READE. 735 BEADING. either single-handed or with others. He had great facility in expanding a play into a novel or in reducing a novel to a pla.y. In 1852 Uaska and Fares, written with Tom' Taylor, was bril- liantly received at the Haymarket. Reade turned this play into the novel Peg Wo.ffington (18.53), which was soon followed by the delightful Chris- tie Johnstone (1853), having as heroine a Xew- haven fisher lass. In 18.56 appeared It is yever Too Late to Mend, exposing prison di.scipliue in England and Australia. This 'novel with a pur- pose,' which created a sensation, was succeeded by Hard Cash (18(53), dealing with the iniquities of insane asylums; Griffith Gaunt (1865), on the marriage problem; Put Xourself in His Place { 1870 ) , on the terrorism of trades unions ; A Terrible Temptation (1871); and A Woman Hater (1877), advocating woman's rights. All these novels are powerfully written. By itself stands Reade's masterpiece. The Cloister and the Hearth (1861), an historical romance, having as hero the father of Erasmus, and dealing in a wonderfully vivid manner with student and vagabond life in Euroiie toward the close of the JNIiddle Ages. After Reade's death appeared The Jilt and Other Tales (1884) and Good Stories of Man and Other Animals (1884). Reade is not among the greatest novelists. He had not a keen artistic sense. His character drawing is picturesque rather than psychological, and he often develops his situations in a highly sensational way. But he always had a story to tell : and therein he excelled perhaps all his contemporaries. Consult : Compton Reade, Charles Reade, a ilemoir (London, 1SS7) : and for a cordial estimate, Swinburne's Miscellanies (ib., 1886). READE, .John (1837 — ). A Canadian jour- nalist and author. He was born in Ballyshan- non, Ireland, was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, and in 1856 came to Canada, where he established the Montreal Literary Ma(ja::ine, and subsequently was connected with the ilontreal Gazette. In 1864 he was ordained to the min- istry of the Church of England. He was elected president of the Montreal Societv for Historical Studies in 1887, and in 1896 a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain. His books include: The Prophecy find Other Poems (1870) ; Language and Conquest (1883) ; The Making of Canada (188.")) ; Literary Faculty of the Native Races of America (1885); The Half-Breed (1886); and Aboriginal American Poetrg (1887). READE, William Winwood (1839-75). An English traveler and novelist, nephew of Charles Reade. He began his travels by a visit to the western coast of Africa (1862), and on his re- turn published an account of his tour called Savage Africa. Inspired by Du Chaillu's spirited sketches, he returned to Africa in 1868, started from Sierra Leone and traveled to the source of the Niger. Shortly afterwards he published the African Sketch Book, and in 1873-74 was special correspondent for the London Times during the Ashantee War. In addition to his Story of the Ashantee Campaign and other works on travel, he wrote several novels of no great merit, such as Charlotte and Myra (1850) : The Veil of Isis, or the Mysteries of the Druids (1861); the singular work called The Martyr- dom of Man (1872) ; and The Outcast (1875). READER (from read, AS. rwdan, Goth. redan, OHG. rdtan, Ger. raten, to counsel, advise; connected eitlier with Lat. reri, to think, or with OChurch Slav, raditi, to be anxious for, Lith. rodas, willing, Skt. radh, to be successful). The title of the third among the minor orders of the Roman Catliolie Church, designating a class whose duty it was originally to read the lessons (q.v. ) of Holy Scripture in public worship. Traces of their existence as a distinct clerical class ai-e found as early as .Justin Martyr, Ter- tullian, and Cyprian. By present usage, how- ever, the office is nothing more than a formal step to the priesthood. See also Lay Reader. READING, red'Ing. A municipal. Parlia- mentary, and county borough, the capital of Berkshire, England, on the Kennet, near its confluence with the Thames, 36 miles west of London (Map: England, E 5), The town is ir- regular in plan, but well built, and has fine build- ings, which include a municipal block with two town halls, clock tower, free libraiy, valuable museum, concert hall, etc. Other buildings are the assize couits, the granmiar school, founded in 1445, the L'niversity Extension College, and Sutton's Abbey Hall. Reading has interesting churches, and the remains of a magnificent Bene- dictine abbey, founded in 1121 by Henry I., whose burial place it became. Of its" three "pai'ks the Palmer Park forms a fine recreation ground. The town owns valuable real estate, water, abat- toirs, and markets; maintains bathing places, libraries, museum, art gallery, sewage farm, and provides technical instruction. It has an important trade in corn and agricultural pro- duce; famous seed farms and biscuit manufac- tories, iron works and foundries, breweries, and manufactures of silks, ribbons, velvets, paper, and sauce. The town was of importance in 871, when the Danes made it their headquarters. Domesday mentions it as Radrages. Stephen built a castle which was destroyed by Henry II. Xine parliaments were held within the abbey, which Henry VIII. converted into a palace. In 1643 Reading suirendered to the Parliamentari- ans, who dcstroved the abbev palace. Popula- tion, in 1891. 60,054; in 190l'. 72.214. Consult: Coates, History and Antiquities of Reading (London, 1810) ; Doran, History of the Borough and Castle of Reading (ib.. 1832) ; Jones, Sketches of Reading: Historical, Archceological, and Dcxrriptire (Reading, 1870). READING. A town in IMiddlesex County, ilassachusetts, 12 miles north of Boston, on the Western Division of the Boston and Maine Rail- road (Map: Massachusetts, E 2). It is chiefly a residential town. There is a public library with more than 8600 volumes. Church organs, oigan pipes, carriages, boots and shoes, rubber, rubber cloth, imitation leather, games, and wire brushes are the most important manufactured products. The government is administered by town meetings convened annually. Reading was settled in 1638 and was incorporated in 1644. Population, in 1890, 4088; in 1900, 4969. READING. A city and the county-seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia: on the Schuylkill River and the Schuylkill Canal, and on the Philadelphia and Reading, the Pennsylvania, and the Wilmington and Xorthern railroads (Map: Pennsylvania. F 3 ) . It covers an area of about six square miles.
