Idle Hours in a Library
| By the same Author | ||
| The Church and the Stage | ||
| Introduction to the Philosophy of Herbert Spencer | ||
| Studies in Interpretation | ||
Preface
The title of this little volume was chosen because itseems to indicate a characteristic possessed in commonby the otherwise unrelated essays here broughttogether. They may all be described in a general wayas holiday tasks—the results of many hours of quietbut rather aimless browsing among books, and notof special investigations, undertaken with a view todefinite scholastic ends. They are, moreover, as willreadily be seen, completely unacademic in style andintention. Three of the papers were originally putinto shape as popular lectures. The remaining one—thaton the Restoration novelists—was written for amagazine which appeals not to a special body of students,but to the more general reading public. Thetitle, hit upon after some little searching, will, I believe,therefore be accepted as fairly descriptive, and willnot, I hope, be condemned as overfanciful.
A word or two of more detailed explanation may,perhaps, be permitted. Of the essays on Pepys’sviiiDiary and the “Scenes of Bohemian Life,” I wouldsimply say that they may be taken to testify to theunfailing sources of unalloyed enjoyment I have foundi