdinand (1825-1864), the famous social democrat, was of Jewish birth; born at Breslau. He took part in the revolution of 1848 and received six months’ imprisonment. He was wounded in a duel at Geneva over a love affair and died two days later. His System der Erworbenen Rechte appeared in 1861.
251b Thonissen, Jean Joseph (1817-1891). A distinguished jurist; born in Belgium. He studied at Liege and in Paris; became a Professor of the Catholic University of Louvain; afterwards became a Minister of State. Of his many works his Socialisme depuis l’antiquité jusqu’à la constitution française de 1852 is best known.
251c Considérant, Victor (1808-1894). Born at Salins, and, after the Revolution of 1848, entered the Chamber of Deputies. He crossed to America to found a colony in Texas, but ruined himself by the experiment. He returned to France in 1869. He was the author of many socialistic treatises.
251d Roscher, Wilhelm (1817-1894), economist, was born in Hanover. Held a chair first in Göttingen and afterwards in Leipzig, where he died. His Geschichte der Nationalökonomik in Deutschland appeared in Munich in 1874.
251e Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873), the famous publicist and author, was born in London, and educated by his father, James Mill (1773-1836). He served in the India Office, 1823-58; he was M.P. for Westminster, 1865-68. His works include the Principles of Political Economy, 1848; the Essay on Liberty, 1859, and the System of Logic, which first appeared in 1843.
252a Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), poet and critic, was born at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire; educated at Christ’s Hospital, London, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. In the volume of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth of 1798 Coleridge contributed the Ancient Mariner, and he was to make his greatest reputation by this and other poems. His best prose work was his Biographia Literaria (1817). His Aids to Reflection was first published in 1825.
252b Radowitz, Joseph Maria von (1797-1853). A Prussian general and statesman; born in Blankenberg and died in Berlin. Fought in the Napoleonic wars and was wounded at the battle of Leipzig. Afterwards served as Ambassador to various German Courts. He wrote several treatises bearing upon current affairs, and his Fragments form Vols. IV and V of his Collected Works in 5 volumes, which were issued in Berlin in 1852-53.
252c Gioberti, Vincent (1801-1852). An Italian statesman and philosopher; born in Turin, where he afterwards became Professor of Theology. Was for a time Court Chaplain, but his liberal views led to exile, and he retired first to Paris, then to Brussels. Afterwards became famous as a neo-Catholic with his attempt to combine faith with science and art, and urged the independence and the unity of Italy. His Jésuite moderne, published in 1847, created a sensation. After some years of home politics he was appointed by King Victor Emmanuel as Ambassador to Paris. It is noteworthy in the light of Lord Acton’s recommendation of his Pensieri that his works have been placed on the Index.
253a Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Baron von (1769-1859), the great naturalist, was born and died in Berlin, and studied at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Berlin and Göttingen; he spent five years (1799-1804) in exploring South America, and in 1829 travelled through Central Asia. His Kosmos appeared between 1845 and 1858 in 4 volumes.
253b De Candolle, Alphonse de (1806-1893). The son of the celebrated botanist, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and was himself a professor of that science at Geneva. His Histoire des sciences et des savants depuis deux siecles appeared in 1873.
253c Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882), the great naturalist and discoverer of natural selection, was born at Shrewsbury, where he was educated at the Grammar School, at Edinburgh University, and at Christ’s College, Cambridge. His most famous book, The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, was first published in 1859.
253d Littré, Maximilien Paul Emile (1801-1884), the famous lexicographer whose Dictionnaire de la langue française gave him a world-wide reputation. He was born in Paris. He associated himself with Auguste Comte and the Positive Philosophy, and contributed many volumes in support of Comte’s standpoint.
253e Cournot, Antoine Augustin (1801-1877). Born at Gray in Savoy; wrote many mathematical treatises. His Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire was published in 2 volumes.
