Chapter II: Part II: is about romance and adventure. In Part IV you will find

ballads and stories in rhyme or verse. Part V tells of some of the greatest writers and their work. Part VI is meant to help boys and girls to be good citizens, and to undertake all kinds of responsibilities when they are men and women. In one of the chapters of Part VI there is a list of books, many of which are biographies of noted men and women, but there are also books about such subjects as flying, inventions, science, hobbies, birds, flowers, gardens and mountain climbing. The last chapter in Part VI tells of some books of travel and discovery.

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The books in Part VII are specially enjoyable, because they are intimate books; and you will find great poetry spoken of in Part VIII.

We do not all like the same books; and this is likely the best way, for some books which may seem dull to us, other people find interesting. What is important is for each of us to discover the books we enjoy most.

So if we do not happen to like _Gulliver's Travels_ by Jonathan Swift, there is no great harm done, although Dean Swift was a notable writer. And if some of you do not care for Robert Louis Stevenson's _Child's Garden of Verse_ now, the chances are that by the time you are over sixty, you will think it a charming book, and you may even repeat the verses aloud to your grand-children.

We never know when we may discover, hidden in the midst of dullness perhaps, some gem of a story or poem; and this is one of the reasons why most of us love reading, and will take a good deal of trouble to find the books we enjoy.

Before you read this book, perhaps you had better ask yourselves the question, what kind of books each one of you cares for most? And then, after that, ask yourselves another question, what kinds of books do you think you would like to enjoy? The last question is worth considering with not a little care; for when we think about it, we really set out on a journey into the world of books.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following authors, literary agents and publishers, for permission to quote in this volume certain excerpts as follows:

To Mr. Walter de la Mare and Messrs. James B. Pinker & Sons, for an extract from "The Listeners"; to Mrs. James Elroy Flecker and Messrs. A. P. Watt & Son, for an extract from the late Mr. James Elroy Flecker's _Hassan_, and to Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., for a quotation from _The Iliad of Homer_ (edited by Lang, Leaf and Myers) and for a short passage from the late Mr. Thomas Hardy's _The Dynasts_.

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CONTENTS

PART I

DICKENS, SCOTT, SHAKESPEARE, THE BIBLE

CHAPTER

I SOME OF DICKENS' NOVELS AND CHARACTERS

II CHARLES DICKENS: BOY AND MAN

III WHAT DICKENS DID FOR HUMANITY

IV THE WAVERLEY NOVELS

V SCOTT'S OWN STORY

VI THE TEMPEST AND OTHER OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

VII SHAKESPEARE: THE GREAT WORLD ITSELF

VIII STORIES FROM THE BIBLE

IX LIVING WATERS

PART II

ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE

X DUMAS. HUGO. STEVENSON

XI ROBINSON CRUSOE. LORNA DOONE. HEREWARD. WESTWARD HO! ROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS. TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. MIDSHIPMAN EASY. PETER SIMPLE. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. THE GOLDEN DOG

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XII LAVENGRO. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. TOM SAWYER. HUCKLEBERRY FINN. KIM. SARD HARKER. THE LIVING FOREST

PART III

SONGS OF HEROES, MYTHS, FAIRY TALES AND MARVELS

XIII THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. GREEK HEROES. TANGLEWOOD TALES. THE WONDER BOOK

XIV ÆSOP'S FABLES. GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES. HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR

XV ALICE IN WONDERLAND. THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS. THE GOLDEN AGE. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. FOUR BOOKS BY A. A. MILNE. RIP VAN WINKLE

XVI THE JUNGLE BOOKS. JUST SO STORIES. PUCK OF POOK'S HILL. REWARDS AND FAIRIES. THE BLUE BIRD. PETER PAN. KILMENY

PART IV

BALLADS, LAYS, AND STORIES IN VERSE

XVII PERCY'S RELIQUES. CHEVY CHASE AND THE BATTLE OF OTTERBOURNE. SIR PATRICK SPENS. THE NORTHERN MUSE

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XVIII THE LADY OF THE LAKE. MARMION. JOHN GILPIN. EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN. HORATIUS. THE ARMADA

XIX HIAWATHA. FRENCH CHANSONS IN QUEBEC. A CHRISTMAS SONG

PART V

SOME GREAT IMAGINATIVE WRITERS

XX DANTE. CERVANTES. SPENSER

XXI JOHN BUNYAN AND THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

XXII THACKERAY. MEREDITH. HARDY

XXIII JANE AUSTEN. GEORGE ELIOT. THE BRONTES

PART VI

HISTORY, POLITICS, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVEL

XXIV WHAT IS HISTORY?

XXV THE MEANING OF POLITICS

XXVI HISTORIES

XXVII BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON

XXVIII READING FOR WHAT YOU WANT To BE

XXIX TRAVEL AND DISCOVERY

PART VII

ESSAYS, CRITICISM, LETTERS, DIARIES

XXX CHARLES LAMB AND HAZLITT: ESSAYISTS AND CRITICS

XXXI LETTERS AND LETTER WRITERS. PEPYS AND OTHER DIARISTS

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PART VIII

POETRY

XXXII POETRY AND BEAUTY

XXXIII POETRY AND TIME

XXXIV READING FOR YOUR OWN COUNTRY. ENGLISH LITERATURE AND ITS BRANCHES

AFTERWORD

INDEX

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