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    cannot be performed in a lecture-room . In the absence of such tests , that which may be done , and which may indeed be considered a sort of moral experimenting , is to bring the experience of the audience to confirm the principles advanced by the lecturer . This will be done most effectually by appealing to their

    memories of fact , rather than to their knowledge of principles ; for it is clear , that their experience of moral facts must be considerable , though the conviction they have yet attained about moral principles may be both limited and erroneous . The scenes of Shakspeare instantaneously summon our experiences to bear witness to their truth ; and then , having admitted these moral premises to be matters of fact , we instinctively draw conclusions for ourselves ,

    of which the arguments of the moral reasoner would not at first have convinced us ; though , after this re-collection of past experience has been made , our minds are open to receive them . It is , I repeat , in the power fictions possess of calling up our experiences to witness their accuracy , that the moral efficacy of true

    works of fiction consists . In this respect their effect is far greater than is produced by statements of facts , which often fail to evoke the spirits of our past experience to witness their truth , probably because they do not waken the train of association in which memory is bound .

    Let me be allowed to generalize the argument a little further , by reminding you that a sound logic , in perfect agreement with common sense , says that we must begin by obtaining clear images ( logicians call them apprehensions ) of things ; avoiding , on the one hand , error , and , on the other hand , incompleteness . Let me remind you also , that sound morals , in entire agreement with

    good sense , says that no action or habit is perfect , unless it be accompanied with its appropriate pleasure . Now I believe it will be at once allowed , that the images of Shakspeare and Scott are as clear to the reason as they are delightful to the imagination ; and , in a word , that they eminently possess the two qualifications which the logician and the moralist require . Indeed , I

    feel I am calling your attention to a remark which well deserves consideration , when I add that if Englishmen would avail themselves of the works of Shakspeare and Scott , as Grecians employed the works of Homer and Herodotus , namely , as books of national instruction , the intellect and feelings of Englishmen

    would possess a finer organ for national developement than was possessed by the intellect and feelings of Greece . Is it that we are too apathetic , or too servile a race to compete in feeling and intelligence with Greece ; and though we have master minds to inspire us with a nobler spirit , are we bound to continue an

    unthinking and an unfeeling people ? Let it be borne in mind , that in beginning by exciting the imagination and rousing the feelings by the works of Shakspeare and Scott , and Edgeworth and Martineau , we propose to do no

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    268 The Diffusion of Knowledge amongst the People .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1834, page 268, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2632/page/36/