254 This was a most comprehensive addition, and fully makes up for the abrupt termination of the list of the hundred best books with two omissions. The omission of the book numbered 88 will also have been remarked. There are probably a hundred “Monatschriften der Wissenschaftlichen Vereine” or magazines of scientific societies issued in Germany. Sperling’s Zeitschriften-Adressbuch gives more than two columns of these.
260a The Bible can be best read in paragraph form from the Eversley edition, published by the Macmillans, or from the Temple Bible, issued by J. M. Dent—the latter an edition for the pocket. The translation of 1610 is literature and has made literature. The revised translation of our own day has neither characteristic. Something can be said for the Douay Bible in this connexion. It was published in Douay in the same year as the Protestant version appeared—1610. Certain words from it, such as “Threnes” for “Lamentations” as the Threnes of Jeremiah, have a poetical quality that deserved survival.
260b The Iliad may be read in a hundred verse translations of which those by Pope and Cowper are the best known. Both these may be found in Bohn’s Libraries (G. Bell & Sons); but the prose translation for which Mr. Lang and his friends are responsible (Macmillan) is for our generation far and away the best introduction to Homer for the non-Grecian.
261a Under the title of “The Athenian Drama,” George Allen has published three fine volumes of the works of the Greek dramatists.
261b Dryden’s translation of Virgil has been followed by many others both in prose and verse. There was one good prose version by C. Davidson recently issued in Laurie’s Classical Library. An interesting translation of Virgil’s Georgics into English verse was recently made by Lord Burghclere and published by John Murray. The young student, however, will do well to approach Virgil through Dryden. He will find the book in the Chandos Classics, or superbly printed in Professor Saintsbury’s edition of Dryden’s Works, Vol. XIV.
261c There have been many translations of Catullus. One, by Sir Richard Burton, was issued by Leonard Smithers in 1894. In Bohn’s Library there is a prose translation by Walter K. Kelly. Professor Robinson Ellis made a verse translation that has been widely praised. Grant Allen translated the Attis in 1892. On the whole, the English verse translation by Sir Theodore Martin made in 1861 (Blackwood & Son) is far and away the best suited for a first acquaintance with this the ‘tenderest of Roman Poets.’
261d Horace has been made the subject of many translations. Perhaps there are fifty now available. John Conington’s edition of his complete works, two volumes (Bell), is well known. The best introduction to Horace for the young student is in Sir Theodore Martin’s translation, two volumes (Blackwood), and a volume by the same author entitled Horace in “Ancient Classics for English Readers” (Blackwood) is a charming little book.
262a Dante’s Divine Comedy as translated by Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) has been described by Mr. Ruskin as better reading than Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” James Russell Lowell, with true patriotism, declared that his countrymen Longfellow’s translation (Routledge) was the best. Something may be said for the prose translation by Dr. John Carlyle of the Inferno (Bell) and for Mr. A. J. Butler’s prose translation of the whole of the Divine Comedy in three volumes (Macmillan). Other translations which have had a great vogue are by Wright and Dean Plumptre. The best books on Dante are those by Dr. Edward Moore (Clarendon Press). Cary’s translation can be obtained in one volume in Bohn’s Library (Bell) or in the Chandos Classics (Warne).
262b I contend that while most of the poets are self-contained in a single volume, Shakspere’s plays are best enjoyed as separate entities. Certainly each of them has a library attached to it, and it is quite profitable to read Hamlet in Mr. Horace Howard Furness’s edition (Lippincott) with a multitude of criticisms of the play bound up with the text of Hamlet. But Hamlet should be read first in the Temple Shakspere (Dent) or in the Arden Shakspere (Methuen). To this last there is an admirable introduction by Professor Dowden.
262c Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales should be read in Mr. Alfred W. Pollard’s edition, which forms two volumes of the “Eversley Library” (Macmillan). The “Tales” may be obtained in cheaper form in the Chaucer of the Aldine Poets (Bell), of which I have grateful memories, having first read “Chaucer” in these little volumes. The enthusiast will obtain the Complete Works of Chaucer edited for the Clarendon Press by Professor W. W. Skeat.
