Ellesmere. But the fact of having to make a choice to do this, does
away, perhaps, with some part of the benefit: whereas, in
intercourse with living men, you take what you find, and you find
that neither your trouble, nor any likeness of it, is absorbing
other people. But this is not the whole reason: the truth is, the
life and impulses of other men are catching; you cannot explain
exactly how it is that they take you out of yourself.

Milverton. No man is so confidential as when he is addressing the
whole world. You find, therefore, more comfort for sorrow in books
than in social intercourse. I mean more direct comfort; for I agree
with what Ellesmere says about society.

Ellesmere. In comparing men and books, one must always remember
this important distinction--that one can put the books down at any
time. As Macaulay says, "Plato is never sullen. Cervantes is never
petulant. Demosthenes never comes unseasonably. Dante never stays
too long."

Milverton. Besides, one can manage to agree so well,
intellectually, with a book; and intellectual differences are the
source of half the quarrels in the world.

Ellesmere. Judicious shelving!

Milverton. Judicious skipping will nearly do. Now when one's
friend, or oneself, is crotchety, dogmatic, or disputatious, one
cannot turn over to another day.

Ellesmere. Don't go, Dunsford. Here is a passage in the essay I