The Pleasures of Life

The Pleasures of Life

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pleasures of Life, by Sir John Lubbock Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: The Pleasures of Life
Author: Sir John Lubbock
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7952] [This file was first posted on June 4, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PLEASURES OF LIFE ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Robert Connal, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE PLEASURES OF LIFE
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
">
PART I

CHAPTER I
THE DUTY OF HAPPINESS

CHAPTER II
THE HAPPINESS OF DUTY

CHAPTER III
A SONG OF BOOKS

CHAPTER IV
THE CHOICE OF BOOKS

CHAPTER V
THE BLESSING OF FRIENDS

CHAPTER VI
THE VALUE OF TIME

CHAPTER VII
THE PLEASURES OF TRAVEL

CHAPTER VIII
THE PLEASURES OF HOME

CHAPTER IX
SCIENCE

CHAPTER X
EDUCATION

CHAPTER I
">
PART II

CHAPTER I
AMBITION

CHAPTER II
WEALTH

CHAPTER III
HEALTH

CHAPTER IV
LOVE

CHAPTER V
ART

CHAPTER VI
POETRY

CHAPTER VII
MUSIC

CHAPTER VIII
THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE

CHAPTER IX
THE TROUBLES OF LIFE

CHAPTER X
LABOR AND REST

CHAPTER XI
RELIGION

CHAPTER XII
THE HOPE OF PROGRESS

CHAPTER XIII
THE DESTINY OF MAN

PREFACE
Those who have the pleasure of attending the opening meetings of schools and colleges, and of giving away prizes and certificates, are generally expected at the same time to offer such words of counsel and encouragement as the experience of the world might enable them to give to those who are entering life.
Having been myself when young rather prone to suffer from low spirits, I have at several of these gatherings taken the opportunity of dwelling on the privileges and blessings we enjoy, and I reprint here the substance of some of these addresses (omitting what was special to the circumstances of each case, and freely making any alterations and additions which have since occurred to me), hoping that the thoughts and quotations in which I have myself found most comfort may perhaps be of use to others also.
It is hardly necessary to say that I have not by any means referred to all the sources of happiness open to us, some indeed of the greatest pleasures and blessings being altogether omitted.
In reading over the proofs I feel that some sentences may appear too dogmatic, but I hope that allowance will be made for the circumstances under which they were delivered.
HIGH ELMS,
DOWN, KENT, _January 1887_.

PREFACE
TO THE TWENTIETH EDITION.
A lecture which I delivered three years ago at the Working Men's College, and which forms the fourth chapter of this book, has given rise to a good deal of discussion. The Pall Mall Gazette took up the subject and issued a circular to many of those best qualified to express an opinion. This elicited many interesting replies, and some other lists of books were drawn up. When my book was translated, a similar discussion took place in Germany. The result has been very gratifying, and after carefully considering the suggestions which have been made, I see no reason for any material change in the first list. I had not presumed to form a list of my own, nor did I profess to give my own favorites. My attempt was to give those most generally recommended by previous writers on the subject. In the various criticisms on my list, while large additions, amounting to several hundred works in all, have been proposed, very few omissions have been suggested. As regards those works with reference to which some doubts have been expressed--namely, the few Oriental books, Wake's Apostolic Fathers etc.--I may observe that I drew up the list, not as that of the hundred best books, but, which is very different, of those which have been most frequently recommended as best worth reading.
For instance as regards the Sheking and the Analects of Confucius, I must humbly confess that I do not greatly admire either; but I recommended them because they are held in the most profound veneration by the Chinese race, containing 400,000,000 of our fellow-men. I may add that both works are quite short.
The Ramayana and Maha Bharata (as epitomized by Wheeler) and St. Hilaire's Bouddha are not only very interesting in themselves, but very important in reference to our great oriental Empire.
The authentic writings of the Apostolic Fathers are very short, being indeed comprised in one small volume,