263a FitzGerald’s Omar Khayyám can be obtained in its four versions, each of which has its merits, only from the Macmillans, who publish it in many forms. The edition in the Golden Treasury Series may be particularly commended. The present writer has written an introduction to a sixpenny edition of the first version. It is published by William Heinemann.
263b Goethe’s Faust has been translated in many forms. Certainly Anster’s version (Sampson Low) is the most vivacious. Anna Swanwick, Sir Theodore Martin and Bayard Taylor’s translations have about equal merit.
263c Shelley’s Poetical Works should be read in the one volume issued in green cloth by the Macmillans, with an introduction by Edward Dowden, or in the Oxford Poets (Henry Froude), with an introduction by H. Buxton Forman, but perhaps the best edition is that of the Clarendon Press with an introduction by Thomas Hutchinson. Mr. Forman’s library edition of Shelley’s Complete Works is the desire of all collectors.
263d Byron’s Poetical Works, edited by Ernest Coleridge, form seven volumes of John Murray’s edition of Byron’s Works in thirteen volumes. There is not a good one-volume Byron. I particularly commend the three-volume edition (George Newnes).
264a Wordsworth may be read in his entirety in the sixteen volumes of Prose and Poetry edited by William Knight in the Eversley Library (Macmillan). The same publisher issues an admirable Wordsworth in one volume, edited, with an introduction by John Morley. But the first approach to Wordsworth’s verse should be made through Matthew Arnold’s Select Poems in the Golden Treasury Series (Macmillan).
264b Keats’s Works are issued in one volume in the Oxford Poets (Froude), and in five shilling volumes by Gowans and Gray of Glasgow. Mr. Buxton Forman’s annotations to this cheap edition exceed in value those attached to his more expensive “Library Edition,” which, however, as with the Shelley, in eight volumes, is out of print.
264c The four volumes of Burns, with an introduction by W. E. Henley, are pleasant to read. They are published by Jack, of Edinburgh. The best single-volume Burns is that in the Globe Library (Macmillan), with an introduction by Alexander Smith.
264d There is no rival to the one-volume edition of Coleridge’s Poems, with an introduction by J. Dykes Campbell, published by Macmillan. Mr. Dykes Campbell’s biography of Coleridge should also be read. The prose works of Coleridge are obtainable in Bohn’s Library. The fortunate book lover has many in Pickering editions.
264e Cowper’s Complete Works are acquired for a modest sum of the second-hand bookseller in Southey’s sixteen-volume edition. The two best one-volume issues of the Poems are the Globe Library Edition with an introduction by Canon Benham (Macmillan), and Cowper’s Complete Poems with an introduction by J. C. Bailey (Methuen). The best of the letters are contained in a volume in the Golden Treasury Series, with an introduction by Mrs. Oliphant. The Complete Letters of Cowper, edited by Thomas Wright, have been published by Hodder & Stoughton in four volumes.
265a Crabbe’s Works, in eight volumes, with biography by his son, may be obtained very cheaply from the second-hand book seller. With all the merits of both Works and Life they have not been reprinted satisfactorily. The only good modern edition of Crabbe’s Poems is in three volumes published by the Cambridge University Press, edited by A. W. Ward.
265b The best one-volume Tennyson is issued by the Macmillans, who still hold certain copyrights. The Library Edition of Tennyson, with the Biography included in the twelve volumes, is a desirable acquisition.
265c Not all the sixteen volumes of the Library Edition of Browning pay for perusal. The most convenient form is that of the two-volume edition (Smith, Elder & Co.), with notes by Augustine Birrell.
265d Milton’s Poetical Works as annotated by David Masson (Macmillan) make the standard library edition, and the same publishers have given us the best one-volume Milton in the Globe Library, with an introduction by Professor Masson, Milton’s one effective biographer.
266a The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments is first introduced to us all as a children’s story-book. Tennyson has placed on record his own early memories:—
“In sooth it was a goodly time,
For it was in the golden prime
Of good Haroun Alraschid.”
