Our pastime and our happiness can grow."-- WORDSWORTH.

"Not only in the common speech of men, but in all art too--which
is or should be the concentrated and conserved essence of what men
can speak and show--Biography is almost the one thing needful"
--CARLYLE.


"I read all biographies with intense interest. Even a man without
a heart, like Cavendish, I think about, and read about, and dream
about, and picture to myself in all possible ways, till he grows
into a living being beside me, and I put my feet into his shoes,
and become for the time Cavendish, and think as he thought, and do
as he did."--GEORGE WILSON.

"My thoughts are with the dead; with them
I live in long-past years;
Their virtues love, their faults condemn;
Partake their hopes and fears;
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with a humble mind."--SOUTHEY.

A man may usually be known by the books he reads, as well as by
the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as
well as of men; and one should always live in the best company,
whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same to-
day that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most
patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back