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Untitled Article
placed by a better . Its longevity would only be a nuisance . Most of the sciences and many of the arts are in a state of progression . Why should we lament that each has not a permanent text-book ? « ' Of making many books there is no end ; " and let there be no end so long as there are new facts and inferences for those books to communicate . First-rate works of imagination ; sound treatises on the principles of philosophy and morals ; and authentic records of events , constitute all . or almost all . the literature
of which the permanence is desirable . And that permanence is not at all endangered by the swarms of ephemeral productions which as faithfully perform their briefer duty , and fill their more bounded sphere of usefulness . There is no incompatibility between a permanent and a temporary literature . The latter is a modern creation . It exists as an addition , not a substitution . And never were the best classics of our language more faithfully preserved , more highly honoured , or so extensively circulated , as at the
present time . But the truth is that books have a new office to fill . The press formerly worked for the few ; it now works for the many . There is a more free , and general , and rapid intercourse of mind than was ever before known in the world . Books are general epistles , on any subject on which the writer is interested , addressed to all whom it may concern . By them we carry on our discussions , and communicate our knowledge , and tell our dreams , and express our feelings , and propagate our opinions , and
put ourselves into social intercourse with whoever uses our language all the world over . The lightness , the rapidity , the constant succession , the variety , the multiplicity , the cheapness of modern literature , are a pledge of the general extension of knowledge and of the general and increasing exercise of intellect , in our country , which we should regard with lively satisfaction , gratitude ^ and hope . And if the public mind has become better informed , it would be passing strange if public manners and morals had deteriorated . We often hear , indeed , of the alarming increase of crime ; but the lamentation is not warranted by sufficient proof as to the fact . The greater exhibition of crime is a very different thing from its actual increase . Had the recent attempt to mitigate the punishment of forgery been successful , the immediate result would , in all probability , have been a considerable increase in the number
of prosecutions and convictions . But that result , so far from proving the increase of the offence would have been perfectly compatible with a very material diminution . There would not have been less safety for the plundered , but less impunity for the plunderers . Generally speaking , the facilities for detection are greatly multiplied ; and the having recourse to public justice is much more common than formerly . From these and other cii > cumstances the gross amount of committals and convictions has augmented . The same returns , however , shew that convictions for atrocious crimes , for
offences against the person , have diminished . And they always diminish as education is diffused and civilization advances . The vice and wretchedness which exist in this country are more noticed than they used to be ; partly because from the change which has just been described in our literature , there is a more complete publicity about every thing ; and more because
there is a searching benevolence at work unprecedented in the history of nations . The torch-light of benevolence is borne into the darkest recesses of poverty and the deepest abysses of criminality . But exploring is not producing ; it is the agency of reformation , and argues the improvement both of benefactors arid recipients . There have never been such stupendous and unremitting exertious for philanthropic objects as during the late reign .
Untitled Article
On the Reign of George the Fourth . 509
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 509, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/5/
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