But the collector of the hundred best books will do well to read the Arabian Nights in the translation by Edward William Lane, edited by Stanley Lane Poole, in 4 volumes, for George Bell & Sons.
266b The most satisfactory translation of Cervantes’s great romance is that made by John Ormesby, revised and edited by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, published by Gowans & Gray in 4 shilling volumes.
266c The Pilgrim’s Progress is presented in a hundred forms. The present writer first read it in a penny edition. It should be possessed by the book-lover in a volume of the Cambridge English Classics, in which Grace Abounding and The Pilgrim’s Progress are given together, edited by Dr. John Brown, and published by the Cambridge University Press.
266d Schoolboys, notwithstanding Macaulay, usually know but few good books, but every schoolboy knows Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in one form or another. The maker of a library will prefer it as a Volume of Defoe’s Works (J. M. Dent), or as Volume VII of Defoe’s Novels and Miscellaneous Works (Bell & Sons). There are many good shilling editions of the book by itself, but Defoe should be read in many of his works and particularly in Moll Flanders.
267a As with Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels can be obtained in many cheap forms, but it is well that it should be obtained as Volume VIII of Swift’s Prose Works, published in Bohn’s Libraries by George Bell & Sons. There has not been a really good edition of Swift’s works since Scott’s monumental book.
267b Clarissa should be read in nine of the twenty volumes of Richardson’s Novels, published by Chapman & Hall—a very dainty well-printed book. “I love these large, still books,” said Lord Tennyson.
267c The greatest of all novels, Tom Jones, is obtainable in several Library Editions of Fielding’s Works. A cheap well-printed form is that of the Works of Henry Fielding in 12 volumes, published by Gay & Bird. Here The Story of Tom Jones a Foundling is in 4 volumes. The book is in 2 volumes in Bohn’s Library—an excellent edition.
267d Johnson’s Rasselas has frequently been reprinted, but there is no edition for a book-lover at present in the bookshops. It is included in Classic Tales in a volume of Bohn’s Standard Library. The wise course is to look out for one of the earlier editions with copper plates that are constantly to be found on second-hand bookstalls. But Johnson’s Works should be bought in a fine octavo edition.
268a Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield should be possessed in the edition which Mr. Hugh Thomson has illustrated and Mr. Austin Dobson has edited for the Macmillans. There is a good edition of Goldsmith’s Works in Bohn’s Library.
268b Sterne’s Sentimental Journey is also a volume for the second-hand bookstall, although that and the equally fine Tristram Shandy may be obtained in many pretty forms. I have two editions of Sterne’s books, but they are both fine old copies.
268c There are two very good editions of Peacock’s delightful romances. Nightmare Abbey forms a volume of J. M. Dent’s edition in 9 volumes, edited by Dr. Garnett; and the whole of Peacock’s remarkable stories are contained in a single volume of Newnes’ “Thin Paper Classics.”
268d Sir Walter Scott’s novels are available in many forms equally worthy of a good library. The best is the edition published by Jack of Edinburgh. The Temple Library of Scott (J. M. Dent) may be commended for those who desire pocket volumes, while Mr. Andrew Lang’s Introductions give an added value to an edition published by the Macmillans, Scott’s twenty-eight novels are indispensable to every good library, and every reader will have his own favourite.
268e Balzac’s novels are obtainable in a good translation by Ellen Marriage, edited by George Saintsbury, published in New York by the Macmillan Company and in London by J. M. Dent.
269a A translation of Dumas’ novels in 48 volumes is published by Dent. The Three Musketeers is in 2 volumes. There are many cheap one volume editions.
269b Thackeray’s Vanity Fair is pleasantly read in the edition of his novels published by J. M. Dent. His original publishers, Smith, Elder & Co., issue his works in many forms.
269c The best edition of Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is that in the “Haworth Edition,” published by Smith, Elder & Co., with an Introduction by Mrs. Humphry Ward.
