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Feb. 25, i860.] The Leader and Saturday ...
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MPDEXIN CONVENTIONALISM , * DIRECTED aga...
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*J?hasoa and JPullaoios of Society as it...
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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.
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The Government In The Pantity. A Mong Ou...
though sugared ending through the suction of lollypops treacherously tinged with leaden pigments or arsenical tints . We pity the man or worn an foolish enough to persist in purchasing tea that is decorated with French chalk , Prussian blue , and other deleterious ingredients , or coffee which has stronger affinity with roasted carrots and horse liver than with the choice Arabian berry , or marmalade made of turnips , or best soluble cocoa chiefly composed ot tallow , potato starch , and oxide of iron . But the practical question is whether the public shall be left to suffer these grievances until they remedy them at their own discretion , or whether the Queen shall preside over the private pantry as well as over the larder of Buckingham Palaee , and all our transactions with the grocer and the cheesemonger form a subject of parliamentary and parochial control ¦ ¦¦ .. ' ¦ j
. , . .... Messrs . Scholetiebd ,. Wise , and Villiebs propose in the bill which they have , introduced , that any person who shall " knowingly * sell any article of food or drink calculated to injure health , or who shall sell an adulterated article warranted as pure , shall be liable to a pecuniary penalty , with costs of conviction , before two Justices of the Peace , and on second conviction to the publication of the name of the offender at his own expense . To protect tradesmen against unjust accusations the bill provides that the purchaser must at the time of purchase give notice of his intention to have the article analysed , in order that the seller may if lie chooses accompany the buyer to an analyst , and take effectual . precautions to prevent the accused , article from being tampered with . In furtherance ' of the opei-ation of the bill , it is proposed that vestries and district boards in London , and town councils in
boroughs , way appoint " one or more persons , possessing competent medical , chemical , and m i croscopical knowledge , as analysts of all articles of food and drink * purchased within the said metropolitan district or borough ; and may provide a convenient office , and all necessary accommodation and materials for the execution of the duties of such analysts ; arid may pay to such analysts such salary and allowances as they may think fifc . " We pan not imagine that any parish or borough will do anything of the kind , so long" as the matter is left to their discretion ; nor can
we recognise the principle that private purchasers have any right to State aid in procixring analysts to act for them at low rates , such as half-a-crown , or ten and sixpence , which last is--the'highest - fee the analysts are to charge . There are frauds of adulteration which the State ought- " to prosecute ; as , for example , when they lead to the destruction of life by the . sale of poisonous articles which are rer presented as harmless ; but we demur to the principle , that . the State should give any other assistance to private ^ bargainers than such simplification of the law as may enable aggrieved persons to employ it with greater economy and better chance of success .
The class which suffers most from adulteration is the poorest , and the best way the -Government can aid them is by economizing expenditure and reducing taxation , a process which would soon give them more employment and better wages . If the middle and upper rants of society purchase bad articles instead of good ones it istheir own ¦¦ ¦ fau lt , and " young ladies about to marry" Would do well to acquire an elementary knowledge of tlie different materials of food and clothing which they will have to buy . There is no satisfactory way of helping a poor man , except by removing obstacles to his earning more ; and where moderate means are in the possession of any purchaser he deserves ho pity if he will not take the trouble to learn
how to spend his money to the best advantage . We do not believe there is a town in the kingdom in which tolerably good articles cannot' be bought by people ; able and willing to pay a fuii' price for them , and capable of knowing a good thing when they see ifc . But while a large section of the public will run after " bargains , " and are so ignorant of domestic economy as to be caught by the sight of sugar whitened by twenty-five per cent , of search , or'of " Splendid Young Hyson" whose colo ' ur does not bear the least resemblance tp that of any genuine tea—they are hopelessly beyond the effectual reach of any Government aid . 1
We doubt whether one in ten of the marriageable youngladies of England know the look o £ half the articles used in domestic economy ; and yet the chemistry and botany of the kitchen are far more important , and afford a better discipline for the mind than most of the pursuits in which they ure engaged . If Ignorance goes to market , Roguery is sure to be found keeping a stall , and cheating shops are only the symptoms of the folly and credulity upon which they trade . , . . The young men of England shpuld encourage the young ladies to
a more practical development pf their faculties , ns life is not entirely oompoaed of . artificial flowers and crinoline . Let dp man marry , unless his beloved lias an eye for mustard , a nose for nutmeg , is scientific in coffee , and aesthetic < jn ten . There are recurring hours when a good roust is preferable tp Rossini ; when Piikgolicsx must yield to puddings ; and PioooLOMrNi- —sad to say it—is of little consequence when compared with ptakles . . It is not by bills in Parliament that we can reform the bills of the shopkeoper . The acts by which he must be amended are . domestic , not imperial ; an ( l when there is more intelligence in the home ; the housekeeper need not apply to the parish- ( or an Export in Port or , a Sago in Sardines , or a Philosopher in Bottled Fruit .
Feb. 25, I860.] The Leader And Saturday ...
Feb . 25 , i 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 183
Mpdexin Conventionalism , * Directed Aga...
