Try to imitate all this in your own writing. Avoid being stiff and formal, and try to write easily, familiarly, originally, and with dignity. Remember that your aim is to give pleasure rather than information.
FOOTNOTES:
[114] Leigh Hunt (1784-1859). A famous English essayist and poet, noted for his love of books. When he was imprisoned because of an article ridiculing the Prince Regent he sent for so many books that he made his prison a sort of library.
[115] Edmund Gosse (1849- ). A noted English poet, critic, and student of literature. Since he based much of his writing on close study he naturally wished for quiet.
[116] A castle in Spain, or a sheep-walk in Arcadia. Places of perfect happiness, where all desired things may be obtained. Arcadia is a mountain-surrounded section of Greece noted for its happy shepherd life.
[117] Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). The great French essayist who invented the familiar essay.
[118] William Hazlitt (1778-1830). An English essayist, lecturer, biographer and critic; a student of literature.
[119] Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). A British poet, novelist, short story writer and essayist, born in Edinburgh, Scotland. At various times he lived in France, Switzerland, the United States and the South Sea Islands. He was buried in Samoa.
[120] Cornhill. A famous street in London.
[121] The Restoration. The restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 after its overthrow by the Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell.