ys alone. Strangely and wonderfully it blends itself with
those other moments when the best books in the world seem irrelevant,
and all "culture" an impertinent intrusion; but however it comes and
however it goes, it is the thing that makes our gravity ridiculous;
our philosophy pedantic. It is the thing that gives to the
"amusements" of the imagination that touch of burning fire; that
breath of wider air; that taste of sharper salt, which, arriving when
we least expect it, and least--heaven knows--deserve it, makes any
final opinion upon the stuff of this world vain and false; and any
condemnation of the opinions of others foolish and empty. It destroys
our assurances as it alleviates our miseries, and in some unspeakable
way, like a primrose growing on the edge of a sepulchre, it flings
forth upon the heavy night, a fleeting signal, "Bon espoir y gist au
fond!"

ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS

1. THE PSALMS OF DAVID.

The Psalms remain, whether in the Latin version or in the authorized
English translation, the most pathetic and poignant, as well as the
most noble and dignified of all poetic literature. The rarest spirits
of our race will always return to them at every epoch in their lives
for consolation, for support and for repose.

2. HOMER. THE ODYSSEY. _Butcher and Lang's Prose Translation_.

The Odyssey must continue to appeal to adventurous persons more
powerfully than any other of the ancient stories because, blent with
the classic quality of its pure Greek style, there can be found in it
that magical element of thrilling romance, which belongs not to one
age, but to all time.

3. THE BACCHANALS. THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES. _Translated by Professor
Gilbert Murray_.

Euripides, the favourite poet of John Milton and Goethe, is the most
modern in feeling, the most romantic in mood of all the Greek poets.
One is conscious that in his work, as in the sculpture of Praxiteles,
the calm beauty of the Apollonian temper is touched by the wilder
rhythm of the perilous music of Dionysus.

4. HORACE. _Any selection in Latin of The Odes of Horace and
complete prose translation published by Macmillan_.

Flawlessly hammered out, as if from eternal bronze--"aere
perennius"--The Odes of Horace are the consummate expression of the
pride, the reserve, the tragic playfulness, the epicurean calm, the
absolute distinction of the Imperial Roman spirit. A few lines taken
at random and learned by heart would act as