On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Untitled Article
idleness , and deception , over integrity and humble independence in their uncheered and desperate struggle ; the magisterial humanity , alike busy and blundering , that heaps one aggravation upon another of the evils which it strives to counteract ; and above all , the moral bankruptcy and pauperism , the gradual
weakening and wearing out of industry and principle from the labourer ' s mind , until , as by a sort of Manichsean providence , he is transformed into one of the beings whom once he loathed to look upon ; these are materials which could not have been combined without many a pang , but which the author has judiciously left to make their own impression on the reader ' s mind . Whatever the
delineation might cost her , she has not shrunk from it . Her humanity has too much nerve to do so , where a great good is to be obtained . The expressions cited from the preface , are the chief indication of how her own mind must have been wrought upon , and of its participation in the reader ' s melancholy . The bright spot in the story is the little cottage at < Thorpe Corner , '
with poor Ashly its tenant , who holds fast his integrity while his pittance of a hoard is wasting , and he cannot obtain * leave to toil , ' because the idle and drunken pauper must first be accommodated , and starvation stares him and his orphans in the face ; and we do feel grateful to the author that he too is not finally
broken down , that the desolation and degradation which overflow the place yet leave him standing ; nor do we know of any thing fnuch more touching than his parting words to the brother of his counsels and of his heart , who had fallen into the snare , had become polluted by the pestilence , and had pointed towards him the gibes and jeers of his profligate associates .
* " If we were alone , " was Ashly ' reply to his gesture , " I would take your arm and never think of the matter again . But how can I be friends with you in a moment , when you have set me up alone to be scoffed at for holding principles which I know to be right . I would have walked with you to the workhouse gate and set your children within it with my own hands for friendship ' s sake , but I cannot in the face of these paupers so appear to give up my principles . ' * Goodman would have allured him on , but he stood firm ,
saying—* " Remember , neighbour , you now belong to the many , and I stand alone . When you were on my side , you might have done any thing with me , but you have chosen to leave me alone , and I shall act for myself . I will not quarrel with you , as I said before , but not a step
further will I move on this path . Farewell , Goodman ; if ever you wish to come and see me , you will always be welcome , and only let me know when you are in distress ; but you will not expect me to visit you in the workhouse , unless you were one of the impotent people for whom the workhouse was provided . Farewell , neighbour . *"—p . 204 .
Such a passage as this necessarily suffers very much by being extracted , yet some of its simple beauty must , we think , be perceived . But there is no summary method of putting the reader ' s
Untitled Article
362 Poor Laws and Pavpers .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/2/
-