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Article SOME ACCOUNT OF MR. BAKEWELL, OF DISHLEY. ← Page 3 of 3 Article ON THE ERRORS OF COMMON OPINION. Page 1 of 4 →
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Some Account Of Mr. Bakewell, Of Dishley.
vity , and a high degree of benevolence . His manners were frank and pleasing , and well calculated to maintain the extensive popularity he had acquired . His domestic arrangements at Dishley . were formed on a scale of hospitality to strangers , that gained him universal esteem . Of the numerous visitants , induced by curiosity to call at his house , none ever left it without having reason to extol the liberality of its
owner . Many interesting anecdotes are related of his humanity towards the various orders of animals . He continually deprecated the atrocious barbarities practised b y butchers and drovers - shewing , by examples on his own farm , the most pleasing instances of docility in the animals under his caie . _ He departedthis life on Thursday , October r , 179 ; , after a tedious illness , which he bore with the philosophical fortitude that ever distinguished his character .
On The Errors Of Common Opinion.
ON THE ERRORS OF COMMON OPINION .
Proh superi ! quantum mortafia ' pectora ca : ca _ notis habent . SENECA IT is a ^ general observation , that "What every body says must be true ; " but perhaps there is not a more erroneous rule to judge by , in the whole moral world , than this extensive precept . This ° is one of the set of vulgarly received inionsand is indeed the basis
op , of ail the rest , as it gives them their claim to credit , by settling that which is the judgment of the many as an infallible doctrine ; arid it is a very ill omen to ail the rest , that this on which they all depend is false . We are apt to reverence what the multitude advance , and there seems this shew of reason for it , that among that multitude there must needs be some equallableat leastto jud of
y , , ge things with ourselves ; and when each is equal , a plurality of ° voices has a right to carry it against a single opinion . This is a very specious shew of reason ; but it is indeed no more than a shew , and is equally delusive in its claim to our assent , and mischievous in its consequences .
It is easy to see , that if this was to be eternally allowed a law to us , the world could never improve in knowledge in anyone branch ; since no man everyet started even the slightest hint for making us wiser than we used to be , but he first dared to think that what every body said mi ght pei haps not be true ; that is , that the received opinion of the world mi ght be an erroneous one ; and ventured to set iiis single level
judgment on a with that of the whole world together ; nay , of what may in some sort be called many worlds , that is , many series of men , who have all lived and died in the same opinions . He who advances any thing new , whether in science or practice , combats at once the judgment of the present and past ages . Yet we see , to our great happiness , that the single champion often proves successful ; and it is evident , that an implicit belief in what evety body says must for ever keep the world in the same degree of knowled ge , that is , in the same degree of ignorance .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Some Account Of Mr. Bakewell, Of Dishley.
vity , and a high degree of benevolence . His manners were frank and pleasing , and well calculated to maintain the extensive popularity he had acquired . His domestic arrangements at Dishley . were formed on a scale of hospitality to strangers , that gained him universal esteem . Of the numerous visitants , induced by curiosity to call at his house , none ever left it without having reason to extol the liberality of its
owner . Many interesting anecdotes are related of his humanity towards the various orders of animals . He continually deprecated the atrocious barbarities practised b y butchers and drovers - shewing , by examples on his own farm , the most pleasing instances of docility in the animals under his caie . _ He departedthis life on Thursday , October r , 179 ; , after a tedious illness , which he bore with the philosophical fortitude that ever distinguished his character .
On The Errors Of Common Opinion.
ON THE ERRORS OF COMMON OPINION .
Proh superi ! quantum mortafia ' pectora ca : ca _ notis habent . SENECA IT is a ^ general observation , that "What every body says must be true ; " but perhaps there is not a more erroneous rule to judge by , in the whole moral world , than this extensive precept . This ° is one of the set of vulgarly received inionsand is indeed the basis
op , of ail the rest , as it gives them their claim to credit , by settling that which is the judgment of the many as an infallible doctrine ; arid it is a very ill omen to ail the rest , that this on which they all depend is false . We are apt to reverence what the multitude advance , and there seems this shew of reason for it , that among that multitude there must needs be some equallableat leastto jud of
y , , ge things with ourselves ; and when each is equal , a plurality of ° voices has a right to carry it against a single opinion . This is a very specious shew of reason ; but it is indeed no more than a shew , and is equally delusive in its claim to our assent , and mischievous in its consequences .
It is easy to see , that if this was to be eternally allowed a law to us , the world could never improve in knowledge in anyone branch ; since no man everyet started even the slightest hint for making us wiser than we used to be , but he first dared to think that what every body said mi ght pei haps not be true ; that is , that the received opinion of the world mi ght be an erroneous one ; and ventured to set iiis single level
judgment on a with that of the whole world together ; nay , of what may in some sort be called many worlds , that is , many series of men , who have all lived and died in the same opinions . He who advances any thing new , whether in science or practice , combats at once the judgment of the present and past ages . Yet we see , to our great happiness , that the single champion often proves successful ; and it is evident , that an implicit belief in what evety body says must for ever keep the world in the same degree of knowled ge , that is , in the same degree of ignorance .