in Abbeville County, South Carolina and studied at Yale. As a Member of
Congress he supported the war with Great Britain in 1812-15. He was
twice Vice-President of the United States. He died at Washington. A
_Disquisition on Government_ and a _Discourse on the Constitution and
Government of the United States_ were written in the last months of his
life. His _Collected Works_ appeared in 1853-4.
{250a} Dumont, Pierre Etienne Louis (1759-1829). A great publicist;
born in Geneva, and principally known in England by his association with
Bentham, to whom he acted as an editor and interpreter. Lived much in
Paris, St. Petersburg, and, above all, in London, where he knew Fox,
Sheridan, and other famous men, and taught the children of Lord
Shelburne. Dumont's _Sophismes Anarchiques_ appears in Bentham's
_Collected Works_ as _Anarchical Fallacies_.
{250b} Quinet, Edgar (1803-1875). French historian and philosopher;
born at Borg and died in Paris. His epic poem of _Ahasuerus_ was placed
upon the Index. Of his many books his _La Revolution Francaise_ is the
best known. It was written in Switzerland, where he was an exile during
the reign of Napoleon III. He returned to France in 1870.
{250c} Stein, Lorenz von (1815-1890). Writer on economics, studied in
Kiel and in Jena. In 1855 he became Professor of International Law in
Vienna. He wrote books on statecraft and international law. His work
entitled _Der Sozialismus und Kommunismus des heutigen Frankreich_
appeared in Leipzig in 1843.
{251a} Lassalle, Ferdinand (1825-1864), the famous social democrat, was
of Jewish birth; born at Breslau. He took part in the revolution of 1848
and received six months' imprisonment. He was wounded in a duel at
Geneva over a love affair and died two days later. His _System der
Erworbenen Rechte_ appeared in 1861.
{251b} Thonissen, Jean Joseph (1817-1891). A distinguished jurist; born
in Belgium. He studied at Liege and in Paris; became a Professor of the
Catholic University of Louvain; afterwards became a Minister of State. Of
his many works his _Socialisme depuis l'antiquite jusqu'a la constitution
francaise de 1852_ is best known.
{251c} Considerant, Victor (1808-1894). Born at Salins, and, after the
Revolution of 1848, entered the Chamber of Deputies. He crossed to
America to found a colony in Texas, but ruined himself by the experiment.
He returned to France in 1869. He was the author of many socialistic
treatises.
{251d} Roscher, Wilhelm (1817-1894), economist, was born in Hanover.
Held a chair first in Gottingen and afterwards in Leipzig, where he died.
His _Geschichte der Nationalokonomik in Deutschland_ appeared in Munich
in 1874.
{251e} Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873), the famous publicist and author,
was born in London, and educated by his father, James Mill (1773-1836).
He served in the India Office, 1823-58; he was M.P. for Westminster, 1865-
68. His works include the _Principles of Political Economy_, 1848; the
_Essay on Liberty_, 1859, and the _System of Logic_, which first appeared
in 1843.
{252a} Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), poet and critic, was born
at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire; educated at Christ's Hospital, London,
and at Jesus College, Cambridge. In the volume of _Lyrical Ballads_ by
Wordsworth of 1798 Coleridge contributed the _Ancient Mariner_, and he
was to make his greatest reputation by this and other poems. His best
prose work was his _Biographia Literaria_ (1817). His _Aids to
Reflection_ was first published in 1825.
{252b} Radowitz, Joseph Maria von (1797-1853). A Prussian general and
statesman; born in Blankenberg and died in Berlin. Fought in the
Napoleonic wars and was wounded at the battle of Leipzig. Afterwards
served as Ambassador to various German Courts. He wrote several
treatises bearing upon current affairs, and his _Fragments_ form Vols. IV
and V of his _Collected Works_ in 5 volumes, which were issued in Berlin
in 1852-53.
