idedly adopted or rejected it. They dreaded not to put those powers to use with which they found themselves endowed for the purpose of using. To the mental cowardice of our times they were strangers. They gave not their reason to the keeping of others; they knew it was intended for their own use, and on every subject they Courageously employed it. who has known better days, will humble himself before those who know him, so far as to demand their charity, or that he will appear before them in circumstances of degradation, know little of human nature. Assailed by instant distress, to what is he to have recourse? It is easy to reason, on this in the closet, and to point out means; but, in the agitation of a trouHaving, as I think, sufficiently shown bled mind, are the best resources the that suicide may, in certain cases, be most likely to suggest themselves? justifiable, I shall now proceed to Let us reflect on the situation, and it show the benefit that would result is no uncommon situation, of a man from the prevalence of this opinion. who has exhausted all the shifts of It would be efficacious in repressing borrowing and credit, without one the commission of crimes.-The cri- farthing in his pocket to allay the atminals, from whom society suffers tacks of hunger. The course of such most, are not the vulgar herd of high- a man will be simple but decisive. waymen and footpads, and the like, He will fly from misery and disgrace men whose natures are perverted by to suicide, or he will prey on society. inveterate habits of disorder, and who All other resources are almost denied are insensible to shame and disgrace: him. He could submit to do, in anit is a superior class of men who are other country, what he would not do the great scourges of society, men at home; but where are his means of whose notions are more elevated, transportation? Man, it has been who have some regard for the opinion said, is the most difficult to be transof the world. Involved in untoward ported of all animals. He has neiand irretrievable circumstances, some- ther fins to swim nor wings to fly, times from indiscretion and sometimes nor can he pick up his food by hedges from a concurrence of unfortunate and highways. However little may events, they dread the contempt which be necessary to remove him, still that the disclosure of their situation would little is necessary, and to procure it encounter in the world, and they dread he will often be forced to resort to to take the sure means of escaping means which entangle him in guilt. from their calamities, from the im- How many would rather die than pression of early instruction, and fre- submit to this degradation, did they quently the disgrace entailable on not dread the eternal perdition which their relatives. A middle course, as they have been told would be their they think, presents itself; a course fate. Better sure, however, it would criminal, no doubt; but which they have been for them to have died beone day hope to quit and repent of. fore they were enrolled under the Now begins a career of frauds the banners of villainy; and better for most dangerous and pernicious, as society that they had never been rethey defy observation; the many and duced to the necessity of preying uprefined acts of swindling, the mysteries on its comfort and its peace. The of the gaming-table, the resources of poor wretch would have gone from forgery, in the commission of all the world with a mind comparatively which the most brilliant talents are frequently employed. The highwayman may take your money from you, seldom much at most, and soon forgotten; but these men, let loose upon society, seduce the young and inexperienced, and lead them to ruin and the loss of peace of mind, and spread alarm in the most worthy families. Many are the scenes of misery, from this cause, which a city like London xhibits. They who think that a man, at ease; while, at his last hour, he will now have his mind agonised with thoughts of the numbers he has wronged, of those he has ruined and made miserable, and those whom he has reduced to tread the same hopeless career. - It would encrease the audacity and bravery of a people. How many men, who would behold death with indifference, shudder at the idea of being thrown a burden on others, I shall now proceed to consider the justice and expediency of the practice of duelling. By the constitution of our nature we are prompted to resent the injuries that are done us, and, in the earlier stages of society every member takes that satisfaction for offences which his own feelings dictate to him to be proper. In the progress of society, however, it is found that the exercise of this right is often attended with inconvenience, and that it would be more advantageous to the community to lay down some uniform regulations of universal application, in adjusting the differences that may arise among its members, and to constitute proper persons for their cognizance. and of exhibiting a body, shattered which seem to be characteristic of the and mutilated with wounds, through times we live in. the dregs of an unwelcome existence? They would even court