269d Charles Dickens’ novels, of which David Copperfield is generally pronounced to be the best, should be obtained in the “Oxford India Paper Dickens” (Chapman & Hall and Henry Frowde). A serviceable edition is that published by the Macmillans, with Introductions by Charles Dickens’s son, but that edition still fails of Our Mutual Friend and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, of which the copyright is not yet exhausted.
269e Anthony Trollope’s novels are being reissued, in England by John Lane and George Bell & Sons, and in America in a most attractive form by Dodd, Mead & Co. All three publishers have a good edition of Barchester Towers, Trollope’s best novel.
269f Boccaccio’s Decameron is in my library in many forms—in 3 volumes of the Villon Society’s publications, translated by John Payne; in 2 handsome volumes issued by Laurence & Bullen; and in the Extra Volumes of Bohn’s Library. There is a pretty edition available published by Gibbons in 3 volumes.
270a Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights forms a volume of the Haworth Edition of the Brontë novels, published by Smith, Elder & Co. It has an introduction by Mrs. Humphry Ward.
270b Charles Reade’s Cloister and the Hearth is available in many forms. The pleasantest is in 4 volumes issued by Chatto & Windus, with an Introduction by Sir Walter Besant. There is a remarkable shilling edition issued by Collins of Glasgow.
270c Victor Hugo’s Les Misèrables may be most pleasantly read in the 10 volumes, translated by M. Jules Gray, published by J. M. Dent & Co.
270d Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford can be obtained in the six volume edition of that writer’s works published by Smith, Elder & Co., with Introductions by Dr. A. W. Ward; in a volume illustrated by Hugh Thomson, with an Introduction by Mrs. Ritchie, published by the Macmillans, or in the World’s Classics (Henry Frowde), where there is an additional chapter entitled, “The Cage at Cranford.”
270e The translation of George Sand’s Consuelo in my library is by Frank H. Potter, 4 volumes, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.
270f Lever’s Charles O’Malley I have as volumes of the Complete Works published by Downey. There is a pleasant edition in Nelson’s “Pocket Library.”
271a Macaulay’s History of England is available in many attractive forms from the original publishers, the Longmans. There is a neat thin paper edition for the pocket in 5 volumes issued by Chatto & Windus.
271b For Carlyle’s Past and Present I recommend the Centenary Edition of Carlyle’s Works, published by Chapman & Hall. There is an annotated edition of Sartor Resartus by J. A. S. Barrett (A. & C. Black), two annotated editions of The French-Revolution, one by Dr. Holland Rose (G. Bell & Sons), and an other by C. R. L. Fletcher, 3 volumes (Methuen), and an annotated edition of The Cromwell Letters, edited by S. C. Lomax, 3 volumes (Methuen). No publisher has yet attempted an annotated edition of Past and Present, but Sir Ernest Clarke’s translation of Jocelyn of Bragelond (Chatto & Windus) may be commended as supplemental to Carlyle’s most delightful book.
271c Motley’s Works are available in 9 volumes of a Library Edition published by John Murray. A cheaper issue of the Dutch Republic is that in 3 volumes of the World’s Classics, to which I have contributed a biographical introduction.
271d For many years the one standard edition of Gibbon was that published by John Murray, in 8 volumes, with notes by Dean Milman and others. It has been superseded by Professor Bury’s annotated edition in 7 volumes (Methuen).
272a Plutarch’s Lives, translated by A. Stewart and George Long, form 4 volumes of Bohn’s Standard Library. There is a handy volume for the pocket in Dent’s Temple Classics in 10 volumes, translated by Sir Thomas North.
272b Montaigne’s Essays I have in three forms; in the Tudor Translations (David Nutt), where there is an Introduction to the 6 volumes of Sir Thomas North’s translation by the Rt. Hon. George Wyndham; in Dent’s Temple Classics, where John Florio’s translation is given in 5 volumes. A much valued edition is that in 3 volumes, the translation by Charles Cotton, published by Reeves & Turner in 1877.
