and imparts tone to my life. It is
only in this way that I can overcome and counteract the tendency to the
dissipation of my powers and the distraction of my attention, as strange
persons and strange scenes present themselves from day to day."

To the rule already given--read with a definite aim--we could add the
rule--make your aims to be definite by continuously holding them rigidly
to a single book at all times, except when relaxation requires you to
cease to work, and to live for amusement and play. Always have at least
one iron in the fire, and kindle the fire at least once every day.

It is implied in the preceding that we should read upon definite subjects,
and with a certain method and proportion in the choice of our books. If we
have a single object to accomplish in our reading for the present, that
object will of necessity direct the choice of what we read, and we shall
arrange our reading with reference to this single end. This will be a
nucleus around which our reading will for the moment naturally gather and
arrange itself.

If several subjects seem to us equally important and interesting, we
should dispose of them in order, and give to each for the time our chief
and perhaps our exclusive attention. That this is wise is so obvious as
not to require illustration. "One thing at a time," is an accepted
condition for all efficient activity, whether it is employed upon things
or thoughts, upon men or books. If five or ten separate topics have equal
claim upon our interest and attention, we shall do to each the amplest
justice, if we make each in its turn the central subject of our reading.
There is little danger of weariness or monotony from the workings of such
a rule.

Most single topics admit or require a considerable variety of books, each
different from the other, and each supplementing the other. Hence it is
one of the best of practices in prosecuting a course of reading, to read
every author who can cast any light upon the subject which we have in
hand. For example, if we are reading the history of the Great Rebellion in
England, we should read, if we can, not a single author only, as
Clarendon, but a half dozen or a half score, each of whom writes from his
own point of view, supplies what another omits, or corrects what he under-
or overstates.

But, besides the formal histories of the period, there are the various
novels, the scenes and characters of which are placed in those times, such
as Scott'