tion; once thoroughly possessed and occupied by the deep and genial pleas ures of one truly intellectual pursuit, you will be easy and indifferent to all others that had previously teased you with transient excitement."-Dr. Potter: Handbook for Readers, pp. 15–18, 20, 21. cess. "In learning any new thing, there should be as little as possible first proposed to the mind at once. That being understood, and fully mastered, proceed to the next adjoining part, yet unknown. This is a slow, but safe and sure way to arrive at knowledge. The mind will be able, in this manner, to cope with great difficulties, and prevail over them, with amazing and happy sucEngage not the mind in the intense pursuit of too many things at once; especially, such as have no relation to one another. This will be ready to distract the understanding, and hinder it from attaining perfection in any one subject of study. . . . . . In the pursuit of every valuable subject of knowledge, keep the end always in your eye, and be not diverted from it by every petty trifle you meet with in the way. . . . . . Be not satisfied with a mere knowledge of the best authors, that treat of any subject, instead of acquainting yourselves thoroughly with the subject itself.”—Dr. Watts on the Mind, pp. 131-133, 72. 7. READING CONJOINED WITH THINKING. "Deal freely with every author you read; and yield up your assent only to evidence and just reasoning on the subject. . . . . In the compositions of men, remember, you are a man as well as they; and it is not their reason, but your own, that is given to guide you, when you arrive at years of discretion. Enter into the sense and argument of the authors you read; examine all their proofs, and then judge of the truth or falsehood of their opinion... You will acquire by degrees a habit of judging justly, and of reasoning well, in imitation of the good writer, whose works you peruse.... Never apply yourself to read any human author, with a determination beforehand either for or against him; nor with a settled resolution to believe or disbelieve, to confirm or to oppose whatsoever he says; but always read with design to lay your mind open to truth, and to embrace it, as well as to reject every falsehood, though it appears under ever so fair a disguise. . . . . . Ñever let an unknown word pass in your reading, without seeking for its meaning. . . . And, indeed, how many volumes soever of learning a man possesses, he is still deplorably poor in his understanding, till he has made these several parts of learning his own property, by reasoning, by judging for himself, and remembering what he has read.-Dr. Watts on the Mind, pp. 61, 62, 66, 67, 72. 73. Says Locke, 'Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.' Says Dugald Stewart, nothing, in truth. has such a tendency to weaken, not only the powers of invention, but the intellectual powers in general, as a habit of extensive and various reading without reflection.'. . . Accustom yourself to refer whatever you read to the general head to which it belongs, and trace it, if a fact, to the principle it involves or illustrates; if a principle, to the facts which it produces or explains.”—Dr. Potter: Handbook for Readers, pp. 16. 17, 19. "Reading, to be useful, should be combined with reflection. Books can afford but little improvement to those who do not think as well as read. Thus we see the great necessity of reading with deliberation; and may I not add that in this respect, laboring people, and those whose pursuits give to them almost constant engagement, have advantages which they are not apt to appreciate. By reading at intervals, some portion of a good book, and then carrying the matter with them to their places of business, as a subject for thought and conversation, they will soon discover that the subject grows upon them in interest, that their views insensibly become clearer and more enlarged, and that useful reflections, not suggested by the author, rise before their minds. And thus it is, that men of active pursuits are more apt, as all expe rience testifies, to accumulate useful knowledge, than those whose lives are passed in leisure and in the midst of books. . . Let me advise, then, that books be read deliberately. The old maxim, that if a thing be worth doing at all, it is worth doing wel,' is peculiarly applicable to reading. A book run over hastily, is rarely understood; if not understood, it is not remembered; and if not remembered, the time spent in reading it is lost. . . By deep and diligent meditation, we (should) acquire something which may truly be called our own; for, as Milton says:- who reads *Incessantly, and to his reading brings not Deep versed in books, but shallow in himself." " ... Dr. Potter: Advantages of Science, pp. 17, 18, 27, 30. 