Cyriac, this three years' day these eyes, though clear...John Milton 42 Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour.... William Wordsworth 42 Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland. Andrew Marvell 43 Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part... Michael Drayton Let me not to the marriage of true minds..... William Shakespeare 298 THE. HEART OF OAK BOOKS. SIXTH BOOK. GOOD BOOKS. From SESAME AND LILIES. John Ruskin. LIFE being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books; and valuable books should, in a civilized country, be within the reach of every one, printed in excellent form, for a just price; but not in any vile, vulgar, or, by reason of smallness of type, physically injurious form, at a vile price. For we none of us need many books, and those which we need ought to be clearly printed, on the best paper, and strongly bound. And I would urge upon every young man, as the beginning of his due and wise provision for his household, to obtain as soon as he can, by the severest economy, a restricted, serviceable, and steadily however slowly increasing, series of books for use through life; making his little library, of all the furniture in his room, the most studied and decorative piece; every volume having its assigned place, like a little statue in its niche. . . Nearly all our associations are determined by chance, or necessity; and restricted within a narrow circle. We cannot 1 |