Swift, who wrote about the same time as Addison, is still more of a story teller. Gulliver’s Travels is often classed as a novel, though as a matter of fact it was written as a satirical essay on the foibles of England in Swift’s day. Next to Gulliver’s Travels we are likely to be most interested in A Tale of a Tub, and The Battle of the Books, which are more regular essays than Gulliver. But the greatest of all the old essayists is Lamb. His most famous essay is that On Roast Pig, in which he tells the story of the origin of roast pig as a dish. Only less interesting is Mrs. Battle’s Opinions on Whist, and the essay on Poor Relations. The charm of Lamb is his humour, his good nature, his kindly heart, his quaint way of saying things. We learn to love him. No one has ever equalled him or imitated him. And when we have read his essays, we want to read his life--how he gave up the woman he loved to care for his poor sister who had killed her mother in a fit of insanity and had often to go to the asylum through all her life. Lamb was fond of his glass, and fond of the city, and fond of his friends. When we know him we must love him, and nothing else matters. If we have a taste for the curious and lofty in description, we shall like De Quincey, the opium-eater. In the Confessions of an English Opium Eater we have an account of himself and his opium-eating, which is rather dry; but his wonderful dreams fascinate us. These we find at their best in his masterpieces Suspiria de Profundis and The English Stage Coach, which are indeed the height of impassioned prose, lofty poetry without meter, splendid dreams and fancies. De Quincey wrote a great deal, and much that is merely dry and scholarly. But often he has something quaint and curious, such as his “Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” and wonderful stories such as the Flight of the Tartars and the Spanish Nun. Carlyle wrote in such a jagged, queer, hard style that nowadays few people can get used to a book like Sartor Resartus. The philosophy of Sartor will be found in a delightfully simple essay entitled Characteristics, the point of view in which is deeply interesting. Another simple and readable essay is that on Burns, and the essay on Goethe is worth reading, and that on Jean Paul Richter. Perhaps when one gets used to him one will wish to read Heroes and Hero-Worship, The French Revolution (or a part of it), and last of all that queer philosophy of clothes, Sartor Resartus. If one cares for philosophy he should certainly read Emerson’s original essays, beginning with those on Compensation, Self-Reliance, Love, the Over-Soul, Friendship, Circles, and Nature.