CHAPTER IV. g5 lighted with the notions which they read or hear, ,as they would be with stories that are told, but they do not weigh them-in their minds as in a just balance, in order to determine their truth or. falsehood ; theymake no observations upon them, or inferences from them. Perhaps their eye slides over the pages, or the words slide over their ears, and vanish like a rhapsody of even= ing tales, or the shadows of a cloud flying over a green field ina summer's day. Or if they review them sufficiently to fix then in their remembrance, it is merely with a design to tell the tale over again, and chewwhat menof learning they are. Thus they dream out their days in a course of reading without real advan- tage. As a man may be eating all day, and for want of digestion is never nourished ; so these endless readers may cram themselves in vain with intellectual food, and without real improvement of their tninds, for want of digesting it by proper reflections. XI. Be diligent therefore in observing these directions. Enter into the sense and argument of the authors you read, ex+ amine all their proofs, and then judge of the truth or falsehood of their opinions ; and thereby you shall not oily gain a rich in- crease of your understandings by those truths which the author teaches, when you shall see them well supported, but you shall acquire also by degrees an habit of judging justly, and of rea- soning well, in imitation of the good writer, whose works you peruse. This is laborious indeed, and the mind is backward to un- dergo the fatigue of weighing everyargument and tracing every thing to its original. It is much less labour to take all things upon trust ; believing is muck easier than arguing. But when Studentio had once persuaded his mind to tie itself down to this' method which I have prescribed, he sensibly gained an admirable facility to read, and judge of what he read, by his daily practice of it, and the man made large advances in the pur- suit of truth; while Plumbinus and Plumeo made less progress in knowledge, though they had read over more folios. Plumeo skimmed over the pages like a swallow over the flowery meads in May. Plumbinus read every line and syllable, but did not give himself the trouble of thinking and judging about them. They both could boast in company of their great reading, for they knew more titles and pages than Studentio, but were far less acquainted with science. I confess those whose reading is designed only to fit them for much talk, and little knowledge, may content themselves to run over their authors in such a sudden and trifling way ; they may devour libraries in this manner, yet be poor reasoners at last, and have no solid wisdom or true learning. The traveller who walks on fair and softly in a course that points right, and c2
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