In the second class, the Novels of our own day--otherwise the Light Literature, which is universally read, and occasionally respected.

At Windygates, as elsewhere, we believed History to be high literature, because it assumed to be true to Authorities (of which we knew little)--and Fiction to be low literature, because it attempted to be true to Nature (of which we knew less).

At Windygates as elsewhere, we were always more or less satisfied with ourselves, if we were publicly discovered consulting our History--and more or less ashamed of ourselves, if we were publicly discovered devouring our Fiction.

An architectural peculiarity in the original arrangement of the library favored the development of this common and curious form of human stupidity.

While a row of luxurious arm-chairs, in the main thoroughfare of the room, invited the reader of solid literature to reveal himself in the act of cultivating a virtue, a row of snug little curtained recesses, opening at intervals out of one of the walls, enabled the reader of light literature to conceal himself in the act of indulging a vice.