the idea of an honourable death, and, were death only to be dreaded, they would eagerly seek the most devoted situations; but the thought that they may be doomed to carry about the ruin of their frame through a disconsolate life, enlivened only with the prospect of death, will cast a damp on their ardour, and restrain, within the narrow limits of duty, the most fiery and ungovernable spirit. But what a spur would it be to that ardour to know that, in no case, he need be mocked with a delusive prospect of death, and that he may resign life when it shall have lost its charms and ceases to interest him. No chilling considerations would agonise his mind with suspense. Having prepared These laws and regulations cannot himself for the worst, he would cease make right what is essentially wrong, to live in uncertainty. This uncer- or wrong what is essentially right; tainty is the greatest enemy to bravery; but they serve to shew what is the the anxiety and distraction with which general sense of the community on it fills the mind. forbid that firmness the subject. They must, therefore, of purpose which is possessed by him to be deserving of respect, have the whose uniform contemplations have approbation of the majority of the made him familiar with dissolution, community. Now, it is in the power and who knows that he cannot be doomed to encounter an unknown evil worse than death, but that he can at all times have recourse to it. of the community to give up the whole of the right which they have by the law of nature to secure reparation for their wrongs; or, conceivIt would give a dignity and eleva- ing that there are some differences tion to character. A man would not which are of a nature more proper to be so willing to yield an improper be decided by the individuals concompliance with the views of those cerned than others, to except these who have power to disserve him, cases from the general delegation when he knew of a certain asylum which they have given. This excepfrom their machinations. Arrogant tion may be either formally, or in and assuming men frequently take effect. Though the exception be not advantage of the fear, of which he can formally made, if the community, at never divest himself, who thinks him- all times and almost universally, act as self bound to wear out life to the lees; if they considered the exception as that he may expose himself to want made, and stigmatize the individuals and misery, and exact an obedience who wave the exercise of their indithat covers him with humiliation. vidual right, it is impossible not to He would see, and become familiar conceive that the exception is really with the utmost extent of human made, though for certain purposes it power, and hold it at its due value. may never have been thought proper He would act firmly and decidedly, to make a formal publication of it. in the conviction, that whenever he Law, as has been said, is the declarashould find one life intolerable, he tion of the sentiments of the majority could enter upon another. He would of the community; and that which see the line of his duty straight be- centradicts these sentiments, though fore him, nor would be demean him- it may stand as the law, cannot, and self by that shuffling and pusillani- ought not to be considered as such. mous conduct, that mental cowardice, No man who mixes with the higher Another offence which it is deemed can only be wiped away in a similar manner, is the charge against another of falsehood. A refined and high and middle classes of the community whom we associate should be deserycan mistake their sentiments on the ing of our regard. subject of those particular offences which lead to duelling. It is in vain to tell him that the law forbids it: the law cannot protect him from the contempt of society which would fol-spirited people will jealously watch low his refusing to comply with what is considered a proper course-a con tempt which no man, who is not callous to reputation, can bear up against; and as the law cannot afford him those advantages which all laws have for their object-protection, it 1s, in fact, obsolete and deserving of no consideration. Estimation and good fame is all to an honourable mind, and without them life has lost every charm. over their veracity; and the strong detestation of falsehood is the highest proof of their moral perfectibility. In rude and savage nations truth is but little regarded; but, as they advance in the scale of civilization, it becomes of more and more importance. The Russian boor, the South Sea islander, the African of the desert, are more or less uniformly false and treacherous. Falsehood to an educated Englishman is the highest object of detestation. When a charge of falsehood is preferred against a man, it is considered, that even to be suspected of falsehood, such a mean and cowardly vice, calls upon him to show, by his firm and decided behaviour, that he is not the abject thing he is taken for. Society justly considers that he is not the most likely man to commit a falsehood who will stake his life against the imputation, and, knowing that the imputation must be cleared