"
Read selections from Emerson; but always slowly, carefully, dwelling
longest on this writer's more practical essays, those which inspire
impulses within you to nobler living.
Realizing how great an influence Nature has exerted over the prose
as well as the poetry of this century, study Emerson's two essays on
"Nature"; selections from Thoreau, especially from "Excursions";
Kingsley's "Winter Garden"; passages from Ruskin, particularly those
written about "The Sky," "Clouds," "Water," "Mountains," "Grass."
You will appreciate the critical spirit of this age. Though most of
the authors so far mentioned were critics, as well as essayists, you
will find it helpful to read from the following: De Quincey, Hazlitt,
Hallam, Ruskin, Whipple. If you can read but one work from DeQuincey,
take, instead of a criticism, his "Confessions of an English Opium
Eater," the style of which is considered masterly. Its sentences are
melodious, its English elegant and classical. From Ruskin, that writer
who founded art criticism, read those delightful passages brought
together in the volume called "The True and the Beautiful"; and
carefully peruse the little book known as "Sesame and Lilies." Hallam I
should refer to for special information in regard to European
literature. Our own Whipple will aid you to a knowledge of Elizabethan
learning.
Next, read the essays of Lamb, such as are included in "Elia.
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