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    60 NOTICES OF BOOKS.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Mainstone Volumes 'S . Housekeeper Londo...

    li his ht sig which ht was fell impaired down , and him the from defect the seemed unshaded now window increased at his by side the . strong g "He was a well-built upon manof medium heightbut spare almost to attenuaty .

    Studious asceticism and care , combined had probabl , y induced this state , for nature had certainly intended him to be far other than morose or melancholy . On the contrary , his short crisp intensely black hair now tinged with

    greyhis mouth , expressive of that amount of the sensuous which lends power to spirit—his naturally ruddy complexion , which study and ill health had not wholly dimmed—the soft and benign expression of his eyes—all bespoke a

    man whom circumstance and not nature had made what he was . He might have been a daring seaman , a brave soldier , a passionate and generous lover ; and it was not improbable that , despite the pale disguise of time , some of this

    quality and power existed still . noticed "He read Sheridan the ' lessons s rare book euphoniousl ' The Art y and of Heading extremel ' y upon well . his Miss desk Eliot the pre had

    vious day , as well as other si , gns that Mr . Radnor , made a good delivery an object of care and study . From his familiarity with this portion of his duty , any result of his defect of vision did not intrude itself upon the ear ; so that ,

    with the exception of the singing , and old Johnny Wigpit ' s ' Amens , ' the service went on from point to point as harmoniously as the wind whispered in the leaves outside the church . "

    His Study . "It was a glorious room!—one fitted for the shrine of imperishable thoughts

    — for one work fitted of , the by its noblest bowery manner stillness ! , Not for contemp that the lation lace of or the the hig hour hest kind or the — instrument matters muchso the intellect be noble p of its , kind—the , culture

    the best of its age . Still , , beauty , and fitness , and order lend an assisting grace to the thought which labors to enrich humanity with the wisdom of progressive truth !

    " The three casemented windows were embowered by creeping shrubs without—within fair colors fell from the tinted panes above , and beyond lay the grand landscape , of wood , and hill , and stream . With the exception of

    between the windows , above the fire-place , and within one or two quaint recesses casesso , the that walls not , a from particle floor of to dust ceiling could , were fall on covered Mr . Radnor by glass ' s beloved -fronted books book- .

    , These were numerous , choice , and in scholarly condition . Open one , or twenty , or a hundred—each would be found to have been used by reverencing hands . Classical books were in majority—often various editions of one

    work . There were delicious little Elzevir duodecimos , clad in vellum , or quaintly-gilded calf ; other editions of the old Italian and German pressesmost of those rare , and often good ones—which issued so prolhically from the

    Eng these lish as press with the during rest the of his seventeenth booksMr . and Radnor eighteenth rarelcame centuries further . But than with the last year , of the last century . Unregarded , by him , y the great German and

    Eng his Herodotus lish scholars in a of copy the a present century age old mi — g the ht pages annotate of the and Cic correct ero he . used He were read yellow authors with . His the Eng rust lish of books time . were As numerous with these . , In so with divinity the . rest in log of ic his in classic

    meta-, , physics , in history , the range was large—the quality in many cases excellent . He had the folios of the fathers of English _history . The literature of the Civil _^ Wars was well represented . That of the Puritans had a shelf to itself .

    Poetry was in scanty measure—romance less so . But there were outweighing riches in original copies of the works of Jewell , Hooker , Chillingworth , the and great men of harvest that stamp of slowl ; and progressive of the eighteenth truth . century But much there of was it stood no lack unre of

    garded on the shelves . Hutton y was there , with uncut leaves . The original edition of the ' Wealth of Nations ' looked as though never moved since

    placed there . The works of certain immortal Frenchmen stood necked by

    60 Notices Of Books.

    60 NOTICES OF BOOKS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 60, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/60/