great authors of antiquity. On board the
frigate which was carrying him to India, he projected the following
works, and noted them in this manner:--

1. Elements of the Laws of England.
_Model_--The Essay on Bailments. ARISTOTLE.

2. The History of the American War.
_Model_--THUCYDIDES and POLYBIUS.

3. Britain Discovered, an Epic Poem. Machinery--Hindu
Gods. _Model_--HOMER.

4. Speeches, Political and Forensic.
_Model_--DEMOSTHENES.

5. Dialogues, Philosophical and Historical.
_Model_--PLATO.

And of favourite authors there are also favourite works, which we love
to be familiarised with. Bartholinus has a dissertation on reading
books, in which he points out the superior performances of different
writers. Of St. Austin, his City of God; of Hippocrates, _Coacae
Praenotiones_; of Cicero, _De Officiis_; of Aristotle, _De Animalibus_;
of Catullus, _Coma Berenices_; of Virgil, the sixth book of the AEneid,
&c. Such judgments are indeed not to be our guides; but such a mode of
reading is useful, by condensing our studies.

Evelyn, who has written treatises on several subjects, was occupied for
years on them. His manner of arranging his materials, and his mode of
composition, appear excellent. Having chosen a subject, he analysed it
into its various parts, under certain heads, or titles, to be filled up
at leisure. Under these heads he set down his own thoughts as they
occurred, occasionally inserting whatever was useful from his reading.
When his collections were thus formed, he digested his own thoughts
regularly, and strengthened them by authorities from ancient and modern
authors, or alleged his reasons for dissenting from them. His
collections in time became voluminous, but he then exercised that
judgment which the formers of such collections are usually deficient in.
With Hesiod he knew that "half is better than the whole," and it was his
aim to express the quintessence of his reading, but not to give it in a
crude state to the world, and when his _treatises_ were sent to the
press, they were not half the size of his collections.

Thus also Winkelmann, in his "History of Art," an extensive work, was
long lost in settling on a plan; like artists, who make random sketches
of their first conceptions, he threw on paper ideas, hints, and
observations which occurred i