Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The False Learning Of The Present Age.
ON THE FALSE LEARNING OF THE PRESENT AGE .
BY THE REV . W . ROBERTS , A . M . F . A . S . and F . C . C . C . OXON .
TTj ^ ALSE learning , in which I include false taste , consists , in Lord Jjj Bacon ' s words , " of vain altercations , vain affectations , and vain imaginations . " It is a subject of regret to consider , t ; . at this false learning does not arise from the want of a disposition in the character . of the tunes towards objects of this nature , bat from a wrong bias in its direction , resulting from the contagious effects of a distempered refinement .
It would be unjust to our own age to deny , that what we have lost in depth , we have recovered in breadth ; and that , for one profoundly learned of the old times , we have ten superficially so in the present . Unfortunately , indeed , literature has cf late years become a part of the mode , and has accordingly partaken of its insipidity , its caprice , - audits adulterations . There is in fashion a tyrannical insolence , that
loves to trample upon nature and the right constitution of things : she insists upon submission , and yet her requisitions are as perverse as they are peremptory . She imposes the same tax upon us all , without considering our inequality of resource , and different measures of ability . If it be the fashion to be learned , learned we must be at all events ; and . our ingenuity is strained to the top of its bent , to
discover succedaneuins that m . y supply , and impositions that may dazzle , till literature becomes a commodity as artificial as dress , and admits of the same mockery of imitation , the same speciousness of ornament , the same coxcombry of character , and the same artifices of deception . When an article becomes the mode , such as have the means , will procure it genuine and perfect ; while those who are without them , must resort to some adulteration that retains its resemblance , or some composition that usurps its appearance .
It seems , perhaps , a solecism ; yet m some circumstances I cannot but lament the abundance of our resources , and the fertility of our inventions , which , in respect to learning , have conjured up such impositions and deceptions , and suggested such seducing resemblances , tiiatwe are betrayed by our impatience , precipitance , and vanity , into the adoption of this literary chicane , instead of the ingenuous ambition of real attainments . The effect of these mechanical helps has been
very much to multiply the professors of knowledge , without adding many to the number of its faithful votaries ; they have stocked its wardrobe with such an inexhaustible diversity of tinselled apparel , F 3
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The False Learning Of The Present Age.
ON THE FALSE LEARNING OF THE PRESENT AGE .
BY THE REV . W . ROBERTS , A . M . F . A . S . and F . C . C . C . OXON .
TTj ^ ALSE learning , in which I include false taste , consists , in Lord Jjj Bacon ' s words , " of vain altercations , vain affectations , and vain imaginations . " It is a subject of regret to consider , t ; . at this false learning does not arise from the want of a disposition in the character . of the tunes towards objects of this nature , bat from a wrong bias in its direction , resulting from the contagious effects of a distempered refinement .
It would be unjust to our own age to deny , that what we have lost in depth , we have recovered in breadth ; and that , for one profoundly learned of the old times , we have ten superficially so in the present . Unfortunately , indeed , literature has cf late years become a part of the mode , and has accordingly partaken of its insipidity , its caprice , - audits adulterations . There is in fashion a tyrannical insolence , that
loves to trample upon nature and the right constitution of things : she insists upon submission , and yet her requisitions are as perverse as they are peremptory . She imposes the same tax upon us all , without considering our inequality of resource , and different measures of ability . If it be the fashion to be learned , learned we must be at all events ; and . our ingenuity is strained to the top of its bent , to
discover succedaneuins that m . y supply , and impositions that may dazzle , till literature becomes a commodity as artificial as dress , and admits of the same mockery of imitation , the same speciousness of ornament , the same coxcombry of character , and the same artifices of deception . When an article becomes the mode , such as have the means , will procure it genuine and perfect ; while those who are without them , must resort to some adulteration that retains its resemblance , or some composition that usurps its appearance .
It seems , perhaps , a solecism ; yet m some circumstances I cannot but lament the abundance of our resources , and the fertility of our inventions , which , in respect to learning , have conjured up such impositions and deceptions , and suggested such seducing resemblances , tiiatwe are betrayed by our impatience , precipitance , and vanity , into the adoption of this literary chicane , instead of the ingenuous ambition of real attainments . The effect of these mechanical helps has been
very much to multiply the professors of knowledge , without adding many to the number of its faithful votaries ; they have stocked its wardrobe with such an inexhaustible diversity of tinselled apparel , F 3