many as will present in the whole series the history of man, his mind, his action, and his progress; this must begin at the first syllable of time, and proceed in the order of time to the present day.

Observing the movement of the human race, again, we see that it has sometimes moved by a leap, per saltem; and that in a single age more progress has been made than in ten common ages: here we have another principle of reading. We must stop at these passages in time, and take authors who have made it a special study, and present it in a picturesque style; we can afford to spend more time on such an era. Thus, we can afford to study the modern illustrations of Egypt, because Hebrew and Egyptian history are intimately connected, and they mutually illustrate the first great period of civilization. So we may stop to dwell on the Athenian era, the period of a rapid and powerful intellectual development; on the downfall of Rome, produced by internal decay; on the Arabian literature, on the Reformation, and on the English Revolution. Thus, by proper attention to the choice of authors, we may get the most minute views of important periods, drawn by the pencil of accomplished artists.

A third principle is, in the departments of poetry and invention, to select always the model writers, and make them a critical study. Take the Homer of the Greeks, the Horace of the Latins, the Spenser, Shakspeare, Milton, and Pope of the English; there are but few such models, and the time required in reading them, for the sake of criticism as well as pleasure,

need not be long. A hundred volumes will contain all of poetic or fictitious literature it is worth while to read in a systematized course; even half of this amount will answer for most persons. The three principles of systematic reading I have indicated are these:

1. That books of history, biography, &c., should be selected so as to give a serial view of the entire progress of human action and the human mind.

2. That the history and view of important periods should be dwelt upon more at length; and that for this purpose, the more minute and picturesque accounts of particular writers may be read.

3. That in works of poetry and fiction, the model writers should be preferred.

I think that if an older and experienced mind were to select for a class of youth such a series of works, were to persuade them gradually to commence it with a proper spirit, and were to excite their minds by inquiries and comments, that the result would be astonishing; that this reading would soon become the greatest pleasure; that a great amount of information would be acquired in a short time, and that the young students would soon become good critics in the highest branches of literature.

What I have written here is suggestive only. Confident that no one has yet estimated high enough the influence of literature, by reading, on the character and mind of the reader, I have here recorded some of my own thoughts on the subject, and offer them as suggestions to others.

CHAPTER XI.

CONVERSATION-AN INSTRUCTOR.

"Though nature weigh our talents, and dispense
To ev'ry man his modicum of sense,
And conversation in its better part
May be esteemed a gift, and not an art,

Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil,

On culture, and the sowing of the soil.”

Cowper.

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works, with meekness of wisdom."-St. James.

CONVERSATION is the exchange of thoughts; therefore, the announcement of a fact, or the recital of a narrative, or the communication of intelligence, by one person, is not properly conversation; it is an important use of language, but is not an interchange of ideas. The true idea of conversation is, the communion of two, three, or more persons in the interchange of thoughts which arise at the moment, without set order or form of words. Its great advantage over all written forms of expression or studied statements is, or should be, the truth and freedom of its utterance; conversation occurs usually between friends, in private retirement, without fear or restraint, and it brings out, more than any other action of human life, true pictures of the inner mind. How much the minds of the greatest and best may have been devel

oped by conversation of which the world has never heard, we cannot know; but one thing we know, from the observation of every individual, viz., that conversation is not merely a communion, but also an experimental process, among intelligent minds. Who is there, whose mind has any vitality of spirit, that has not questioned the origin, laws, condition, and future of his own being? Who has not questioned the uses of the stars, and the beings that may inhabit them, or whether they are inhabited? Who has not inquired of what lies beyond the horizon of being-of what existences fill up the immensity of space? Who has not looked with wonder upon the minor beings of this earth? What limits, or does any thing limit, the myriads of living creatures who inhabit the leaves of flowers and the skin of fruits? Where does the world of life end, and where does life itself begin, or go? What are the laws which bind the lightnings, which pour forth the rain, which cause plants to vegetate, men to flourish, and this wide world of being to pursue its ceaseless round of motion? Thus questions man of himself, and of all that is visible and tangible in the visible universe. His questions are often far beyond the limits of the human intellect to comprehend or answer, perhaps presumptuous in the eye of Heaven; but in the midst of these are questions which concern those laws of nature or of society which may be comprehended, and are within the proper range of human inquiry; his thoughts dwell on that verge of the known and unknown

where something may be discovered; his imagination, excited by some previous discovery, hits upon some new step, and, without knowing its truth, utters his thoughts in some friendly conversation. A circle. of scientific friends thus communicate their ideas; experiments are made, and in some future years the world learns the results of these thoughts, these conversations, these experiments, and that reasoning by which new discoveries have been brought out. I said, therefore, that conversation was often experimental; experimental by bringing out and comparing the thoughts of different minds. The effect is often like that of bringing the opposite poles of electricity together a spark is elicited, a flash is seen, and minds are startled and excited in a way in which no one could have been by its own action; knowledge is communicated, wit flows, genius pours forth its vivid fancies, and the spirits of the parties, thus mutually exciting and excited, are made happier and brighter by this delightful communion.

UTILITY OF CONVERSATION.

Man is social. Human society is not only made up of individuals, but each individual in it feels that society is necessary to himself; it is an original desire.*

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* Dr. Brown, in his Philosophy of the Human Mind, thus speaks of speech used for society, and the desire of society: "We use speech, indeed, in its vulgar offices, to express to each other the want of bodily accommodations, which can be mutually supplied by those who know