with the risk of his life, be will be cautious of meeting what will seldom be rashly made. The motives from which society act in this case are generous and exalted in the highest degree. A blow of fered to a man is considered to be such an insult on his dignity, such a dereliction of the respect which one human being owes to another, that he who displays such coolness under it as to wait the routine of a tribunal, is supposed to be deficient in that nice and delicate pe ception of honour and attention to preserve its inviolability, which every man ought to possess, and which would, on such an occasion, irresistibly display itself in some instantaneous emotion. He can only The good that results to society prove that he has a proper sense of from these notions being acted upon the violation of his dignity, by ventur- is incalculable. In every company ing his life to recover it in its purity; into which we go, we find the violaand he who has been guilty of this tion of the respect due to every inoffence against the majesty of his fel- dividual carefully guarded against, low can only atone for it by a similar while the consequences are obvious exposure. Society watch jealously and alarming. The gross and vulgar over every infringement of the dignity merriment which was made at the of its members; and justly considers expense of decorum, and of the feelthat it is necessary to guard against ings of individuals, is now almost enthe first step in the descent to degra- tirely banished. dation, which, if not resisted speedily, It preserves, keeps alive, and difleads to another, and from thence, fuses, throughout a nation, a love and progressively, to complete moral in- regard for bravery, which the luxury sensibility. It shuns him who sub- and effeminacy of an over refined age mits to compromise, as a lesson to have a strong tendency to undermine. thers, and to prevent the deleterious It is the antidote, it is the invigora induence of his intercourse. There ting medicine of a people sunk in is a vulgar proverb, that one coward peace, too apt to forget those virtues pils a regiment. Nothing can be which, though the highest of our pamore certain, that we are, more or ture, are never properly estimated but ks, influenced by all those with in the day of a nation's trial. It transwhom we associate; and it is there- fers thus the advantages of a state of fere of importance, that those with war to a period of peace; and when J. B. the day comes that the energies of a patriotism than by following their nation are demanded, they need only example. to be called forth, and not to be acquired. An habitual contemplation of death, a training of the mind to encounter it, and a knowledge that Edinburgh, July 9, 1810. Sir, W STYLE. HAT Sancho Panza said of sleep may be remarked of obscurity, that it covers a man over like a cloak; it is an invisible garment, which all may wear without dread of detection, concealing not only its owner, but itself, for we can no more perceive obscurity than we can see darkness. Milton, indeed, speaks of darkness visible, but Milton was a poet, and had been more than once to Ireland. there are occasious when we shall be A PANEGYRIC upon OBSCURITY in called to encounter it, are necessary to the existence of bravery. It cannot be acquired at once. It must by long habit make, as it were, a part of the system. I attribute it principally, therefore, to the habits and modes of thinking on this subject, prevalent among the nations of Europe, that bravery is almost constitutional to them. Hence their superiority over the Asiatic nations, and their preserving, in a state of greater luxury and effeminacy than was ever known in the worst days of Greece and Rome, an audacity and intrepidity which these nations forfeited with their simplicity of manners, and which was thought inseparable from them. And, while we encourage duelling among the higher classes of the community, let us not look down with contempt upon the humble modes of it resorted to by the people. Let us encourage them to assert their rights, and to stand up manfully in their defence whenever theirconsequence is invaded. While we extol the gymnastic and pugilistic exercises of antiquity, let us beware of censuring our own. Let us rather encourage the lower orders to familiarize themselves with their energies,and to know to turn to the greatest advantage their vigour and their activity. The lower orders of England are brave from their childhood: they are brave, however, without being ferocious. They fight on the most trifling occasions, but their battles are more for the acquisition of honour than from motives of vengeance. The beneficial consequences of this universal taste for pugilism in that country is incalculable, and I am glad to see that it is diffusing itself more and more here. Such a practice cannot be too much encouraged in a country. It has, indeed, met with much encouragement from the higher orders of our southern brethren, often from the most liberal and exalted views; and I am inclined to think, that a man cannot more effectually display his It is worthy of observance, that to the ignorant