Writers from Sydney Smith to Julien Benda have argued that the father or discoverer of an idea is the man who popularises it rather than he who originates it.Others pitch the case of the populariser less high，but still think that he is entitled to as much esteem as the originator.Now what is an anthologist but one who makes the good things in literature accessible to many and thus spreads aesthetic joy in the widest commonalty?He therefore in the scheme of things stands only next to the writers he has anthologised.I should like to put forth such a claim formy friends the compilers of this book but for the fact that they are very modestmen and would be embarrassed. Anthologies have come to supersede A Tale of Two Cities，John Halifax，Gentleman，etc.in first-year and second-year English courses in Chinese colleges.The missionaries who used to dominate the field of English teaching in China had an uncanny knack of making over the classroom to the Reign of Dulness by choosing the most tedious Victorian novels for the delectation of their students.On the other hand，the prevailing fashion of serving quick lunches out of cheap and not very readable stuffs is also deplorable.The present book avoids both extremes between which English teaching in China oscillates like the famous drunken peasant swaying on horseback.Ranging very wide in its choice，it serves adm irably the two-fold purpose of light reading and serious study.The notes，too，are very helpful，and，where the text is elusively a llusive，reveal a brilliant skill in literary detective work.
C.S.Ch ien（钱锺书） July1947
CONTENTS
1.Chinese and Western Civilization Contrasted Bertrand Russell 2.Rivalry E.V.Lucas 3.The Successful Doctor George Bernard Shaw 4.Leisure Vernon Lee 5.Poetry and University Education Arthur Quiller-Couch 6.A Relic Max Beerbohm 7.From the Mouse's Point of View Lord Dunsany 8.Romance W.Somerset Maugham 9.On Being Hard Up Jerome K.Jerome 10.Confidence Joseph Conrad 11.The Drawing-Room Mary E.Coleridge 12.Evolution John Galsworthy 13.On Poverty Hilaire Belloc 14.On Destroying Books J.C.Squire 15.The Patron and the Crocus Virginia Woolf 16.Fog G.S.Street 17.Fact and Fiction John Middleton Murry 18.Her Own Village W.H.Hudson 19.Signs of Character A.A.Milne 20.The Wife H.V.Morton 21.Conversation A.C.Benson 22.The Return from Siwa E.M.Forster 23.On Running After One's Hat G.K.Chesterton 24.The Rose Logan Pearsall Smith 25.Sunday Before the War A.Clutton-Brock 26.Laughter in Court Beverley Nichols 27.The Traveller's Eye View Aldous Huxley 28.Fifield Ashes Maurice Henry Hewlett 29.The Barber Arnold Bennett 30.Marriage Y.Y. 31.Set Free R.B.Cunninghame Graham 32.This England Edward Thomas 33.On Man's Extravagance J.B.Priestley 34.Actors Augustine Birrell 35.An Afternoon Walk in October William Hale White 36.On Talking to One's Self A.G.Gardiner 37.Cloud Alice Meynell 38.Selections from The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 39.Boswell's Life of Johnson George Gordon 40.Bed-Books and Night-Lights H.M.Tomlinson
Appendix 1.The English Essayist John Freeman 2.The Art of the Essayist A.C.Benson 3.The Defects of English Prose Arthur Clutton-Brock
