posed. We have endeavored to indicate the books which should be preferred by the place which they occupy in the several heads of the catalogue, or by the comments which we have made upon them; but in selections of this sort much liberty should be allowed to individual taste and judgment. Advice ought not to be urged beyond certain general suggestions and information. We can only say that the list has been prepared with some care and painstaking, and is doubtless capable of being enlarged and improved.

CHAPTER XIV.

BIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHICAL READING.

BIOGRAPHY is closely allied to History. We have observed, that it is only by reading the lives of distinguished personages, that we can most satisfactorily acquaint ourselves with much that is valuable in History. It has been forcibly said that "History is the essence of innumerable biographies."

There is an important distinction, however, between biography as the interpreter and representative of other times, and biography as the record of an individual life and the exponent of individual character. It is with biography in the last sense that we have now to do. The written lives of individual men are as various as the men who are described, and the writers who describe them. Their interest and worth depend upon two circumstances― the significance of the events and characters recorded, and the skill and fidelity of their narrators. It is also true and worthy of notice, that the interest with which any biography is read-its value and usefulness indeed-may depend nearly as much upon the tastes and culture of the reader as upon either the worth and interest of the character which is recorded, or the genius of the biographer. This, in a sense, is true of all books, but it is especially true of books of lives.

To many readers biography is especially uninteresting and unattractive. Not a few persons have been heard to "I hate biography-to me it is the stupidest of all reading." It would seem at first to be a general fact that

say,

the taste for biography must be acquired, like the taste for tomatoes or olives. On a second thought, however, the suggestion might occur that the fact is capable of some sort of explanation. The first solution would probably be, that biography must always put the reader upon a course of analysis and reflection which is unnatural to most men. As the majority of readers do not care to examine their own motives and springs of action, much less do they concern themselves with those of other persons. Very many, again, do not like soberly to estimate themselves by any very high standard, whether it be of public opinion, of conscience, or of God, and for a similar reason prefer not to judge the being and doing of their fellows. To this should be added, that the capacity for this sort of analysis is not developed, if ever, till late in life, and hence is especially unsuited to the tastes of youth.

In view of these facts, we propose to consider the different sorts of biographies and the different methods after which biography is written, in order that we may explain why it is that the taste for this kind of writing is so various,—and also furnish a general directory for this department of reading. We aim here, as elsewhere, to establish principles by which to select and judge of books of this class, rather than to furnish a complete and annotated catalogue, to be implicitly followed.

The first class of biographies which we name are those of incident and adventure. The subjects of such lives are always heroes, and the life, whether true or exaggerated, is more or less of a romance. In biographies of this kind, two things are conspicuous: the striking events and uncommon positions by which the life of the hero is distinguished, and the spirit, skill, and courage with which he meets and overcomes them. Books of this sort are favorites with the young, especially with boys. It cannot be said that such biographies are stupid or uninteresting

to that usually very fastidious class of readers. Very few boys are indifferent to such lives as those of General Francis Marion, Commodore Paul Jones, Charles XII., Admiral Nelson, General Andrew Jackson, Napoleon Buonaparte, General Sherman or Stonewall Jackson, Baron Trenck, Frederic Douglass, Mungo Park, Captain Parry or Dr. E. K. Kane. It matters little in what particular field of adventure the hero may be engaged, it is all the same to the boyish and often to the older reader; provided the adventures are sufficiently stirring and hazardous, and the spirit and resources of the hero are equal to the occasions. Whether it be on the battle-field or in a prison, in a storm or a shipwreck, whether the conflicts be with bad men or good, with villains or policemen, if the adventures and the heroism move the sympathies and excite the admiration, the life is always interesting, even to boys. Upon this principle we explain the strong hold which Plutarch's Lives have had upon the minds of so many boys and so many men for so many generations. The grandiose attitudes in which the great men of antiquity stand out to view-not so much men, as moving and walking statues—and the grand lights in which their biographer displays them, both contribute to this impressiveness, and have stamped their influence upon all the generations which have read them. The lives of great criminals especially when narrated by themselves, the confessions of famous murderers, pirates, and forgers, derive much of their interest from the same sources. By these we explain the potent and often dangerous fascination which attracts. so many to stories of lives which were stained by daring crime and dishonored by gross excesses of cruelty and violence. The excitement of the incidents and the pluck of the hero are more than a match for any horror of cruelty or aversion to crime in the youthful reader. It cannot, we think, be said, that any of the biographies of the class

to which we have referred are especially unattractive, or that the reading of such lives is especially stupid.

To the same class we refer the lives of great generals and captains, which have fascinated so many young readers with the thought of a military or naval career, and have so long been the favorite reading of multitudes of older people. Who has not delighted to read the story of Alexander of Macedon and Julius Cæsar, of Prince Eugene and Gustavus Adolphus, of the Duke of Marlborough and Frederick the Great, of Napoleon and Wellington, of the Napiers and Lord Clive, of General Havelock and Captain Hedley Vicars, of Generals Grant and Sherman, and last, not least, of the many youthful heroes who fell in our recent civil war? No books are more popular than the lives of old or young soldiers, with both young and old. The Harvard Memorial Biographies has largely this element of interest, as well as many that are far higher.

Akin to the interest with which military biographies are studied and read, is that which is attached to distinguished historical personages. Such characters are indeed often military heroes; but whether they are or are not, their career is of that public and heroic sort which attracts the attention of those readers who require startling scenes and splendid actions. The lives of kings and queens, of courtiers and court favorites, have always been noticeably popular; the more minute and detailed are their descriptions of the scenes in which they figure, so much the better. Whether the scene be public or private; whether it be a pageant or a ball, whether a frivolous or a criminal intrigue, is altogether indifferent. The elevation of the station, the splendor of the surroundings and the wide-reaching character of the results will always invest the life of the central personage with a real or a factitious importance. The biographies of Alexander and the Cæsars, of Charle magne and Alfred the Great, of Henry IV. of France and