{252c} Gioberti, Vincent (1801-1852). An Italian statesman and
philosopher; born in Turin, where he afterwards became Professor of
Theology. Was for a time Court Chaplain, but his liberal views led to
exile, and he retired first to Paris, then to Brussels. Afterwards
became famous as a neo-Catholic with his attempt to combine faith with
science and art, and urged the independence and the unity of Italy. His
_Jesuite moderne_, published in 1847, created a sensation. After some
years of home politics he was appointed by King Victor Emmanuel as
Ambassador to Paris. It is noteworthy in the light of Lord Acton's
recommendation of his _Pensieri_ that his works have been placed on the
Index.
{253a} Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Baron von (1769-1859), the
great naturalist, was born and died in Berlin, and studied at Frankfort-
on-the-Oder, Berlin and Gottingen; he spent five years (1799-1804) in
exploring South America, and in 1829 travelled through Central Asia. His
_Kosmos_ appeared between 1845 and 1858 in 4 volumes.
{253b} De Candolle, Alphonse de (1806-1893). The son of the celebrated
botanist, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and was himself a professor of
that science at Geneva. His _Histoire des sciences et des savants depuis
deux siecles_ appeared in 1873.
{253c} Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882), the great naturalist and
discoverer of natural selection, was born at Shrewsbury, where he was
educated at the Grammar School, at Edinburgh University, and at Christ's
College, Cambridge. His most famous book, _The Origin of Species by
means of Natural Selection_, was first published in 1859.
{253d} Littre, Maximilien Paul Emile (1801-1884), the famous
lexicographer whose _Dictionnaire de la langue francaise_ gave him a
world-wide reputation. He was born in Paris. He associated himself with
Auguste Comte and the _Positive Philosophy_, and contributed many volumes
in support of Comte's standpoint.
{253e} Cournot, Antoine Augustin (1801-1877). Born at Gray in Savoy;
wrote many mathematical treatises. His _Traite de l'enchainement des
idees fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l'histoire_ was published
in 2 volumes.
{254} This was a most comprehensive addition, and fully makes up for the
abrupt termination of the list of the hundred best books with two
omissions. The omission of the book numbered 88 will also have been
remarked. There are probably a hundred "Monatschriften der
Wissenschaftlichen Vereine" or magazines of scientific societies issued
in Germany. Sperling's _Zeitschriften-Adressbuch_ gives more than two
columns of these.
{260a} The Bible can be best read in paragraph form from the Eversley
edition, published by the Macmillans, or from the Temple Bible, issued by
J. M. Dent--the latter an edition for the pocket. The translation of
1610 is literature and has made literature. The revised translation of
our own day has neither characteristic. Something can be said for the
Douay Bible in this connexion. It was published in Douay in the same
year as the Protestant version appeared--1610. Certain words from it,
such as "Threnes" for "Lamentations" as the Threnes of Jeremiah, have a
poetical quality that deserved survival.
{260b} The Iliad may be read in a hundred verse translations of which
those by Pope and Cowper are the best known. Both these may be found in
Bohn's Libraries (G. Bell & Sons); but the prose translation for which
Mr. Lang and his friends are responsible (Macmillan) is for our
generation far and away the best introduction to Homer for the
non-Grecian.
{261a} Under the title of "The Athenian Drama," George Allen has
published three fine volumes of the works of the Greek dramatists.
{261b} Dryden's translation of Virgil has been followed by many others
both in prose and verse. There was one good prose version by C. Davidson
recently issued in Laurie's Classical Library. An interesting
translation of Virgil's _Georgics_ into English verse was recently made
by Lord Burghclere and published by John Murray. The young student,
however, will do well to approach Virgil through Dryden. He will find
the book in the Chandos Classics, or superbly printed in Professor
Saintsbury's edition of _Dryden's Works_, Vol. XIV.
{261c} There have been many translations of Catullus. One, by Sir
Richard Burton, was issued by Leonard Smithers in 1894. In Bohn's
Library there is a prose translation by Walter K. Kelly. Professor
Robinson Ellis made a verse translation that has been widely praised.
