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...only to break out when the strength of his reputation renders him superior to the reviewers. But Kenelm Chillingly shows neither of these faults. It has all the vigor and novelty of a first attempt, and all the gracefulness and ease which only come after the writing of many books. In its hero Bulwer seems to be thoroughly at home, taking as much delight in him as any reader will do, and through him giving expression to the choicest bits of learning and wisdom which he had himself acquired throughout his long, busy, and thoughtful life. There is a picture...
...runs into egotism, self-conceit, and a "learned ignorance," which Socrates was the first to expose. It is of the first that Kenelm Chillingly is a type. It is the second that he takes pains to deride. We have no room to speak of the other characters of the book, - of Lilly, for whose death no one can lament, for by such a woman the hero would have been influenced in the direction of his weakness rather than in that of his strength; of Mivers, and his Londoner, so like in principle to a periodical nearer home. The incidents with...
...indiscriminate acquaintance which many feel forced to maintain among "recent publications" deprives reading of its pleasure, and makes it for them a task; and no wonder, for who can feel any pleasure in turning the leaves of a book in which he feels no interest? One should read only as inclination leads him, for the mere skimming over a book as a task will do him but little good; if he satisfy that curiosity which leads to the study of a limited number of books, it will be of more advantage to him as an aid in the acquisition...
...Germans, who stand high among nations in literary attainments, tell us that nothing is so prolific as a little known well. It is not necessary that one should confine himself to one book, or class of books, in order to do justice to the subject, for this would be to cramp the mind and fit it for only one channel; though it were better to be a man of one book and know that well, than to wander through the various authors, gleaning here a little and there a little, but neglecting the great value of a thorough study...
Instead, therefore, of being a cause of complaint that we read so few books, it ought rather to be a source of pleasure to think that we read so many; for the carefully compiled estimate, which announces that each student on the average draws fifteen books in a term year,-almost two each month,-is rather high than low, for, if the contents of each book are impressed on the mind so vividly that they immediately present themselves when wanted, this is surely the nucleus of an ever-increasing stock of valuable knowledge,-a requisite to all of any real...