272c Steele’s essays were written for the Tatler and the Spectator side by side with those of Addison. The best edition of The Spectator is that published in 8 volumes, edited by George A. Aitken for Nimmo, and of The Tatler that published in 4 volumes, edited also by Mr. Aitken for Duckworth & Co.
272d Lamb’s Essays of Elia can be read in a volume of the Eversley Library (Macmillan), edited by Canon Ainger. The standard edition of Lamb’s Works is that edited by Mr. E. V. Lucas, in 7 volumes, for Methuen. Mr. Lucas’s biography of Lamb has superseded all others.
272e Thomas de Quincey’s Opium Eater may be obtained as a volume of Newnes’s Thin Paper Classics, in the World’s Classics, or in Dent’s Everyman’s Library. But the Complete Works of De Quincey, in 16 volumes, edited by David Mason and published by A. & C. Black, should be in every library.
273a William Hazlitt never received the treatment he deserved until Mr. J. M. Dent issued in 1903 his Collected Works, in 13 volumes, edited by A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover. Of cheap reprints of Hazlitt I commend The Spirit of the Age, Winterslow and Sketches and Essays, three separate volumes of the World’s Classics (Frowde).
273b George Borrow’s Lavengro should only be read in Mr. John Murray’s edition, as it there contains certain additional and valuable matter gathered from the original manuscript by William I. Knapp. The Library Edition of Borrow, in 6 volumes (Murray), may be particularly commended.
273c Emerson’s Complete Works are published by the Routledges in 4 volumes, in which Representative Men may be found in Vol. II. Some may prefer the Eversley Library Emerson, which has an Introduction by John Morley. There are many cheap editions of about equal value.
273d Lander’s Imaginary Conversations form six volumes of the complete Landor, edited by Charles G. Crump, and published in 10 volumes by J. M. Dent.
273e Matthew Arnold’s Essays in Criticism is published by Macmillan. It also forms Vol. III of the Library Edition of his Works in 15 volumes. A “Second Series” has less significance.
273f The Works of Herodotus, published by the Macmillans, translated by George C. Macaulay, is the best edition for the general reader. Canon Rawlinson’s Herodotus, published by John Murray, has had a longer life, but is now only published in an abridged form.
274a James Howell’s Familiar Letters, or Epistolae Ho Elianae, should be read in the edition published in 2 volumes by David Nutt, with an Introduction by Joseph Jacobs.
274b The History of Civilization, by Henry Thomas Buckle, is in my library in the original 2 volumes published by Parker in 1857. It is now issued in 3 volumes in Longman’s Silver Library, and in 3 volumes in the World’s Classics.
274c The History of Tacitus should be read in the translation by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodripp. It is published by the Macmillans.
274d Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford, is a collection of essays which in their completest form may be obtained in two volumes of Bohn’s Library (Bell). The essential essays should be possessed in the edition published by the Macmillans—Our Village, by Mary Russell Mitford, with an Introduction by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, and one hundred illustrations by Hugh Thomson.
274e Green’s Short History of the English People is published by the Macmillans in 1 volume, or illustrated in 4 volumes. The book was enlarged, but disimproved, under the title of A History of the English People, in 4 volumes, uniform with the Conquest of England and the Making of England by the same author.
275a Taine’s Ancient Régime is a good introduction to the conditions which made the French Revolution. It forms the first volume of Les Origines de la France Contemporaine, and may be read in a translation by John Durand, published by Dalby, Isbister & Co. in 1877.
275b The Life of Napoleon has been written by many pens, in our own day most competently by Dr. Holland Rose (2 vols. Bell); but a good account of the Emperor, indispensable for some particulars and an undoubted classic, is that by de Bourrienne, Napoleon’s private secretary, published in an English translation, in 4 volumes, by Bentley in 1836.
275c Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, may be had in a translation by Henry Reeve, published in 2 volumes by the Longmans. Read also A History of the United States by C. Benjamin Andrews, 2 volumes (Smith, Elder), and above all the American Commonwealth, by James Bryce, 2 volumes (Macmillan).
