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Literary Taste: How to Form It

<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> <h2>AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD II</h2> After dealing with the formation of a library of authors up to John Dryden, I must logically arrange next a scheme for the period covered roughly by the eighteenth century. There is, however, no reason why the student in quest of a library should follow the chronological order. Indeed, I should advise him to attack the nineteenth century before the eighteenth, for the reason that, unless his taste happens to be peculiarly "Augustan," he will obtain a more immediate satisfaction and profit from his acquisitions in the nineteenth century than in the eighteenth. There is in eighteenth-century literature a considerable proportion of what I may term "unattractive excellence," which one must have for the purposes of completeness, but which may await actual perusal until more pressing and more human books have been read. I have particularly in mind the philosophical authors of the century. <h4>PROSE WRITERS.</h4> [pgs 110-111] <table align="center" summary="prose writers"> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">£</td> <td align="center">s.</td> <td align="center">d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">JOHN LOCKE, Philosophical Works: Bohn's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Edition (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">SIR ISAAC NEWTON, Principia (sections 1,</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  2, and 3): Macmillans</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">12</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Gilbert Burnet, History of His Own Time:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Everyman's Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">William Wycherley, Best Plays: Mermaid</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Series</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">WILLIAM CONGREVE, Best Plays: Mermaid</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Series</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Jonathan Swift, Tale of a Tub: Scott</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Temple Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">DANIEL DEFOE, Robinson Crusoe: World's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">DANIEL DEFOE, Journal of the Plague</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Year: Everyman's Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele,</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Essays: Scott Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">William Law, Serious Call: Everyman's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Lady Mary W. Montagu, Letters: Everyman's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">George Berkeley, Principles of Human</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Knowledge: New Universal Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">SAMUEL RICHARDSON, Clarissa (abridged):</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Routledge's Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">John Wesley, Journal: Everyman's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library (4 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">HENRY FIELDING, Tom Jones: Routledge's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">HENRY FIELDING, Amelia: Routledge's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">HENRY FIELDING, Joseph Andrews:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Routledge's Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">David Hume, Essays: World's Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">LAURENCE STERNE, Tristram Shandy:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  World's Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">LAURENCE STERNE, Sentimental Journey:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  New Universal Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Horace Walpole, Castle of Otranto: King's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Tobias Smollett, Humphrey Clinker:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Routledge's Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Tobias Smollett, Travels through France</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  and Italy: World's Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">ADAM SMITH, Wealth of Nations: World's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Classics (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  World's Classics (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Samuel Johnson, Rasselas: New Universal</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">JAMES BOSWELL, Life of Johnson: Everyman's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Oliver Goldsmith, Works: Globe Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Cassell's National Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Scott Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Revolution: Scott Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Present</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Discontents: New Universal Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">EDWARD GIBBON, Decline and Fall of the</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Roman Empire: World's Classics</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  (7 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Watts</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  and Co.'s Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, Plays:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  World's Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Fanny Burney, Evelina: Everyman's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Gilbert White, Natural History of Selborne:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Everyman's Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Arthur Young, Travels in France: York</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Mungo Park, Travels: Everyman's Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Principles of Morals: Clarendon</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Press</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">6</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS, Essay on the</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Principle of Population: Ward,</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Lock's Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">William Godwin, Caleb Williams:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Newnes's Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Maria Edgeworth, Helen: Macmillan's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Illustrated Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">JANE AUSTEN, Novels: Nelson's New</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Century Library (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">James Morier, Hadji Baba: Macmillan's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Illustrated Novels</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">£5</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> </table> The principal omissions here are Jeremy Collier, whose outcry against the immorality of the stage is his slender title to remembrance; Richard Bentley, whose scholarship principally died with him, and whose chief works are no longer current; and "Junius," who would have been deservedly forgotten long ago had there been a contemporaneous Sherlock Holmes to ferret out his identity. <h4>POETS.</h4> <table summary="POETS." align="center"> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">£</td> <td align="center">s.</td> <td align="center">d.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Thomas Otway, Venice Preserved: Temple</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Dramatists</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Matthew Prior, Poems on Several Occasions:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Cambridge English Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">John Gay, Poems: Muses' Library</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">ALEXANDER POPE, Works: Globe Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Isaac Watts, Hymns: Any hymn-book</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">James Thomson, The Seasons: Muses'</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">Charles Wesley, Hymns: Any hymn-book</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">THOMAS GRAY, Samuel Johnson, William</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Collins, Poems: Muses' Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">James Macpherson (Ossian), Poems:</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Canterbury Poets</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">THOMAS CHATTERTON, Poems: Muses'</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library (2 vols.)</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">WILLIAM COWPER, Poems: Canterbury</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Poets</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">WILLIAM COWPER, Letters: World's</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Classics</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">George Crabbe, Poems: Methuen's Little</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">WILLIAM BLAKE, Poems: Muses' Library</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">William Lisle Bowles, Hartley Coleridge,</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">  Poems: Canterbury Poets</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">ROBERT BURNS, Works: Globe Edition</td> <td align="center">0</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> </td> <td align="center">£1</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> </table> <h4>SUMMARY OF THE PERIOD.</h4> <table summary="SUMMARY OF THE PERIOD." align="center"> <tr> <td align="left">39 prose writers in</td> <td>60</td> <td>volumes,</td> <td>costing</td> <td align="center">£5</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">18 poets</td> <td>18</td> <td align="center">"</td> <td align="center">"</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">__</td> <td>__</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> <td align="center">___</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">57</td> <td>78</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="center">£6</td> <td align="center">8</td> <td align="center">0</td> </tr> </table> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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