8. SOCIAL OR CLASS READING. If three or four persons agree to read the same book, and each brings his own remarks upon it, at some set hours appointed for conversation, and they communicate, mutually, their sentiments on the subjects, and debate about it in a friendly manner, the practice will render the reading of any author more abundantly beneficial to every one of them. . . . . If several persons engaged in the same study, take into their hands distinct treatises on one subject, and appoint a season of communication once a week, they may inform each other in a brief manner, concerning the sense, sentiments and method of those several authors, and thereby promote each other's improvement, &c. . . . . Talking over the things which you have read to your companions, on the first proper opportunity, is a most useful manner of review or repetition, in order to fix them upon the mind. Teach them to your younger friends, in order to establish your own knowledge, while you communicate it to them."--Dr. Watts on the Mind, pp. 60, 61, 178. 666 Company and conversation,' says Feltham, 'are the best instructors for a noble nature.' 'An engagement and combating of wits.' says Erasmus, ' does, in an extraordinary manner, both show the strength of geniuses, rouses them and augments them. If you are in doubt of any thing, do not be ashamed to ask, or, if you have committed an error, be corrected."-Dr. Potter: Handbook for Readers, p. 19. "Some books should be read in company with others, especially with our family. We never relish a good book so highly as when we read it with a friend of congenial tastes. . . . . . . And in this plan of social reading, what friends so proper as those of our household! What employment more appropriate for the domestic circle, than one which causes the minds of all to move in unison, thus strengthening the ties of mutual affection, and causing us to associate with home, the remembrance of our intellectual pleasures! ... . It will not be easy to preserve the good old practice of collecting our families around the cheerful fire, and teaching them to relish early the home-bred delights of affection, and of a commom intercourse with those best and most improving visiters, good books." Dr. Potter: Advantages of Science, pp. 27, 29. 9. RE-READING OR REVIEWING. "A frequent review and careful repetition of the things we would learn, and an abridgment of them in a narrow compass, has a great influence to fix them in the memory..... Repetition is so very useful a practice, that Winemon, even from his youth to his old age, never read a book without making some small points, dashes, or hooks in the margin, to mark what parts of the discourse were proper for review; and when he came to the end of a section or chapter, he always shut his book, and recollected all the sentiments or expres sions he had marked, so that he could give a tolerable analysis and abstract of every treatise he had read, just after he had finished it. Hence he became so well furnished with a rich variety of knowledge."--Dr. Watts on the Mind, p. 177. "Strive, by frequent reviews, to keep your knowledge always at command. 'What booteth,' says an old writer, 'to read much, which is a weariness to the flesh; to meditate often. which is a burden to the mind; to learn daily, with increase of knowledge, when he is to seek for what he hath learned, and perhaps then, especially, when he hath most need thereof? Without this, (reviewing) our studies are but lost labor."—Dr. Potter: Handbook for Readers, p. 20. "I would recommend, that when we become acquainted with a truly good book, we read it often. Cecil tells us that he had a 'shelf for tried books; books, which he could never open without being incited to reflection, and enriched by some new hint or principle. It should be so with all of us. A fero books properly selected and faithfully read, would suffice to yield us more, both of pleasure and profit, than any number, however great, taken at random, and read, as they usually are, in a hurried and unreflecting manner. A book, moreover, which deserves the praise of being good, has cost its author efforts which cannot be appreciated at a single reading."-Dr. Potter: Advantages of Science, p. 29. 