ever, secure a copy of the
first edition, 2 volumes, 1857. Professor Dowden, in his _Life of
Shelley_, 1886, uses the book freely.

{278b} "What is the best book you have ever read?" Emerson is said to
have asked George Eliot when she was about twenty-two years of age and
residing, unknown, near Coventry. "Rousseau's _Confessions_," was the
reply. "I agree with you," Emerson answered. But the book should not be
read in a translation. The completest translation is one in 2 volumes
published by Nicholls. There is a more abridged translation by Gibbons
in 4 volumes.

{278c} _The Life of Carlyle_, by James Anthony Froude, which created so
much controversy upon its publication, is worthy of a cheap edition,
which does not, however, seem to be forthcoming. The book appeared in 4
volumes, _The First Forty Years_ in 1882 and _Life in London_ in 1884. It
had been preceded by _Reminiscences_ in 1881. Every one should read the
_Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle_, 3 volumes, 1883. All the
9 volumes are published by the Longmans.

{279a} Samuel Rogers' _Table Talk_ has been given us in two forms, first
as _Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers_, edited by
Alexander Dyce, 1856, and second as _Reminiscences of Samuel Rogers_,
1859. The _Recollections_ were reprinted in handsome form by H. A.
Rogers, of New Southgate, in 1887, and the material was combined in a
single volume in 1903 by G. H. Powell (R. Brimley Johnson). I have the
four books, and delight in the many good stories they contain.

{279b} _The Confessions of St. Augustine_ may be commended in many small
and handy editions. One, with an Introduction by Alice Meynell, was
published in 1900. The most beautifully printed modern edition is that
issued by Arthur Humphreys in his Classical Series.

{279c} Amiel's _Journal_ is a fine piece of introspection. A
translation by Mrs. Humphry Ward is published in 2 volumes by the
Macmillans. De Senancour's _Obermann_, translated by A. E. Waite
(Wellby), should be read in this connexion.

{279d} _The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius_, translated by George Long,
appears as a volume of Bohn's Library, and more beautifully printed in
the Library of Arthur Humphreys. There are many other good
translations--one by John Jackson, issued in 1906 by the Clarendon Press,
has great merit.

{279e} George Henry Lewes's _Life of Goethe_ has gone through many
editions and remains a fascinating book, alt