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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 8 of 9 →
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Review Of New Publications.
which , exhibiting every excellence of dramatic composition , renders genius the efficacious minister of virtue ; the extraordinary wisdom . and goodness of Socrates , uniformly exerted in the theory and practice of morality , were the principal subjects of Aristophanes ' s farcical attacks . There was a buffoonery and an obscenity in the plays which delighted the Athenian lawgivers , that would in this . country , be disrelished by the frequenters of Bartholomewfair . While this gross indecency pleased the taste of the populace , the
abuse of great characters gratified their malignity . The comedies of Aristophanes proceeded upon a levelling principle . They burlesqued every character which was great , wise , or good , that by subtracting die greatness , wisdom , and goodness , there might remain equality to the mob . Aristophanes ' s comedies were the comedies of Democracy . " In the following passage , our Author describes the effect of interference in the management of the State on the populace of Athens .
' Minding politics for which they were not fit , instead of crafts for which they were , the lower orders became miserably poor . Those who might . have been useful members of society as Taylors , or Shoemakers , were mere burdens to the community , as lounging Politicians . They were fed at the public expence , or to modernize the expression , their politics brought them on the parish . Such indeed must always be the case when persons of no talents and no propertytake to politicswhich are to them'idlenessbecause their efforts
, , , can do no good , instead of employing themselves at some trade , by which they might gain an honest livelihood . ' - Our Author has aivery just idea of the importance and respectability of the commonalty Avhen properly employed . ' Every man , who is not an idiot ,, may be a useful member of society . Whoever is an useful , is a respectable member ; but one can only be useful ,
by steadily and habitually pursuing objects within the sphere of his powers and knowledge . The mechanic , the journeyman , the labourer , are useful , nay respectable , members of every well-constituted society ; but it is as mechanic , journeyman , and labourer that they can possess that usefulness , and consequently , respectability . When therefore the carpenter , the shoemaker , the labourer , instead of fashioning timber , leather , or earth , to beneficial purposes , takes to fashioning the state , he does a double mischief , by
neglecting that Avhich lie can do , and trying that which he cannot . This idleness makeshim poor , and consequently internally a burden to die community , to which his political projects , from his incapacity of forming or executing good ones , would be both internally and externally ruinous . Within their own sphere , the lower orders are a great support of society ; going beyond it , they bring ruin on themselves and others . So it fared with the Athenians ; and similar causes will always produce similar effects . '
, Rome , more complex in her government , and infinitely more variegate ;! and extensive in those operations Avhich affected her constitution , calls forth still more discrimination and comprehensiveness , from the Author , than the Greciah ' commonwealths . On modern Democracies the present treatise is too short . But although he has not adduced every possible evidence , he has brought enough to prove the misery of Democracy . We will not hesitate to pronounce Dr . Bisset ' s Democracy to be an able
ancl useful work , and peculiarly seasonable at the present time , when , according to the first genius of the age , * one fifth of the active inhabitants of this country are strenuous Democrats . . To our powerful readers we recommend the circulation of this book among their inferiors , as an antidote against the poison diffused , and still diffusing , among them by maiignants . Mr . Burke . Vide Thoughts on a Regicide Peace , just published , Page 17 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
which , exhibiting every excellence of dramatic composition , renders genius the efficacious minister of virtue ; the extraordinary wisdom . and goodness of Socrates , uniformly exerted in the theory and practice of morality , were the principal subjects of Aristophanes ' s farcical attacks . There was a buffoonery and an obscenity in the plays which delighted the Athenian lawgivers , that would in this . country , be disrelished by the frequenters of Bartholomewfair . While this gross indecency pleased the taste of the populace , the
abuse of great characters gratified their malignity . The comedies of Aristophanes proceeded upon a levelling principle . They burlesqued every character which was great , wise , or good , that by subtracting die greatness , wisdom , and goodness , there might remain equality to the mob . Aristophanes ' s comedies were the comedies of Democracy . " In the following passage , our Author describes the effect of interference in the management of the State on the populace of Athens .
' Minding politics for which they were not fit , instead of crafts for which they were , the lower orders became miserably poor . Those who might . have been useful members of society as Taylors , or Shoemakers , were mere burdens to the community , as lounging Politicians . They were fed at the public expence , or to modernize the expression , their politics brought them on the parish . Such indeed must always be the case when persons of no talents and no propertytake to politicswhich are to them'idlenessbecause their efforts
, , , can do no good , instead of employing themselves at some trade , by which they might gain an honest livelihood . ' - Our Author has aivery just idea of the importance and respectability of the commonalty Avhen properly employed . ' Every man , who is not an idiot ,, may be a useful member of society . Whoever is an useful , is a respectable member ; but one can only be useful ,
by steadily and habitually pursuing objects within the sphere of his powers and knowledge . The mechanic , the journeyman , the labourer , are useful , nay respectable , members of every well-constituted society ; but it is as mechanic , journeyman , and labourer that they can possess that usefulness , and consequently , respectability . When therefore the carpenter , the shoemaker , the labourer , instead of fashioning timber , leather , or earth , to beneficial purposes , takes to fashioning the state , he does a double mischief , by
neglecting that Avhich lie can do , and trying that which he cannot . This idleness makeshim poor , and consequently internally a burden to die community , to which his political projects , from his incapacity of forming or executing good ones , would be both internally and externally ruinous . Within their own sphere , the lower orders are a great support of society ; going beyond it , they bring ruin on themselves and others . So it fared with the Athenians ; and similar causes will always produce similar effects . '
, Rome , more complex in her government , and infinitely more variegate ;! and extensive in those operations Avhich affected her constitution , calls forth still more discrimination and comprehensiveness , from the Author , than the Greciah ' commonwealths . On modern Democracies the present treatise is too short . But although he has not adduced every possible evidence , he has brought enough to prove the misery of Democracy . We will not hesitate to pronounce Dr . Bisset ' s Democracy to be an able
ancl useful work , and peculiarly seasonable at the present time , when , according to the first genius of the age , * one fifth of the active inhabitants of this country are strenuous Democrats . . To our powerful readers we recommend the circulation of this book among their inferiors , as an antidote against the poison diffused , and still diffusing , among them by maiignants . Mr . Burke . Vide Thoughts on a Regicide Peace , just published , Page 17 .