Grant Allen translated the Attis in 1892. On the whole, the English
verse translation by Sir Theodore Martin made in 1861 (Blackwood & Son)
is far and away the best suited for a first acquaintance with this the
'tenderest of Roman Poets.'
{261d} Horace has been made the subject of many translations. Perhaps
there are fifty now available. John Conington's edition of his complete
works, two volumes (Bell), is well known. The best introduction to
Horace for the young student is in Sir Theodore Martin's translation, two
volumes (Blackwood), and a volume by the same author entitled _Horace_ in
"Ancient Classics for English Readers" (Blackwood) is a charming little
book.
{262a} Dante's _Divine Comedy_ as translated by Henry Francis Cary (1772-
1844) has been described by Mr. Ruskin as better reading than Milton's
"Paradise Lost." James Russell Lowell, with true patriotism, declared
that his countrymen Longfellow's translation (Routledge) was the best.
Something may be said for the prose translation by Dr. John Carlyle of
the _Inferno_ (Bell) and for Mr. A. J. Butler's prose translation of the
whole of the _Divine Comedy_ in three volumes (Macmillan). Other
translations which have had a great vogue are by Wright and Dean
Plumptre. The best books on Dante are those by Dr. Edward Moore
(Clarendon Press). Cary's translation can be obtained in one volume in
Bohn's Library (Bell) or in the Chandos Classics (Warne).
{262b} I contend that while most of the poets are self-contained in a
single volume, Shakspere's plays are best enjoyed as separate entities.
Certainly each of them has a library attached to it, and it is quite
profitable to read Hamlet in Mr. Horace Howard Furness's edition
(Lippincott) with a multitude of criticisms of the play bound up with the
text of Hamlet. But Hamlet should be read first in the Temple Shakspere
(Dent) or in the Arden Shakspere (Methuen). To this last there is an
admirable introduction by Professor Dowden.
{262c} Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ should be read in Mr. Alfred W.
Pollard's edition, which forms two volumes of the "Eversley Library"
(Macmillan). The "Tales" may be obtained in cheaper form in the
_Chaucer_ of the Aldine Poets (Bell), of which I have grateful memories,
having first read "Chaucer" in these little volumes. The enthusiast will
obtain the Complete Works of Chaucer edited for the Clarendon Press by
Professor W. W. Skeat.
{263a} FitzGerald's _Omar Khayyam_ can be obtained in its four versions,
each of which has its merits, only from the Macmillans, who publish it in
many forms. The edition in the Golden Treasury Series may be
particularly commended. The present writer has written an introduction
to a sixpenny edition of the first version. It is published by William
Heinemann.
{263b} Goethe's _Faust_ has been translated in many forms. Certainly
Anster's version (Sampson Low) is the most vivacious. Anna Swanwick, Sir
Theodore Martin and Bayard Taylor's translations have about equal merit.
{263c} Shelley's _Poetical Works_ should be read in the one volume
issued in green cloth by the Macmillans, with an introduction by Edward
Dowden, or in the Oxford Poets (Henry Froude), with an introduction by H.
Buxton Forman, but perhaps the best edition is that of the Clarendon
Press with an introduction by Thomas Hutchinson. Mr. Forman's library
edition of _Shelley's Complete Works_ is the desire of all collectors.
{263d} _Byron's Poetical Works_, edited by Ernest Coleridge, form seven
volumes of John Murray's edition of Byron's _Works_ in thirteen volumes.
There is not a good one-volume Byron. I particularly commend the three-
volume edition (George Newnes).
{264a} Wordsworth may be read in his entirety in the sixteen volumes of
_Prose and Poetry_ edited by William Knight in the Eversley Library
(Macmillan). The same publisher issues an admirable _Wordsworth_ in one
volume, edited, with an introduction by John Morley. But the first
approach to Wordsworth's verse should be made through Matthew Arnold's
_Select Poems_ in the Golden Treasury Series (Macmillan).
