The Power of Books.—"Fragments of divine biography swept away the bloody power of the Cæsars, and books may set in action the most resistless natures—overturn and obliterate empires. The elements, even, are weak to what a book may be. The most accessible, the most manageable, it may possess that which will change nations, and make empires disappear.
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"When we inquire what it is that causes the words of men to live upon the earth after they have departed, we may say, Truth; but that is undefinable: but if we could arrive at the greatest cause, we would say, Humanity—those attributes which constitute man's universal nature.
Of Books, good and bad.—"A good book is among the best of good things, and its contents are embalmed and treasured up 'to life above life.' Good is not alone that which is fact, but that which gives impulse—which does not flatter into content, but quickens into inspiration; and while a good book is the best of good things, a bad book is the worst of bad things. But we must take a free literature with its imperfections as well as its advantages, for an inquisition of literature would be no more tolerable than an inquisition of religion. Preaching, even, on bad books is worse than vain—it only advertises them, and makes the hearer eager to read and examine their contents, for how can the preacher know that it is a bad book unless he reads it? and why are his hearers not as capable to judge as well as himself? The true guard against them is education, and the next step is to treat them with silence and contempt. There are those who desire a book as a living companion of the mind; and to such, a good work is society to his loneliness—a balm to his troubles—a friend to the friendless—wealth to the poor, and moreover, can keep the mind in action though the body dies.
The Pleasures of Books.—"There is a joy in books which those alone can know who read them with desire and with enthusiasm; as from time to time there were books which created order out of disorder, and made states, and shaped empires. By books we can accompany the traveller, and take a voyage with the navigator, see what they have seen, and thus go back to other days, and other times; can listen to eloquence which was not so much the thought, of man as of nations, and read speeches of men who incarnate whole civilized nations in their views—whose impulse was the common heart. There is a genius for reading as well as for writing, and there are probably as few successful readers as writers—that is, those who come in material relation to the meaning of the author; for, without imbibing the spirit of the writer, there can be no criticism."