MPDEXIN CONVENTIONALISM , * DIRECTED against the evils of modern' conventionalism , this book is much better in intention than in execution . The author , obviously a most amiable and ewneat person , haa
exceedingly imperfect notions : of that community whose faults and follies he denounces ; and . he has neither the prophetical fire , the satirical force , nor the delicate irony , to compensate for the want of knowledge ! Oddly enough , while attacking society for its conventionalism he writes in the most conventional style . He -is ' marvellously fluent , but the . phrases which leap after each other so rapidly have a familiar aspect and' a familiar sound sufficiently wearisome . In truth , both the author ' s thoughts and expressions come to us at second hand , though he is not conscious of it ; In his attempts to be witty , also , the authpr is often guilty of bad taste , and of what we cannot call by any other name than Little Bethel vulg-arity . Ifc is doubtful whether rnueh good arises from assailing modern con - ventionalism through books . Modern conventionalism simply
means social cowardice , and how is social cowardice to be rebuked and vanquished but by the example of the brave ? Never was social cowardice so prevalent as in these days—never , therefore , was the example of the brave more needed . An invincible individuality , however , though the grand remedy for conventionalism , cannot , in an age like this , assume the garb , or utter the words of John the Baptist . It must fi ^ ht its figh t calmly and unostentatiously . We live in times when the prophet must be a gentleman ; if he is a scholar , too , all the better . It cannot be said that society is ignorant of its defects , ignorant of its slavery to conventional bondage . Never before vyas the anatomy of social vices so searching-, the ridicule of social absurdities so keen . But society cares not a iot either for the anatomy or the ridicule . Fashion
maintains its idiotic despotism till some sublime moral reality grows stronger than fashion . Not one woman in England has abandoned the recent disgusting- monstrosities in dress from the loud laughter , the bitter sneers , or the savage scowls flung at them . Social cowardice , however , in England , is nourished by fatal influences which exist nowhere else in the world to the same extent . The aristocratic constitution of English society may or may not liavo its advantages : it is admirably adapted , at all events , to beget social Cravens . : Every man in England apes " while he envies the man immediately above him in rank ; . Our Working classes do not like to read about . the ' working , classes ; they are not satisfied unless through the JE , onclo ? i Journal they can form an acquaintance with lords . /¦ ¦• ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
As long as religious or political persecution existed .--there was , through the heroic spirit ¦ w hich' it esilled forth ,: a warfare with social cowardice ; but persecution ,, at least in legal form , .-haying 1 ceased hi England , tliope beautiful martyrdoms Which ¦ hallowed and regenerated society have ceased'too . There was lately a discussion why the Quakers as a sect were declining-. Quakerism was the last product of the stupendous puritanic revolt ; it was . a miig-nificenfc apocalypse of individuality . During this baptism of peril und of pain Quakerism was continually renewed . The baptism at an end , Quakerism is dying-. If the aristocratic constitution of English , society remains unchanged , arid if no sanctifying peril or pain visits our sluggish , selfish English existence , we see not how the English nation can be saved from most tragical decay . . .
Our author , perhaps from deficient culture and experience more than deficient insight , deals with effects , not causes . With the instinct of the right he can . smite the phases , but he cannot pierce down to the fallacies . In vain we obtain '• political , reforms if the national is still to be subordinated to the aristocratic . At our schools and unitversities the art chiefly learned is the art of tuft-hunting-. A very silly phrase is now current— " Muscular ¦ Christianity "—which is intended to convey to us that man has a body as well as . a soul , a discovery surely not now made for the first time . Why not , instead of babbling- about muscular Christianity , . proclaim . the Evaiuyel of indomitable manhood ? This is the oldest , and it sh
will always be the newest of nil Evangels . Jn one ape or another it is the only Evangel which every foremost moral or religious reformer has preached . Instead of a false godliness let us have a real manliness , and then a real godliness will also bo the fruit and the victory . Our author , for whom we have a sincere respect , and who has undoubted talent , though somewhat iinpnsone * rl by the provincial and the sectarian , talks of referring every thing to what ho calls the sacred oracles . This iB the merest rubbish . The thralls of conventionalism in England are familiar enough with the Bible , and assuredly the Bible is not favourable to conventionalism . But there , ia a more sacred oracle thaw the oracle of Hebrew or Greek books , and that is the oracle in the bosom pf the individual
man . . Ixidoed , the . Bible—though through no fault of the Bible—is one main cause pf conventionalism . It holds a prominent place among our idols of the past . In England , what reigns is a superstitious regard for tlio prescriptive and the traditional , and Eng-liflh ' - men bow to the Bible—not because it ia » breath of life from long-vanished ages , but because it is supposed to contain a code of infallible doctrine . There is no delivemnce for our race , when our race has wandered fur into abomination and iniquity , but by an appeal to the simple faculties pf the individual , apart from every to brother the manliuesH
tradition and proscription . Wo shpw our wherewith wo ourselves are clothed and panoplied ; wo urge him to stand and combat in kindrod manliness beside ua . It is sud that the freest twinge are most turned to slavery—that the moat living things are most turned into mntrumon . ta pf death . In England , above every other realm , the f > eo things have been ohnugod into tyrants , the hvJnff things into , the diaaepqinatqrs «• " <* wmltl p ligators of death . A ;» d now we have arrived at the point when no Englishman dares to act as his con - science tells him , ana when no woman dares to obey the iinpulsoa of hae heart without being 1 torn to pieces by her sisters . What nan supremo empire at this moment in England P Fatalism . Now , what is
*J?Hasoa And Jpullaoios Of Society As It...
* J ? hasoa and JPullaoios of Society as it la , —Pipor , SfcepUonson , & Spenoe ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25021860/page/11/
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