{264b} _Keats's Works_ are issued in one volume in the Oxford Poets
(Froude), and in five shilling volumes by Gowans and Gray of Glasgow. Mr.
Buxton Forman's annotations to this cheap edition exceed in value those
attached to his more expensive "Library Edition," which, however, as with
the _Shelley_, in eight volumes, is out of print.
{264c} The four volumes of Burns, with an introduction by W. E. Henley,
are pleasant to read. They are published by Jack, of Edinburgh. The
best single-volume _Burns_ is that in the Globe Library (Macmillan), with
an introduction by Alexander Smith.
{264d} There is no rival to the one-volume edition of _Coleridge's
Poems_, with an introduction by J. Dykes Campbell, published by
Macmillan. Mr. Dykes Campbell's biography of Coleridge should also be
read. The prose works of Coleridge are obtainable in Bohn's Library. The
fortunate book lover has many in Pickering editions.
{264e} _Cowper's Complete Works_ are acquired for a modest sum of the
second-hand bookseller in Southey's sixteen-volume edition. The two best
one-volume issues of the _Poems_ are the Globe Library Edition with an
introduction by Canon Benham (Macmillan), and _Cowper's Complete Poems_
with an introduction by J. C. Bailey (Methuen). The best of the letters
are contained in a volume in the Golden Treasury Series, with an
introduction by Mrs. Oliphant. _The Complete Letters of Cowper_, edited
by Thomas Wright, have been published by Hodder & Stoughton in four
volumes.
{265a} _Crabbe's Works_, in eight volumes, with biography by his son,
may be obtained very cheaply from the second-hand book seller. With all
the merits of both _Works_ and _Life_ they have not been reprinted
satisfactorily. The only good modern edition of _Crabbe's Poems_ is in
three volumes published by the Cambridge University Press, edited by A.
W. Ward.
{265b} The best one-volume _Tennyson_ is issued by the Macmillans, who
still hold certain copyrights. The Library Edition of _Tennyson_, with
the Biography included in the twelve volumes, is a desirable acquisition.
{265c} Not all the sixteen volumes of the Library Edition of _Browning_
pay for perusal. The most convenient form is that of the two-volume
edition (Smith, Elder & Co.), with notes by Augustine Birrell.
{265d} _Milton's Poetical Works_ as annotated by David Masson
(Macmillan) make the standard library edition, and the same publishers
have given us the best one-volume _Milton_ in the Globe Library, with an
introduction by Professor Masson, Milton's one effective biographer.
{266a} _The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_ is first introduced to us
all as a children's story-book. Tennyson has placed on record his own
early memories:--
"In sooth it was a goodly time,
For it was in the golden prime
Of good Haroun Alraschid."
But the collector of the hundred best books will do well to read the
_Arabian Nights_ in the translation by Edward William Lane, edited by
Stanley Lane Poole, in 4 volumes, for George Bell & Sons.
{266b} The most satisfactory translation of Cervantes's great romance is
that made by John Ormesby, revised and edited by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly,
published by Gowans & Gray in 4 shilling volumes.
{266c} _The Pilgrim's Progress_ is presented in a hundred forms. The
present writer first read it in a penny edition. It should be possessed
by the book-lover in a volume of the Cambridge English Classics, in which
_Grace Abounding_ and _The Pilgrim's Progress_ are given together, edited
by Dr. John Brown, and published by the Cambridge University Press.
{266d} Schoolboys, notwithstanding Macaulay, usually know but few good
books, but every schoolboy knows Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ in one form or
another. The maker of a library will prefer it as a Volume of Defoe's
_Works_ (J. M. Dent), or as Volume VII of Defoe's _Novels and
Miscellaneous Works_ (Bell & Sons). There are many good shilling
editions of the book by itself, but Defoe should be read in many of his
works and particularly in _Moll Flanders_.
