s itself in an order that is lucid, because everywhere and always
it is in intelligent relation to a central object of constant and
growing interest. This method also forces upon us the necessity of
thinking, which is, after all, the highest result of all education. For
what we want is not learning, but knowledge--that is, the power to make
learning answer its true end as a quickener of intelligence and a
widener of our intellectual sympathies. I do not mean to say that every
one is fitted by nature or inclination for a definite course of study,
or indeed for serious study in any sense. I am quite willing that these
should 'browse in a library,' as Dr. Johnson called it, 'to their
hearts' content. It is, perhaps, the only way in which time may be
profitably wasted. But desultory reading will not make a "full man," as
Bacon understood it, of one who has not Johnson's memory, his power of
assimilation, and, above all, his comprehensive view of the relations of
things. "Read not," says Lord Bacon, in his "Essay of Studies," "to
contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find
talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be
tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and
digested--that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be
read, but not curiously (carefully), and some few to be read wholly and
with diligence and attention. _Some books also may be read by deputy._"
This is weighty and well said, and I would call your attention
especially to the wise words with which the passage closes.

I have been speaking of such books as should be chosen for profitable
reading. A public library, of course, must be far wider in its scope. It
should contain something for all tastes, as well as the material for a
thorough grounding in all branches of knowledge. It should be rich in
books of reference, in encyclopaedias, where one may learn without cost
of research what things are generally known. For it is far more useful
to know these than to know those that are _not_ generally known. Not to
know them is the defect of those half trained and therefore hasty men
who find a mare's nest on every branch of the tree of knowledge. A
library should contain ample stores of history, which, if it do not
always deserve the pompous title which Bolingbroke gave it, of
philosophy teaching by example, certainly teaches many things profitable
for us to know and lay to heart; teache