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return to Mr . Hazlitt and hia remarks upon the country , that many of those who reside there are residents more from necessity than from choice . We must take them as we find them 3 but to mitigate the harshness of his censure it would be well to observe , that
there are difficulties and discouragements belonging to the situation of which Mr . Hazlitt does not dream . An indolent , weak , ineffective individual may make a tolerable figure in the citv , where his weakness finds
support from those better able to cope with ignorance and error than himself * If he fails , numbers fail with him . It requires little effort to join the crowd , and small glory is attached to success . In the country a man must be a
cipher , or he must possess 110 small share of activity and resolution . If he acts at all , he commonly acts alone . He has no party to support or oppose him . It is not that there is nothing to do - , not that a country life need be an
inactive one : but that single and isolated individuals are often wanting in Energy to perform their parts . From this unassisted mediocrity of talent often arises a character by no means amiable : for how should a man love
the beings he has never attempted to serve ? We might reverse the picture however : for , 1 am satisfied , that where party and ambition have little influence , there is greater room for
much display of the kind and benevolent feelings , on minds previously well disposed , and that among the poorer class of society in the country , if there is more indifference about
pleasing those in higher stations , there is muc ( i more attention to the wants and wished of those who occupy lower situations in Jife . Mr . Hazlitt , in an excellent paper in the same volume , has the courage to avow his opinion , that no man can
attain any high degree of excellence in the profession , art or science , to which he devotes himself , without incurring the charge of pedantry . I suppose no man can be perfectly satisfied with his lot , without being in
some degree a pedant ; without not only loving his home better than any other abode , but really thinking it superior to any other . On this principle country people forgive Mr . Hazlitt , and look for forgiveness from
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him in return , if they should ever be tempted to indulge in a censure as strong , though probably not so able , as that which he has penned , Z .
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Sir , WAS pleased to find in your last I Number , [ p . 4910 that steps were taking to remove from our statutebook , the heavy load of national guilt occasioned by Cqstom-House oaths . But your Correspondent may not be
aware that the matter has long engaged the attention of serious Christians . Some years ago , the late worthy Mr . Thornton , of Claphatn , was applied to , to interest those members in the House of Commons , with whom he was particularly connected , to move Parliament to correct the evil now
complained of ; why this was not done , or whether the application was made , and not sufficiently countenanced , I cannot recollect . At that time the late Mr . Palmer , of Hackney , used to relate the opinion of the venerable
philanthropist Mr . Howard on that subject . Most likely some of his friends can give a correct statement of his expressions . I cannot ^ andl have looked for them in the late publication of his Life , by Mr . 'Brown , but could not find them . As far as
my memory serves me , I should think , his words were , •* Custom-Hoase oaths are as useless to government , as they are snares to those by whom they are taken . " Much as I value the opinions of those who now inherit the promises , it is to suggest . a hint or
two to the living that I now take up my pen . At the time to which I refer 1 was visiting a friend near the sea . He one clay took me to the Custom-House in the neighbouring town . I conversed with two of the principal officers of the Custom-House . I found
them ready to give me every information I wished . They both declared their conviction of the total inexpediency of the present laws to prevent the revenue being injured . Now , at
this season of the year many of the gentlemen who are earnest to serve their country , both by increasing ^ revenue and stopping the temp tation to injure it , might gain useful information at the several Custom-Houses where they are spending their tim e
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670 Commercial Oaths . I - v
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 670, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/18/
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