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Untitled Article
they must be peculiarly alive to the depth , extent , and lasting influence of the convulsions by which society will be shaken and regenerated . That is no true poet ' s harp , the strings of which da not quiver and resound to the winds that are rushing by . These are no times for merely gathering flowers , or weaving garlands solely for their prettiness . The people of England must advance
or retrograde . They must become a community , or , after having made what will be rightly deemed a vain show / be cajoled or intimidated back into being the venal , base , and beaten drudges of a proud and rapacious aristocracy . A poet , a philosopher , a p hilanthropist , stand neuter ! It is not to be believed . Off with , nis ' singing robes and garlands / for they are all counterfeit , or pilfered , to a certainty . Shame would it be , for this warfare to be waged with vulgar or hireling weapons . The tone and
spirit of political discussion should be elevated into a worthiness of the occasion . The question is whether a corrupt and corrupting aristocracy shall have its restoration , as monarchy once had ; or whether , having been dislodged from a few of those strong holds by means of which it commanded the nation , other popular advantages should not be obtained , so as to lead to the blessings of good government , and open a prospect of accelerated improvement . And there is no voice so rich or tuneful but what it is
honourably employed if lifted up , in the wilderness , to cry , ' Prepare ye the way / Milton lingered not in the bowers of Italy , though bards and beauties were doing him delicious homage there , when ominous sounds across the ocean warned him of the coming conflict for England ' s freedom . He knew the poet's vocation , how Jarge its comprehensiveness , and how paramount the
obligation of aiding , with all his loftiest powers , the efforts of a people who were struggling into a better state of social existence . The mingling of such minds in the political fray prevents its sinking into a sort of alehouse brawl , and makes it appear , what in the present case it really is , a not ignoble portion of that enduring strife between the principles of trood and evil which has ra ^ ed . strife between the principles of good and evil which has raged ,
and rages , through the world's duration and over the world ' s extent . If the intelligence of our country did its duty , it would cover itself with glory , and the land with happiness . Now is the time for wisdom to ' cry aloud in the streets / The loftiest principles should be championed by the loftiest minds . To enlighten and guide the millions at so critical a period as this ,
when one party would crush them by the sword , and another mock them with shadows ; to make the very struggle itself the means of humanizing , and refining them ; and prepare them by their exertions for reaping the amplest fruits from success ; are objects in which the noblest philosophy and poetry should find their appropriate sphere . They will not have the less permanent worth for being of essential immediate service . The little book now before us is rich in poetical beauty and religious
Untitled Article
History of Priesidrdft . 409
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 499, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/59/
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