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REVIEW. u Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame." — -Pope,
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Art . I . —On the Origin and Vicissitudes of Literature , Science and Art , and their Influence on the present stccte of Society . —A Discourse delivered on the opening of the Liverpool fflo ?/ dl Institution , November 25 , 1817-By William Roscoe , Esq . 4 to . pp .
79-t jg 1 HIS discourse has been called forth m by the opening of another of those magnificent literary institutions , the establishment of which does so much honour to the town of Liverpool . We are referred to a document which does
pot accompany the discourse , for a detail of the objects and plans of the Royal Institution , but we can gather from what is mentioned of them , that they comprise public lectures on literature , science and morals , and even the patronage of the fine arts , which
have not hitherto , we believe , been included among the objects which such associations as this have attempted to promote . The office of addressing an assemblage of persons who were devoting a portion of the wealth acquired
by commerce to the encouragement of letters and the fine arts , could not have been more properly devolved than on the historian of the Medici , to whose influence and example his native town has been so much indebted for the
literary taste by which it is characterized . Of the three topics which the title of this discourse announces for discussion , the first , the origin of literature , science atad the arts , is the least fully discussed , as it is , indeed , the least capable of a statement upon
positive and historical grounds . The second , their vieissitudes is treated more at large , and various hypotheses are stated , which ingenious men have proposed to account for the varieties and fluctuations which the history of literature has exhibited . That of the
progressive degeneracy of mankind receives a brief but decisive confutation . In the following elaborate and splendid passage , Mr . R . considers the opposite opinion , —that of the inherent tendency of the human mind to improvement .
" In direct opposition to this dispiriting * idea of the declining , condition of our na ~ ture , others have entertained an opinion ,
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that the human race is in a regular and progressive course of improvement , and that every age of the world is more enlightened than that which preceded it . As a proof of this , they point out the early state of each nation ^ and trace its progress from barbarism to civilization , from
civilization to refinement . Instead of bowing " down before the mighty names of antiquity , and acknowledging an inferiority of intellect , they pretend to avail themselves of the knowledge of former times , and suppose that by uniting with it the still more important discoveries of the moderns , the circle
of knowledge is enlarged , and the conveniences , and even the elegancies of life rendered much more attainable than at any former period . Under these impressions , thej scruple not to express their contempt for every former state of society , and their hig * h opinion of that in which they have
the happiness to live . Not however , content with the eminence at which they have arrived , hope spreads her wings , and launches into the realms of conjecture ^ and the confidence of having done much , gives the assurance that we shall accomplish more . Without wishing * to damp this
ardour , it may be proper to observe , that if we are to judge from the experience of past ages , we shall scarcely be allowed to conclude that such regular , or progressive improvement , is the characteristic of the human race . If such were the fact , it must of course follow , that nations once civilized
never again become retrograde , but must continue to rise , till they attain their highest degree of perfection . But where are the countries , in which letters and arts have made an uninterrupted progress ? Or where have they , for any great length of time , been even stationary ? Is India still the
fountain of knowledge ? And can she boast of her sages , the oracles of wisdom , who attract inquirers and disciples from distant reg-ions ? Is the condition of Egypt improved hy the flight of three thousand years ? Or have her pyramids been surpassed by the labours of subsequent times ? What was Greece once ? What is she now ?
Characterized in the first instance by whatever was bright in genius , rich in intellect , excellent in art;—in the latter ^ by whatever is degraded and servile in human nature . Contrast republican with papal Rome . Examine the names that grace the rolls of antiquity , from the first to the second Brutus , and ask , whether the , inhabitants of modern Rome will be as well known at
the distance of two thousand years , as their illustrious predecessors . Afag ^ tlte scene ia changed ! aad ftr century aftet century
Review. U Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame." — -Pope,
REVIEW . u Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blame . " — -Pope ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 194, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/42/
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