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Article ON THE LOVE OF NOVELTY. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Love Of Novelty.
ON THE LOVE OF NOVELTY .
THERE is no passion more strongly ingrafted in our nature than the love of Novelty ; which , from the beginning to the end of life , is that restless principle which keeps the mind in a continual gadding , and which , when not under the government of a sound judgment , is as much delighted with the newness of a trifling fashion , as with the most , useful discovery in Nature . In every stage of lifea certain degree of this passion is hihl
, gy necessary ; but in no other part is it so intense or requisite as in our infancy . The fickleness , in young minds ; the continual shifting from one thing to another ; the ardent longings after new playthings , which no sooner attaine « rbut , grown familiar , are loathed and thrown aside ; is all the effect of this passion , and stores the mind with that variety of ideas it so quickly acquires in the first years of life . These ideas
would come in but slowly , were the likings of children-steady , and , were they not hurried by their curiosity from object to object . I have often been amused in considering , how the necessities of one stage of life are frequently the vices of another ; and have been , pleased to see a child fall out with its coral , and cry for a new plaything , when I have blushed to see maturer years give indications of this giddiness of desires , which , however necessary in children to store the imagination , and to prevent too strong an attachment to . particular things , yet at the age of manhood is the result of an
untutored disposition . The acquisition of original ideas is the business of childhood ; to compound and arrange them , the work of riper years _ , and that eagerness after Novelty , and consequently fickleness , which at first served to enrich the fane } ' , now only disturbs the judgment . Hence the passion for Novelty , although never entirely destroyed , yet naturally decays ; or if in due time it does not abate , it becomes a foible in the characterand should be brought under discipline
, proper , Whenever this busy principle so outlives its occasions as to remain vigorous in old age , it is generally confined to a certain set of objects ; and hence arise the various tribes of Novelty-hunters , with which society swarms ; such as news-mongers , shell-gatherers , butterfly-catchers ; in short , most of the busy enquirers into Nature , without the abilities to arrange , or invention to investigate her laws .
When mere curiosity is the motive of a person ' s enquiries into the productions of Nature , however he may be dignified by the spe =-cious name of a Naturalist , he is inquisitive to no purpose ; his search is merely after novelty , not after improvement ; for , not distinguishing the great and useful works of Nature from the play she affects in varying the colour of a butterfly or a tulip , every discovery is of equal importance to him and though he be acquainted with the
exter-; may nal appearance of all Nature , he knows no one part of her intimately , but is like a traveller who rides post through a country . The man who in this manner heaps up knowledge , if with the least degree of propriety it can be termed knowledge , is neither better nor VOL . V . Kk .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Love Of Novelty.
ON THE LOVE OF NOVELTY .
THERE is no passion more strongly ingrafted in our nature than the love of Novelty ; which , from the beginning to the end of life , is that restless principle which keeps the mind in a continual gadding , and which , when not under the government of a sound judgment , is as much delighted with the newness of a trifling fashion , as with the most , useful discovery in Nature . In every stage of lifea certain degree of this passion is hihl
, gy necessary ; but in no other part is it so intense or requisite as in our infancy . The fickleness , in young minds ; the continual shifting from one thing to another ; the ardent longings after new playthings , which no sooner attaine « rbut , grown familiar , are loathed and thrown aside ; is all the effect of this passion , and stores the mind with that variety of ideas it so quickly acquires in the first years of life . These ideas
would come in but slowly , were the likings of children-steady , and , were they not hurried by their curiosity from object to object . I have often been amused in considering , how the necessities of one stage of life are frequently the vices of another ; and have been , pleased to see a child fall out with its coral , and cry for a new plaything , when I have blushed to see maturer years give indications of this giddiness of desires , which , however necessary in children to store the imagination , and to prevent too strong an attachment to . particular things , yet at the age of manhood is the result of an
untutored disposition . The acquisition of original ideas is the business of childhood ; to compound and arrange them , the work of riper years _ , and that eagerness after Novelty , and consequently fickleness , which at first served to enrich the fane } ' , now only disturbs the judgment . Hence the passion for Novelty , although never entirely destroyed , yet naturally decays ; or if in due time it does not abate , it becomes a foible in the characterand should be brought under discipline
, proper , Whenever this busy principle so outlives its occasions as to remain vigorous in old age , it is generally confined to a certain set of objects ; and hence arise the various tribes of Novelty-hunters , with which society swarms ; such as news-mongers , shell-gatherers , butterfly-catchers ; in short , most of the busy enquirers into Nature , without the abilities to arrange , or invention to investigate her laws .
When mere curiosity is the motive of a person ' s enquiries into the productions of Nature , however he may be dignified by the spe =-cious name of a Naturalist , he is inquisitive to no purpose ; his search is merely after novelty , not after improvement ; for , not distinguishing the great and useful works of Nature from the play she affects in varying the colour of a butterfly or a tulip , every discovery is of equal importance to him and though he be acquainted with the
exter-; may nal appearance of all Nature , he knows no one part of her intimately , but is like a traveller who rides post through a country . The man who in this manner heaps up knowledge , if with the least degree of propriety it can be termed knowledge , is neither better nor VOL . V . Kk .