{267a} As with _Robinson Crusoe_, _Gulliver's Travels_ can be obtained
in many cheap forms, but it is well that it should be obtained as Volume
VIII of _Swift's Prose Works_, published in Bohn's Libraries by George
Bell & Sons. There has not been a really good edition of Swift's works
since Scott's monumental book.
{267b} _Clarissa_ should be read in nine of the twenty volumes of
Richardson's Novels, published by Chapman & Hall--a very dainty
well-printed book. "I love these large, still books," said Lord
Tennyson.
{267c} The greatest of all novels, _Tom Jones_, is obtainable in several
Library Editions of Fielding's _Works_. A cheap well-printed form is
that of the _Works of Henry Fielding_ in 12 volumes, published by Gay &
Bird. Here _The Story of Tom Jones a Foundling_ is in 4 volumes. The
book is in 2 volumes in Bohn's Library--an excellent edition.
{267d} Johnson's _Rasselas_ has frequently been reprinted, but there is
no edition for a book-lover at present in the bookshops. It is included
in _Classic Tales_ in a volume of Bohn's Standard Library. The wise
course is to look out for one of the earlier editions with copper plates
that are constantly to be found on second-hand bookstalls. But Johnson's
_Works_ should be bought in a fine octavo edition.
{268a} Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_ should be possessed in the
edition which Mr. Hugh Thomson has illustrated and Mr. Austin Dobson has
edited for the Macmillans. There is a good edition of Goldsmith's
_Works_ in Bohn's Library.
{268b} Sterne's _Sentimental Journey_ is also a volume for the second-
hand bookstall, although that and the equally fine _Tristram Shandy_ may
be obtained in many pretty forms. I have two editions of Sterne's books,
but they are both fine old copies.
{268c} There are two very good editions of Peacock's delightful
romances. _Nightmare Abbey_ forms a volume of J. M. Dent's edition in 9
volumes, edited by Dr. Garnett; and the whole of Peacock's remarkable
stories are contained in a single volume of Newnes' "Thin Paper
Classics."
{268d} Sir Walter Scott's novels are available in many forms equally
worthy of a good library. The best is the edition published by Jack of
Edinburgh. The Temple Library of Scott (J. M. Dent) may be commended for
those who desire pocket volumes, while Mr. Andrew Lang's Introductions
give an added value to an edition published by the Macmillans, Scott's
twenty-eight novels are indispensable to every good library, and every
reader will have his own favourite.
{268e} Balzac's novels are obtainable in a good translation by Ellen
Marriage, edited by George Saintsbury, published in New York by the
Macmillan Company and in London by J. M. Dent.
{269a} A translation of Dumas' novels in 48 volumes is published by
Dent. _The Three Musketeers_ is in 2 volumes. There are many cheap one
volume editions.
{269b} Thackeray's _Vanity Fair_ is pleasantly read in the edition of
his novels published by J. M. Dent. His original publishers, Smith,
Elder & Co., issue his works in many forms.
{269c} The best edition of Charlotte Bronte's _Villette_ is that in the
"Haworth Edition," published by Smith, Elder & Co., with an Introduction
by Mrs. Humphry Ward.
{269d} Charles Dickens' novels, of which _David Copperfield_ is
generally pronounced to be the best, should be obtained in the "Oxford
India Paper Dickens" (Chapman & Hall and Henry Frowde). A serviceable
edition is that published by the Macmillans, with Introductions by
Charles Dickens's son, but that edition still fails of _Our Mutual
Friend_ and _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, of which the copyright is not
yet exhausted.
{269e} Anthony Trollope's novels are being reissued, in England by John
Lane and George Bell & Sons, and in America in a most attractive form by
Dodd, Mead & Co. All three publishers have a good edition of _Barchester
Towers_, Trollope's best novel.