10. READING CONNECTED WITH WRITING. "For want of retiring and writing, many a learned man has lost several useful meditations of his own, and could never recall them. . . . If a book has no index nor good table of contents, it is very useful to make one as you are reading it. . . It is sufficient in your index, to take notice only of those parts of the book which are new to you, or which you think well written, and well worthy of your remembrance or review. Shall I be so free as to assure my younger friends, from my own experience, that these methods of reading will cost some pains in the first years of your study, and especially in the first authors, which you peruse in any science, or on any particular subject; but the profit will richly compensate the pains. And in the following years of life, after you have read a few valuable books on any special subject in this manner, it will be very easy to read others of the same kind; because you will not usually find very much new matter in them, which you have not already examined. If the writer be remarkable for any peculiar excellencies or defects in his style or manner of writing, make just observations upon this also; and whatever ornaments you find there, or whatever blemishes occur in the language or manner of the writer, you may make just remarks upon them. And remember, that one book, read over in this manner, with all this laborious meditation, will tend more to enrich your understanding, than skimming over the surface of twenty. . . . . It is useful to note down matters of doubt and inquiry, and take the first opportunity to get them resolved either by persons or books.... Lawyers and Divines write down short notes or hints of the principal heads of what they desire to commit to memory, in order to preach or plead. . . . The art of short hand is of excellent use for this, as well as other purposes. . . Those who scarcely ever take a pen in their hands to write short notes or hints of what they are to learn, need a double degree of power to retain or recollect what they read or hear."-Dr. Watts on the Mind, pp. 42, 64, 65, 72, 178. "Nor is it merely to the philosopher, who wishes to distinguish himself by his discoveries, that writing affords an useful instrument of study. Important assistance may be derived from it by all those who wish to impress on their minds the investigations which occur to them in the course of their reading." -Dugald Stuart: Philos. of the Mind, Vol. 1, p. 32. "Seek opportunities to write and converse on subjects about which you read. Reading,' says Bacon, 'maketh a full man, conference, a ready man, and writing, an exact man.'"-Dr. Potter: Hand Book, &c., p. 19. "I add one more suggestion in the words of another. Young persons especially, will pardon the suggestion, that in no way, perhaps, can their store of applicable knowledge be more certainly, though at first almost imperceptibly, increased, than by habitually reading with a pen in the hand. There is much good sense in these doggerel verses, for which we are indebted to no ordinary thinker." "In reading authors, when you find To think on at another senson, Be not contented with the sight, But take them down in black and white; Such a respect is wisely shown, As makes another's sense one's own."" Dr. Potter: Advantages of Science, p. 30. 11. METHOD OF READING-GENERAL HINTS AND DIRECTIONS. "Books of importance of any kind, and especially complete treatises on any subject, should be first read in a more general and cursory manner, to learn a little what the treatise promises, and what you may expect from the writer's manner and skill. And for this end, I would advise always, that the preface be read, and a survey taken of the table of contents, if there be one, before this first survey of the book. By this means, you will not only be better fitted to give the book the first reading, but you will be much assisted in your second perusal, which should be done with greater attention and deliberation; and you will learn with more ease and readiness what the author pretends to teach. In your reading, mark what is new or unknown to you before; and review those chapters, pages, or paragraphs...... Other things, also, of the like nature may be usefully practiced with regard to the authors which you read. If the method of a book be irregular, reduce it into form by a little analysis of your own, or by hints in the margin; if those things are heaped together which should be separated, you may wisely distinguish and divide them. If several things relating to the same subject are scattered up and down separately through the treatise, you may bring them all to one view, by references; or if the matter of a book be really valuable and deserving, you may throw it into a better method, reduce it to a more logical scheme, or abridge it into a lesser form. All these practices will have a tendency both to advance your skill in logic and method, to improve your judgment in general, and to give you a fuller survey of that subject in particular. When you have finished the treatise, with all your observations upon it, recollect and determine what real improvements you have made by reading that author.... Endeavor to apply every speculative study, as far as possible, to some practical use, that both yourself and others may be the better for it."