La Mancha, has, with the assistance of his friends, commenced an
era of Civil Knight Errantry, and zealously devoted himself to the
comforting of distressed Damsels and disconsolate Widows, the
fathering of wronged and destitute Orphans, the promotion of Virtue
and chivalrous feeling generally'--

and so on, and so on. To 'Don Quixote,' in some form or other, there
will, of course, be literary allusions to the end of time.

BEDSIDE BOOKS.

To begin with, ought there to be any such things? Ought we to accustom
ourselves to having books by our bedside? Ought not 'early to bed and
early to rise' to be the motto of every well-conducted person, and is
not reading in bed calculated to render the carrying out of that axiom
virtually impossible? This is the problem we have first to solve, and it
may be said at once that this discourse does not apply _virginibus
puerisque_. Girls and boys, young men and young women, are hereby
solemnly exhorted to abjure all nocturnal or matutinal reading of the
kind suggested. To them all the lines in the copybooks apply
unreservedly. Nay, even for those of mature years it may be allowed that
bed is not the proper place for intellectual study. Let the hours for
reading and for repose be kept rigidly apart, if the reading is to be
systematic and prolonged. So far, everybody is agreed. To make a habit
of perusing books in bed is to encourage laziness, and to encourage
laziness is (we all know) to sap the foundations of the moral nature.
That way destruction lies.

And I am bound to say that habitual, sustained reading in bed is quite
as uncomfortable for the human frame as it is dangerous to the human
character. It cannot be undertaken with entire success. It looks easy to
do, but it is not. If you are sceptical, try it. You begin swimmingly
enough. You lie down, say, on your back, settle your head cosily on to
the pillow, and perhaps, to start with, hold the book before you in both
hands: For a time all goes well, but not for long. The position of the
arms becomes fatiguing. You withdraw one from the book and commence
again. But the utilized arm speedily grows weary, and the chances are
that you drop the volume and go off to sleep, leaving gas, lamp, or
candle alight--which is not very safe and not very healthy--nay, is
positively unhealthy and unsafe. Perchance you try the effect of
reclining on one side, leaning on one arm, and holding the book by means
of t