Ch 1.

As he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century, and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed

The way this reads is that Sir W. would peruse the book when he was depressed (or bored). Usually it would cheer him up. However sometimes reading the other entries wouldn't be strong enough medicine. The real antidote was the entry concerning his family.