-Dr. Watts, pp. 59, 64, 139. "Always have some useful and pleasant book ready to take up in 'odd. ends' of time. A good part of life will otherwise be wasted. "There is,' says Wyttenbach, 'no business no avocation whatever, which will not permit a man who has an inclination to give a little time every day to the studies of his youth..... Be not alarmed because so many books are recommended. They are not all to be read at once, nor in a short time. 'Some travelers,' says Bishop Hall, 'have more shrunk at the map than at the way; between both. how many stand still with their arms folded.'. . . . Do not attempt to read much or fast. To call him well read, who reads many authors,' says Shaftsbury, 'is improper.' 'It does not matter,' says Seneca, how many, but how good books you have.'..... Endeavor to find opportunities to use your knowledge, and apply it in practice. They proceed right well in all know ledge,' says Bacon, 'which do couple study with their practice, and do not first study altogether, and then practice altogether."-Dr. Potter: Hand Book, fc., pp. 16, 20. "How SHOULD WE READ? First, thoughtfully and critically; secondly, in company with a friend or with our family; thirdly, repeatedly; fourthly, with pen in hand.”—Dr. Potter: Advantages of Science, p. 31. 12. EFFECTS OF BOOKS-INFLUENCE OF AUTHORS. "Wherefore should not the literary character be associated in utility or glory with the other professional classes of society?..... The commercial prosperity of a nation inspires no renovation in mankind; nor will its military power with their affection. There is an interchange of opinions, as well as of spices and specie, which induces nations to esteem each other; and there is a glorious succession of authors, as well as of seamen and soldiers, forever standing before the eyes of the universe. It is by our authors that foreigners have been taught to subdue their own prejudices. . . . . . The small cities of Athens and of Florence will perpetually attest the influence of the literary character over other nations; the one received the tributes of the mistress of the universe, when the Romans sent their youth to be educated at Athens; while the other, at the revival of letters, beheld every polished European crowding to its little court...... Those who govern a nation, cannot at the same time enlighten them;-authors stand between the governors and the governed...... The single thought of a man of genius has sometimes changed the dispositions of a people, and even of an age. . . . . . When Locke and Montesquieu appeared, the old systems of government were reviewed; the principles of legislation were developed; and many changes have succeeded, and are still to succeed. . . . . . Observe the influence of authors in forming the character of men, where the solitary man of genius stamps his own on a people. The habits, the precepts, &c., of Dr. Franklin imprinted themselves on his Americans; while the elegant tastes of Sir William Jones could inspire the servants of a commercial corporation to open new and vast sources of knowledge...... While Britain retains her awful situation among the nations of Europe, the 'Sylva' of Evelyn will endure with her triumphant oaks. In the third edition of that work, the heart of the patriot exults at its results. He tells Charles I. 'how many millions of timber trees, besides requisite others, have been propagated and planted at the instigation, and by the sole direction of this work. It was an author in his studious retreat, who, casting a prophetic eye on the age we live in, secured the late victories of our naval sovereignty. Inquire at the Admiralty how the fleets of Nelson have been constructed, and they can tell you that it was with the oaks which the genius of Evelyn planted. ..... The same character existed in France, where De Lerres, in 1599, composed a work on the cultivation of mulberry trees, in reference to the art of raising silk-worms. He taught his fellow-citizens to convert a leaf into silk, and silk to become the representative of gold... ... A work in France, under the title of 'L'Ami des Hommes,' first spread there a general passion for agricultural pursuits; and although the national ardor carried all to excess, yet marshes were drained, and waste lands inclosed.... The commercial world owes to two retired philosophers, in the solitude of their study, Locke and Smith, those principles which dignify trade into a liberal pursuit, and connect it with the happiness of a people.... In the history of genius, there is no chronology, for to us everything it has done is present; and the earliest attempt is connected with the most recent... ... My learned and reflecting friend, (Sharon Turner, Esq.,) whose original researches have enriched our national history, has thus observed on the character of Wickliffe: To complete our idea of the importance of Wickliffe, it is only necessary to add, that as his writings made John Huss the Reformer of Bohemia, so the |