and injudicious, obscurity induces a train of disagreeable ideas, such as melancholy, dullness, defencelessness, fear, cowardice, and treachery, whilst critics and grammarians, knowing that this word obscurity is but a corruption of security, never reflect upon it, without its conducting their imaginations to thoughts of independence, firmness, ingenuousness, courage, confidence, and safety. So darkness, the dread of schoolboys and foolish women, is the life and soul of generals, pickpockets, and highwaymen it must, in truth, be owned, that the parallel does not run, as it is termed, upon all fours; for though obscurity is well compared with darkness, critics do not entirely resemble pickpockets or highwaymen. And now, before I proceed to enumerate the advantages arising from obscurity in language, I shall endeavour to eradicate whatever prepossessions my readers may entertain in favour of writers eminent for simplicity. The most important of these is Swift, who, led astray by an hypothesis which I shall presently demonstrate to be fallacious, is the father of a style in writing altogether unlike every thing which preceded him, and which, thanks to the good taste of the generation, few, very few, hare thought of imitating since. Nor is it wonderful, that what from its ease and artlessness seems best adapted to the comprehensions of women and children, should gain but a small number of admirers, since what all understand there can be little merit in understanding; and the pleasure of unfolding mysteries is so indigenous to man, that it is a great question, whether dipus would not wittingly have murdered his father and slept with his mother, rather than have foregone the delight of solving a riddle. the lightest occurrences: who that had observed the ineffable sorrow of Ulysses upon the loss of his dog, would have deemed it possible that he could receive the news of Penelope's death with a broad grin? "That men," says Locke, "in framing different complex ideas, and giving them names, have been much governed by the end of speech in general (which is a very short and expedite way of conveying their thoughts one to another) is evident" contemptuously imprisoned it within the walls of a parenthesis, the very emblem of obscurity and confusion? Now I would ask whether it be conceivable that a writer of the first The hypothesis which misled the character for perspicuity and distinctDean was this, "that the end of lan- ness would, unless designing a joke, guage is the short and expeditious have introduced an idea after this communication of our ideas." Now higgledypiggledy method; would have the direct opposite to this is true; for language being the cord which fastens our ideas together, like all other cords that is the best which is most diffi- Another author of simplicity is cult to be unravelled; and as words are rather the dress than the vehicle of thought, it must be granted, that the chief purpose of dress is to conceal, whence it is evident that he who writes and betrays his sentiments is no wiser than the madman who wore his apparel so as to expose his obscenities. Sterne, of whom, however, little need be said, as he is a weak opponent, and defeats himself; for, though his language be unstudied and obvious, its evil tendency is gloriously counterpoised by the perplexity of his designs his continued shiftings of the scenery and personages-his digressions like an idle boy in pursuit of butterflies—his -his ambigui ties, acataleptics, and catachresis. It is an observation of Dr. Johnson, who will not be accused of partiality in this, "that no one has written so To prove that the end of language much, and borrowed so little, as is not intelligibleness, we need but Swift" and it perhaps arises from observe the universal practice; for want of practice in the art, that when whatever notion contradicts it is fair he does borrow, he borrows without to consider as originating in error: consideration or judgment. Had he delighted to be incomprehensible, do trusted to his own understanding, we not talk Latin to ladies, and give never would the Dean have blundered orders to our servants in French, or, into a supposition, which I have al- at all events, so mangle their own ready proved so absurd; but blinded language that they do not understand by his impetuosity to draw inferences if they hear it? Ask a physician the and reduce to practice, he bears off state of your health, or a lawyer the in triumph a postulatum of Locke, state of your cause, and you shall be without once perceiving that it was so pestered with the phlegmons, offered in joke!!! phthisics, and cartarrhs of the one, I am aware that my readers, if and the ne exeats, certioraries, subprone to seriousness, will feel irritated at my treating the essay on the human understanding as a jest book; but sutely their anger will be without reflection, since in favour of Locke it may be urged, that an author can no more be grave than wise at all times: there is an allowed inconsistency in human nature, prompting us to smile upon the most serious, and weep on Universal Mae. Vol. XIV. pœnas, and allocaturs of the other, |