distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh [8] a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man; and therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth

Without going the length of Montaigne, who says that 'every abridgment of a book is a foolish abridgment,' it may be truly said, not only that the human mind cannot profitably digest intellectual food in such a condensed shape, but that every work really worth reading bears upon it the impress of the mind that gave it birth, and ceases to attract and to impress when reduced to a syllabus; its faults and its excellencies alike vanish in the process. It is of much importance, however, if authors who cannot be thus mutilated desire to live, that they should study brevity. Our voluminous forefathers of the seventeenth century seem never to have attempted condensation [this is not true of Bacon's Essays]; but to have committed all that they thought to writing, and for the most part in all the redundance of the forms first suggested. They acted as though we, their posterity, should have nothing to do but to sit down and read what they had written. They were much mistaken; and the consequence is, that their folios, for the most part, remain unread."

[8.] Conference: Synonyme? A present wit: knowledge at command. That: what.

Cunning: Synonyme?

This whole sentence is remarkably terse, and on this account valuable, yet the Latin form is so much more complete and beautiful, that it must not be withheld :-'Lectio copiosum reddit, et bene instructum; disputationes et colloquia promptum et facilem; scriptio autem et notarum collectio perlecta in animo imprimit et altius figit.'

Writing, an exact man: Whately remarks that the writing of an analysis, table of contents, index, or notes to any book, is very important for the study, properly so called, of any subject. And so, also, is the practice of previously conversing or writing on the subject you are about to study. It may be suggested to the teacher, to put before his pupils, previously to

[9] not. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; rhetoric and logic, able to contend; "Abeunt studia in mores ;" nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises; bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like: so, if a man's wits be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in

their reading each lesson, some questions pertaining to the matter of it, requiring of them answers, oral or written, the best they can think of without consulting the book. Next, let them read the lesson, having other questions, such as may lead to any needful explanations, put before them as they proceed. And afterwards let them be examined (introducing numerous examples framed by themselves, and by the teacher) as to the portion they have learned, in order to judge how far they remember it. One very useful precept for students, is never to remain long puzzling at any difficulty; but to lay the book and the subject aside, and return to it some hours after, or next day. The same may be said of the effort to recollect some name. Always trust, for the overcoming of a difficulty, not to long-continued study, after you have once got bewildered, but to repeated trials at intervals.

[9.] Witty: brilliant. Give the synonymes of the other adjectives in the first part of this sentence. Abeunt, &c.: 'Studies become habits,' or 'manners are influenced by studies.'

Stond: hindrance.

faculties.

it.

Wit: mind.

Wrought out: removed.

Wits: mental May have, &c.:

may have certain exercises applied which are suited to alleviate The schoolmen: These are noticed in Essay VIII. Cymini sectores: Splitters of cummin seeds. The modern phrase is, splitters of hairs,' or 'of straws.' The witty Butler says of Hudibras :

"He could distinguish and divide

A hair 'twixt south and south-west side."

demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen, for they are "Cymini sectores;" if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

To beat over matters: The meaning seems to be, to investigate, search for matters. Receipt: Synonyme ?

Apt: [fit, §8:] "In describing the English language as a composite language, we get, perhaps, a wrong notion of its being made up by the union of two dialects, the Saxon and the Norman. The truth rather seems to be, that the Anglo-Saxon language has displayed the same powers of acquisition as have distinguished the race, and has thus enlarged the domain by conquest, and appropriation, and annexation, retaining, however, withal, its essentially Teutonic character. Its early acquisitions from abroad were words of French or Southern birth, which became part of the natural spoken language, the copiousness and power of which were thus admirably increased. A single specimen will show that this is a copiousness giving not merely duplicate words, but distinct expressions for delicate shades of meaning. The words 'apt' and 'fit' might be thought to differ only in this, that the former is of Latin derivation; but 'apt' has an active sense, and 'fit' a passive sense—a distinction clearly shown by Shakespeare, when the poisoner in the play in Hamlet says, 'hands apt, drugs fit,' and by Wordsworth :

'Our hearts more apt to sympathize

With heaven, our souls more fit for future glory.'

While the early additions to the language were fairly absorbed into it, and have proved so valuable, the later introductions of words of Latin or French formation have never, in like manner, become natural and national; and their presence has, therefore, been often injurious as an element not divested of its foreign tone."-Eng. Lit., Lect. III, pp. 105-6.

1. Write an Analysis of the Essay.

2. Make a new division of those sentences that are too long.

3. Divide the Essay into suitable paragraphs.

4. Point out elegant sentences.

5. Also pithy ones, and repeat them from memory.

6. Distinguish those which are figurative.

7. Those also in which there is a nice discrimination in the shades of thought expressed.

8. Point out words and phrases now obsolete; or words (if any) that have undergone a change of meaning since Bacon wrote.

9. Strictures on the couplet, "A little learning, &c. ?" What is the "smattering" that deserves contempt? As no one can learn all things perfectly, what course is it best to pursue? Whately's observations upon the best method of reading?

10. What kind of books may it be advantageous to 'taste,' that are nauseous or insipid? What does Henry Rogers say concerning "distilled books?" 11. Observations of Prof. Reed, in respect to the language of an author? 12. Directions for becoming an exact man,' and for pursuing study to advantage?

13. What is said of the composite character of our language? How has the language been enlarged? Examples of two words expressing delicate shades of meaning? Paraphrase the whole Essay, in good taste, and with perspicuity.

ESSAY XXIV.

PRAISE.

PRAISE is the reflection of virtue, but it is as [1] the glass, or body, which giveth the reflection; if it be from the common people, it is commonly false and naught, and rather followeth vain persons than virtuous : for the common people understand not many excellent virtues the lowest virtues draw praise from them, the middle virtues work in them astonishment or admira

[1.] Naught: worthless.

:

The common people understand

not, &c. What a pregnant remark is this! By the lowest of the virtues he means probably such as hospitality, liberality, gratitude, good-humored courtesy, and the like; and these, he says, the common run of mankind are accustomed to praise. Those which they admire, such as daring courage, and fidelity to friends, or to the cause or party one has espoused, are what he ranks in the next highest place. But the most elevated virtues of all, such as disinterested and devoted public spirit, thorough-going, even-handed justice, and disregard of unpopularity when duty requires, of those he says the vulgar have usually no notice. And he might have gone further; for it often happens that a large portion of mankind not only do not praise or admire the highest qualities, but even censure and despise them. Cases may occur in which, though you may obtain the high approbation of a very few persons of the most refined and exalted moral sentiments, you must be prepared to find the majority (even of such as are not altogether bad men) condemning you as unnatural, unkind, faithless, and not to be depended on; or deriding you as eccentric, crotchety, fanciful, or absurdly scrupulous.-W.