________________________________________________
_ After dealing with the formation of a library of authors up to John Dryden,
I must logically arrange next a scheme for the period covered roughly
by the eighteenth century. There is, however, no reason why the student
in quest of a library should follow the chronological order.
Indeed, I should advise him to attack the nineteenth century
before the eighteenth, for the reason that, unless his taste
happens to be peculiarly "Augustan," he will obtain a more immediate
satisfaction and profit from his acquisitions in the nineteenth century
than in the eighteenth. There is in eighteenth-century literature
a considerable proportion of what I may term "unattractive excellence,"
which one must have for the purposes of completeness,
but which may await actual perusal until more pressing and more human books
have been read. I have particularly in mind the philosophical authors
of the century.
PROSE WRITERS.
£ s. d.
JOHN LOCKE, *Philosophical Works:* Bohn's Edition (2 vols.) 0 7 0
SIR ISAAC NEWTON, *Principia* (sections 1, 2, and 3): Macmillan's 0 12 0
Gilbert Burnet, *History of His Own Time:* Everyman's Library 0 1
0
William Wycherley, *Best Plays:* Mermaid Series 0 2 6
WILLIAM CONGREVE, *Best Plays:* Mermaid Series 0 2 6
Jonathan Swift, *Tale of a Tub:* Scott Library 0 1 0
Jonathan Swift, *Gulliver's Travels:* Temple Classics 0 1 6
DANIEL DEFOE, *Robinson Crusoe:* World's Classics 0 1 0
DANIEL DEFOE, *Journal of the Plague Year:* Everyman's Library 0 1
0
Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele, *Essays:* Scott Library 0 1 0
William Law, *Serious Call:* Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Lady Mary W. Montagu, *Letters:* Everyman's Library 0 1 0
George Berkeley, *Principles of Human Knowledge:*
New Universal Library 0 1 0
SAMUEL RICHARDSON, *Clarissa* (abridged): Routledge's Edition 0 2
0
John Wesley, *Journal:* Everyman's Library (4 vols.) 0 4 0
HENRY FIELDING, *Tom Jones:* Routledge's Edition 0 2 0
HENRY FIELDING, *Amelia:* Routledge's Edition 0 2 0
HENRY FIELDING, *Joseph Andrews:* Routledge's Edition 0 2 0
David Hume, *Essays:* World's Classics 0 1 0
LAURENCE STERNE, *Tristram Shandy:* World's Classics 0 1 0
LAURENCE STERNE, *Sentimental Journey:* New Universal Library 0 1
0
Horace Walpole, *Castle of Otranto:* King's Classics 0 1 6
Tobias Smollett, *Humphrey Clinker:* Routledge's Edition 0 2 0
Tobias Smollett, *Travels through France and Italy:* World's Classics 0 1
0
ADAM SMITH, *Wealth of Nations:* World's Classics (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Samuel Johnson, *Lives of the Poets:* World's Classics (2 vols.) 0 2 0
Samuel Johnson, *Rasselas:* New Universal Library 0 1 0
JAMES BOSWELL, *Life of Johnson:* Everyman's Library (2 vols.) 0 2
0
Oliver Goldsmith, *Works:* Globe Edition 0 3 6
Henry Mackenzie, *The Man of Feeling:* Cassell's National Library 0 0 6
Sir Joshua Reynolds, *Discourses on Art:* Scott Library 0 1
0
Edmund Burke, *Reflections on the French Revolution:* Scott Library 0 1
0
Edmund Burke, *Thoughts on the Present Discontents:*
New Universal Library 0 1 0
EDWARD GIBBON, *Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:*
World's Classics (7 vols.) 0 7 0
Thomas Paine, *Rights of Man:* Watts and Co.'s Edition 0 1
0
RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, *Plays:* World's Classics 0 1 0
Fanny Burney, *Evelina:* Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Gilbert White, *Natural History of Selborne:* Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Arthur Young, *Travels in France:* York Library 0 2 0
Mungo Park, *Travels:* Everyman's Library 0 1 0
Jeremy Bentham, *Introduction to the Principles of Morals:*
Clarendon Press 0 6 6
THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS, *Essay on the Principle of Population:*
Ward, Lock's Edition 0 3 6
William Godwin, *Caleb Williams:* Newnes's Edition 0 1 0
Maria Edgeworth, *Helen:* Macmillan's Illustrated Edition 0 2 6
JANE AUSTEN, *Novels:* Nelson's New Century Library (2 vols.) 0 4
0
James Morier, *Hadji Baba:* Macmillan's Illustrated Novels 0 2 6
£5 1 0
The principal omissions here are Jeremy Collier, whose outcry against
the immorality of the stage is his slender title to remembrance;
Richard Bentley, whose scholarship principally died with him,
and whose chief works are no longer current; and "Junius,"
who would have been deservedly forgotten long ago had there been
a contemporaneous Sherlock Holmes to ferret out his identity.
POETS.
£ s. d.
Thomas Otway, *Venice Preserved:* Temple Dramatists 0 1 0
Matthew Prior, *Poems on Several Occasions:*
Cambridge English Classics 0 4 6
John Gay, *Poems:* Muses' Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
ALEXANDER POPE, *Works:* Globe Edition 0 3 6
Isaac Watts, *Hymns:* Any hymn-book 0 1 0
James Thomson, *The Seasons:* Muses' Library 0 1 0
Charles Wesley, *Hymns:* Any hymn-book 0 1 0
THOMAS GRAY, Samuel Johnson, William Collins, *Poems:*
Muses' Library 0 1 0
James Macpherson (Ossian), *Poems:* Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
THOMAS CHATTERTON, *Poems:* Muses' Library (2 vols.) 0 2 0
WILLIAM COWPER, *Poems:* Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
WILLIAM COWPER, *Letters:* World's Classics 0 1 0
George Crabbe, *Poems:* Methuen's Little Library 0 1 6
WILLIAM BLAKE, *Poems:* Muses' Library 0 1 0
William Lisle Bowles, Hartley Coleridge, *Poems:*
Canterbury Poets 0 1 0
ROBERT BURNS, *Works:* Globe Edition 0 3 6
£1 7 0
SUMMARY OF THE PERIOD.
£ s. d.
39 prose-writers in 60 volumes, costing 5 1 0
18 poets " 18 " " 1 7 0
57 78 £6 8 0 _
Read next: CHAPTER XIII - AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD III
Read previous: CHAPTER XI - AN ENGLISH LIBRARY: PERIOD I
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