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Untitled Article
each other . You dare not ; your muddled souls , bandaged together by custom ' s swathe ; your mechanical-motioned hearts , swinging in the monotonous uniformity of the clock ' s pendulum , would be terrified * out of their propriety * if a breath of genuine and generous phi *
lanthropy fanned upon them . Oh ! how I scorn , loathe , detest , sicken at that * trust and confidence , ' which are environed bylaw ; limited by the facility of detection , and secured and preserved by the dread of detection ' s consequences ! Generous reader ! regret , grieve with me , that these things are so ! and do not cast anger or reproach on me for declaring the truth .
So it grows and expands into a ceaseless contention of mistrust and deception . One side is engaged in tricking , the other in watchfulness against the trickster : each changing sides alternately , the trickster of this hour takes the station of suspicious watcher in the next ; so it has ripened into that conduct in the ' business of the world , " which justifies , and unscrupulously secures itself at any expense or sacrifice of the interests of others . This it is which has made ' humbug' a
practical science in all bargainings , in all professions , in all pursuits ; it is indispensable to success and prosperity ; it is the centre and essence of all social , commercial , political , and literary communion , from the prince to the street-sweeper ; from the huckster of a penny-worth of butter , to the holder of bonded millions ; from the sale of a lordly domain , to the purchase of a pound of cat ' s meat ; from the building of a
palace , to the paving of a pigstye ; from a missionary or bible meeting , to a game at skittles ; from the hawker of sixty ballads for a penny , to the professional * critic * on the most gloriaus illuminations of mind , the gushings from the deepest and most intense pulsations of the heart , or the veriest trash which ever stagnated on paper ; from the placarded notice of a breakfast for threepence , to the columns of the ' leading journal , ' ( inclusive , ) from the spouting of an ale-house club ,
to the speechifying of those who sway the destinies of nations , arbitrate in the disputes of millions , and cater for the salvation of empires : all is humbug ; ' and it is a necessary part of the humbug- to disclaim humbug . This is competition , competition of self-interests displayed in an union of hypocrisy and cunning , and all are honourable men . All this used to be peculiar to England , it is still indigenous , but there is a sprinkling and growing up of it in France . Among the multitudes
whom the peace and steam-boats have helped across the Channel , some skilful hands have been engaged in inoculating the French with this most prominent and formidable trait of Englishism . John Bull is ever complaining of imposition on his good-nature and justifying his caution and suspicion of all new comers , all ( unpuffed ) fresh approaches to him , and he is more cautious and suspicious than any other man on earth . 1 b it not so ? And is it not true , also , that he will tell you , all this
is rendered necessary—imperative , by the multiplied acts of swindling and deception , of which he , poor fellow , has been the victim ? Is John then so blind , that he cannot perceive that this proves , beyond dispute , that suspicion and gullibility are the offspring- and parent of each other ? Good , easy man ! none are so full-of suspicion and caution ; none pride themselves so much on their acutenessas the English , and none are so frequently the dupes of imposture . John is too practical a man to understand signs of thought , except the arithmetical , two-and-two-muke-
Untitled Article
402 Autobiography of Pel . Verjuice .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 402, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/42/
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