OF GIFTED AUTHORS. COMPILED BY WM. HARDCASTLE BROWNE, A. M. "Lagere sine calamo est dormire.” QUINTILIAN. FIFTEENTH THOUSAND. PHILADELPHIA: DAVID MCKAY, PUBLISHER, 610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE, "I love my books; they are companions dear; Sterling in worth, in friendship most sincere. Here talk I with the wise in ages gone, And with the nobly gifted in our own." PREFACE. THERE exists a species of mental epicurism, the votaries of which roam through the rich fields of literature selecting intellectual tidbits adapted to the peculiar tastes of each To such men the works of standard authors, like the viands at a feast, are relished not because of their quantity or solidity, but owing to their adaptation, either in their preparation or in the material itself, to the appetite and taste of the individual. These intellectual Bohemians skim rapidly over the pages of literature, and provided with a Bacavos or touchstone, rendered more or less perfect by use or innate power, they momentarily pause here and there, and draw inspiration from some grand idea that juts out from the superficial area they traverse. Their power consists in analysis rather than in synthesis; they compile, but do not originate; they are imitators, not creators. Like the majority of American travelers on the Continent, who preserve the recollection of the principal objects of interest alone in the many cities and towns of note they have visited, so these erratic idea-seekers, currente calamo, jot down in their mental sketch-books only the grand, original thoughts which stand forth in bold relief from the pages of literature. |