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290 THINGS IN GENERAI*.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
I Am That —No In Matter Common Who With ...
"Oh , " replied my Intelligent Friend , " then you seek sucli a niediuni for expression of opinion as may be found in ' Friends in
Council' and ' Christopher North ; ' but you must take care not to plunge into scrapes . How exceedingly awkward if the desire of
being lively should make you personal . For instance , Christopher was always in hot water , he descended to all manner of
personalities , and said that a distinguished dramatic critic had spots upon his nose . "
"Do not fear / ' I replied , "I do not intend to make my observations issue from people's mouths like the labels from the
figures in the old Florentine pictures . We will only try to embody the current speech of society , and there is such a wonderful
_solidarity among us that really anybody might be everybody , and vice versd . "
Upon which my Intelligent Friend remarked that she thought that if the brains of the majority of her acquaintance could be fused , and
subjected by Dr . Taylor to any chemical analysis which would test and separate their intellectual constituent parts , the sum total
would at the present time be found to be a concentrated essence of Mudie ' s library , and that the results of the analysis would show
the following proportions : — mixed Buckle up 's with Civilisation a large residue and of Mill Livingstone 's Liberty ' s , * C _) 1 part out of 5 .
Africa , leffc over from last year . j A Woman ' s Thoughts about Women and Ser- " _)
mons by Mr . Spurgeon and Mr . Robertson , C 2 parts out of 5 . streaked by Cardinal Wiseman's Four Popes , j
Novels and poetry , including Adam Bede , \ Mr . Anthony Trollope , Anglican Storiettes of /
the school of the Heir of RedclyiFe , and poems V 2 parts out of 5 . by Miss Procter and Owen Meredith , making 1
up the remaining— J " Yesit is indeed extraordinary to reflect on the practical effect of
, feeding the middle classes of England from one intellectual source . Time was when original character grew and flourished in the
secluded hamlets of England to the content of the poet ' s heart ; when the tradition of a great man ' s birth . lifeand death , moulded the
, , thoughts of the people ; when the squire and the parson imprinted their individuality on the curate and the farmer ; but now , that
monthly box of books drops a monthly infusion of Mudie , which must in time dissolve the hardest local prejudicesand help to build
, up a common creed of life in all tke . corners of the land . But do you indeed believe that so large a proportion is left from . the first
mentioned books ; has Mr . Buckle ' s work left tx'aces proportioned to its exterior inches or its interior weight ?"
" Well , " said my Intelligent Friend , " I only know , that at the
290 Things In Generai*.
290 THINGS IN GENERAI _* .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1859, page 290, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071859/page/2/
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