applying the mind to these various branches, and in using books as the
medium of acquisition, there are considerable differences in the mode of
procedure. The study of a book of Science is not on the same plan as the
study of a History or a Poem. Yet even in these last, there are many
circumstances in common, arising out of the constitution of our
faculties and the nature of a verbal medium of communication of thought.

An art of Study in general should not presume to follow out in minute
detail the education of the several professions. There should still be,
for example, a distinct view of the training special in an Orator, on
which the ancients bestowed so much pains; there being no corresponding
course hitherto chalked out for a Philosopher as such, or even for a
Poet.

Next, there is an important distinction between studies for a
professional walk, and the studies of a man's leisure, with a view to
gratifying a special taste, or for the higher object of independent
thinking on all the higher questions belonging to a citizen and a man.
Both positions has its peculiarities; and an art of study should be
catholic enough to embrace them. To have the best part of the day for
study, and the rest for recreation and refreshment, is one thing: and to
study in by-hours, in snatches of time, and in holidays is quite another
thing. In the latter case, the choice of subjects, and the extent of
them, must be considerably different; while the consideration of the
best modes of economizing time and strength, and of harmonizing one's
life as a whole, is more pressing and more arduous. But, when the course
is chalked out, the details of study must conform to the general
conditions of all acquirements in knowledge through the instrumentality
of books.

One, and only one, more preliminary clearing. When an instructor
proceeds, as Milton in his school, or as James Mill with his son, by
prescribing to each pupil a mass of books to be read, with more or less
of examination as to their contents; in such a case, education from
without has passed into study in our narrow sense; and the procedure for
one situation is applicable to both. The two cases are equally in
contrast to educating by the direct instruction of the teacher. In so
far, however, as any teacher requires book study to co-operate with his
own addresses, to that extent do the methods laid down for private study
come into play.

Under every view, it is a momentous fact, that