{269f} Boccaccio's _Decameron_ is in my library in many forms--in 3
volumes of the Villon Society's publications, translated by John Payne;
in 2 handsome volumes issued by Laurence & Bullen; and in the Extra
Volumes of Bohn's Library. There is a pretty edition available published
by Gibbons in 3 volumes.
{270a} Emily Bronte's _Wuthering Heights_ forms a volume of the Haworth
Edition of the Bronte novels, published by Smith, Elder & Co. It has an
introduction by Mrs. Humphry Ward.
{270b} Charles Reade's _Cloister and the Hearth_ is available in many
forms. The pleasantest is in 4 volumes issued by Chatto & Windus, with
an Introduction by Sir Walter Besant. There is a remarkable shilling
edition issued by Collins of Glasgow.
{270c} Victor Hugo's _Les Miserables_ may be most pleasantly read in the
10 volumes, translated by M. Jules Gray, published by J. M. Dent & Co.
{270d} Mrs. Gaskell's _Cranford_ can be obtained in the six volume
edition of that writer's works published by Smith, Elder & Co., with
Introductions by Dr. A. W. Ward; in a volume illustrated by Hugh Thomson,
with an Introduction by Mrs. Ritchie, published by the Macmillans, or in
the World's Classics (Henry Frowde), where there is an additional chapter
entitled, "The Cage at Cranford."
{270e} The translation of George Sand's _Consuelo_ in my library is by
Frank H. Potter, 4 volumes, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.
{270f} Lever's _Charles O'Malley_ I have as volumes of the _Complete
Works_ published by Downey. There is a pleasant edition in Nelson's
"Pocket Library."
{271a} Macaulay's _History of England_ is available in many attractive
forms from the original publishers, the Longmans. There is a neat thin
paper edition for the pocket in 5 volumes issued by Chatto & Windus.
{271b} For Carlyle's _Past and Present_ I recommend the Centenary
Edition of Carlyle's _Works_, published by Chapman & Hall. There is an
annotated edition of _Sartor Resartus_ by J. A. S. Barrett (A. & C.
Black), two annotated editions of _The French-Revolution_, one by Dr.
Holland Rose (G. Bell & Sons), and an other by C. R. L. Fletcher, 3
volumes (Methuen), and an annotated edition of _The Cromwell Letters_,
edited by S. C. Lomax, 3 volumes (Methuen). No publisher has yet
attempted an annotated edition of _Past and Present_, but Sir Ernest
Clarke's translation of _Jocelyn of Bragelond_ (Chatto & Windus) may be
commended as supplemental to Carlyle's most delightful book.
{271c} Motley's _Works_ are available in 9 volumes of a Library Edition
published by John Murray. A cheaper issue of the _Dutch Republic_ is
that in 3 volumes of the World's Classics, to which I have contributed a
biographical introduction.
{271d} For many years the one standard edition of _Gibbon_ was that
published by John Murray, in 8 volumes, with notes by Dean Milman and
others. It has been superseded by Professor Bury's annotated edition in
7 volumes (Methuen).
{272a} Plutarch's _Lives_, translated by A. Stewart and George Long,
form 4 volumes of Bohn's Standard Library. There is a handy volume for
the pocket in Dent's Temple Classics in 10 volumes, translated by Sir
Thomas North.
{272b} Montaigne's _Essays_ I have in three forms; in the Tudor
Translations (David Nutt), where there is an Introduction to the 6
volumes of Sir Thomas North's translation by the Rt. Hon. George Wyndham;
in Dent's Temple Classics, where John Florio's translation is given in 5
volumes. A much valued edition is that in 3 volumes, the translation by
Charles Cotton, published by Reeves & Turner in 1877.
{272c} Steele's essays were written for the _Tatler_ and the _Spectator_
side by side with those of Addison. The best edition of _The Spectator_
is that published in 8 volumes, edited by George A. Aitken for Nimmo, and
of _The Tatler_ that published in 4 volumes, edited also by Mr. Aitken
for Duckworth & Co.