275d The Compleat Angler of Isaac Walton may be purchased in many forms. I have a fine library edition edited by that prince of living anglers, Mr. R. B. Marston, called The Lea and Dove Edition, this being the 100th edition of the book (Sampson Low, 1888). I have also an edition edited by George A. B. Dewar, with an Introduction by Sir Edward Grey and Etchings by William Strang and D. Y. Cameron, 2 volumes (Freemantle), and a 1 volume edition published by Ingram & Cooke in the Illustrated Library.
276a There are many editions of Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selbourne to be commended. Three that are in my library are (1) edited with an Introduction and Notes by L. C. Miall and W. Warde Fowler (Methuen); (2) edited with Notes by Grant Allen, illustrated by Edmund H. New (John Lane); (3) rearranged and classified under subjects by Charles Mosley (Elliot Stock).
276b Of Boswell’s Life of Johnson there are innumerable editions. The special enthusiast will not be happy until he possesses Dr. Birkbeck Hill’s edition in 6 volumes (Clarendon Press). The most satisfactory 1 volume edition is that published on thin paper by Henry Frowde. I have in my library also a copy of the first edition of Boswell in 2 volumes. It was published by Henry Baldwin in 1791.
276c The best edition of Lockhart’s Life of Scott is that published in 10 volumes by Jack of Edinburgh. Readers should beware of abridgments, although one of these was made by Lockhart himself. The whole eighty-five chapters are worth reading, even in the 1 volume edition published by A. & C. Black.
276d Pepys’s Diary can be obtained in Bohn’s Library or in Newnes’ Thin Paper Classics, but Pepys should only be read under Mr. H. B. Wheatley’s guidance. A cheap edition of his book, in 8 volumes, has recently been published by George Bell & Sons. I have No. 2 of the large paper edition of this book, No. 1 having gone to Pepys’s own college of Brazenose, where the Pepys cypher is preserved.
277a Until recently one knew Walpole’s Letters only through Peter Cunningham’s edition, in 9 volumes (Bentley), and this has still exclusive matter for the enthusiast, Cunningham’s Introduction to wit; but the Clarendon Press has now published Walpole’s Letters, edited by Mrs. Paget Toynbee, in 16 volumes, or in 8. Here are to be found more letters than in any previous edition.
277b The Memoirs of Count de Gramont, by Anthony, Count Hamilton, can be obtained in splendid type, unannotated, in an edition published by Arthur L. Humphreys. A well-illustrated and well-edited edition is that published by Bickers of London and Scribner of New York, edited by Allan Fea.
277c Gray’s Letters, with poems and life, form 4 volumes in Macmillan’s Eversley Library, edited by Edmund Gosse.
277d You can obtain Southey’s Nelson, originally written for Murray’s Pocket Library as a publisher’s commission, in one well-printed volume, with Introduction by David Hannay, published by William Heinemann. It should, however, be supplemented in the Life by Captain Mahan (2 volumes, Sampson Low & Co.), or by Professor Laughton’s Nelson and His Companion in Arms (George Allen).
277e Moore’s Life and Letters of Byron is published by John Murray in 6 volumes. It is best purchased second-hand in an old set. Moore’s book must be supplemented by the 6 volumes of Correspondence edited by Rowland Prothero for Mr. Murray.
278a Sir George Trevelyan says in his Early History of Charles James Fox that Hogg’s Life of Shelley is “perhaps the most interesting book in our language that has never been republished.” The reproach has been in some slight measure removed by a cheap reprint in small type issued by the Routledges in 1906. The reader should, however, secure a copy of the first edition, 2 volumes, 1857. Professor Dowden, in his Life of Shelley, 1886, uses the book freely.
278b “What is the best book you have ever read?” Emerson is said to have asked George Eliot when she was about twenty-two years of age and residing, unknown, near Coventry. “Rousseau’s Confessions,” was the reply. “I agree with you,” Emerson answered. But the book should not be read in a translation. The completest translation is one in 2 volumes published by Nicholls. There is a more abridged translation by Gibbons in 4 volumes.
278c The Life of Carlyle, by James Anthony Froude, which created so much controversy upon its publication, is worthy of a cheap edition, which does not, however, seem to be forthcoming. The book appeared in 4 volumes, The First Forty Years in 1882 and Life in London in 1884. It had been preceded by Reminiscences in 1881. Every one should read the Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle, 3 volumes, 1883. All the 9 volumes are published by the Longmans.
279a Samuel Rogers’ Table Talk has been given us in two forms, first as Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers, edited by Alexander Dyce, 1856, and second as Reminiscences of Samuel Rogers, 1859. The Recollections were reprinted in handsome form by H. A. Rogers, of New Southgate, in 1887, and the material was combined in a single volume in 1903 by G. H. Powell (R. Brimley Johnson). I have the four books, and delight in the many good stories they contain.
279b The Confessions of St. Augustine may be commended in many small and handy editions. One, with an Introduction by Alice Meynell, was published in 1900. The most beautifully printed modern edition is that issued by Arthur Humphreys in his Classical Series.
279c Amiel’s Journal is a fine piece of introspection. A translation by Mrs. Humphry Ward is published in 2 volumes by the Macmillans. De Senancour’s Obermann, translated by A. E. Waite (Wellby), should be read in this connexion.
279d The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated by George Long, appears as a volume of Bohn’s Library, and more beautifully printed in the Library of Arthur Humphreys. There are many other good translations—one by John Jackson, issued in 1906 by the Clarendon Press, has great merit.
279e George Henry Lewes’s Life of Goethe has gone through many editions and remains a fascinating book, although it may be supplemented by the translation of Duntzer’s Life of Goethe, 2 volumes, Macmillan, and Bielschowsky’s Life of Goethe, Vols. I and II (Putnams).
280a The Life of Lessing, by James Sime, is not a great biography, but it is an interesting and most profitable study of a noble man. Lessing will be an inspiration greater almost than any other of the moderns for those who are brought in contact with his fine personality. The book is in 2 volumes, published by the Trübners.
280b You can read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography in 1 volume (Dent), or in his Collected Works—Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, edited by his grandson, William Temple Franklin, 6 volumes (Colburn), 1819. There have been at least two expensive reprints of his Works of late years.
280c The Greville Memoirs were published in large octavo form in the first place. Much scandal was omitted from the second edition. They are now obtainable in 8 volumes of Longmans’ Silver Library. They form an interesting glimpse into the Court life of the later Guelphs.
280d It has been complained of John Forster’s Life of Charles Dickens that there is too much Forster and not enough Dickens. Yet it is the only guide to the life-story of the greatest of the Victorian novelists. Is most pleasant to read in the 2 volumes of the Gadshill Edition, published by Chapman & Hall.
280e The Early Diary of Frances Burney, afterwards Madame D’Arblay, edited by Annie Raine Ellis, has just been reprinted in two volumes of Bohn’s Library (Bell). We owe also to Mr. Austen Dobson a fine reprint of the later and more important Diaries, which he has edited in 6 volumes for the Macmillans.
281a The Apologia pro Vita Suâ of John Henry Newman is one of the volumes of Cardinal Newman’s Collected Works issued by the Longmans. It is the most interesting, and is perhaps the most destined to survive, of all the books of theological controversy of the nineteenth century.
281b There is practically but one edition of the Paston Letters, that edited by James Gairdner, of the Public Record Office, and published by the firm of Archibald Constable. The luxurious Library Edition issued by Chatto & Windus in 6 volumes should be acquired if possible.
281c The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini is best known in the translation of Thomas Roscoe in Bohn’s Library. Mr. J. Addington Symonds, however, made a new translation, issued in two fine volumes by Nimmo.
281d The Religio Medici of Sir Thomas Browne can be obtained in many forms, although the well-to-do collector will be satisfied only with the edition edited by Simon Wilkin. The book is admirably edited by W. A. Greenhill for the “Golden Treasury Series.”