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Article ON FASHION. Page 1 of 3 →
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On Fashion.
ON FASHION .
. TO THE PRINTER OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE . has been more frequently asserted than demonstratedthat
IT ,, the depravity of morals in the present age exceeds that of the preceding , and that the world grows still more corrupt in proportion as it grows older . This postulate is , - indeed , so generally received , that it appears an act of presumption to attempt to combat the idea . But unlessi some one be fotind to enter the lists , the matter may be subtilized ;
and so instilled into the minds of those vvho w . ill not be at the trouble of thinking for themselves , that it would be no wonder tci me , if in the course of another century , it should , by representing ; the matter of moral amendment as a desperate case , deaden all sense of shame in mankind ; and gradually underrtiiue what yet remains of Morality .
, . It would better become the moralist to administer instruction of a stimulative kind , - to set before the eyes of men the fairer side of the . picture , and thus encourage art ardour of emulation worthy of the age . —Yes , I repeat it , worthy of the age ; for ; very far am I from Relieving that at any time there has been less vice in the aggregate of . men than is found at present . Between Vice and Folly ( though
they are too often confounded in our ideas ) there is a . very eminent distinction : the one is of a fatal tendency , is punished here , and , we believe ; will be hereafter ; the other is seldom ivdrse than ridiculous ^' and commonlyinduces its own punishment ; , , , . Folly , Sir , is the Fashion , and Fashion ( which , tis I understand the word , means no more than that slavish obedience which men to the inions and habits of their fellow-creatures ; without
pay op concerning themselves about the propriety of them ) , I will allow was perhaps at no time more prevalent than it is at present . Men at an earlief period mig ht ; and did more than now ; think for themselves ; but perhaps not to a better purpose , nor always to purposes so harmless as those to which our tyrant Fashion conduces . It is into Fashion , then , that we must look ftir the sotiffce of the
¦ fevil which it is our wish to see exterminated . . , . It appears that these complaints of degenenicy chiefly originate ? ¦ ivith peevish and debilitated mortals , who , if they ever possessed ' the faculty of pleasing , liav 6 with eld age contracted a rigidity , that forbids the proffer , of sympathetic Friendship , that shuns those de- ' lightful moments of social intercourse and generous communication $ jwhich the human heart expands tb receive every Sensation , - b $ * N
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Fashion.
ON FASHION .
. TO THE PRINTER OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE . has been more frequently asserted than demonstratedthat
IT ,, the depravity of morals in the present age exceeds that of the preceding , and that the world grows still more corrupt in proportion as it grows older . This postulate is , - indeed , so generally received , that it appears an act of presumption to attempt to combat the idea . But unlessi some one be fotind to enter the lists , the matter may be subtilized ;
and so instilled into the minds of those vvho w . ill not be at the trouble of thinking for themselves , that it would be no wonder tci me , if in the course of another century , it should , by representing ; the matter of moral amendment as a desperate case , deaden all sense of shame in mankind ; and gradually underrtiiue what yet remains of Morality .
, . It would better become the moralist to administer instruction of a stimulative kind , - to set before the eyes of men the fairer side of the . picture , and thus encourage art ardour of emulation worthy of the age . —Yes , I repeat it , worthy of the age ; for ; very far am I from Relieving that at any time there has been less vice in the aggregate of . men than is found at present . Between Vice and Folly ( though
they are too often confounded in our ideas ) there is a . very eminent distinction : the one is of a fatal tendency , is punished here , and , we believe ; will be hereafter ; the other is seldom ivdrse than ridiculous ^' and commonlyinduces its own punishment ; , , , . Folly , Sir , is the Fashion , and Fashion ( which , tis I understand the word , means no more than that slavish obedience which men to the inions and habits of their fellow-creatures ; without
pay op concerning themselves about the propriety of them ) , I will allow was perhaps at no time more prevalent than it is at present . Men at an earlief period mig ht ; and did more than now ; think for themselves ; but perhaps not to a better purpose , nor always to purposes so harmless as those to which our tyrant Fashion conduces . It is into Fashion , then , that we must look ftir the sotiffce of the
¦ fevil which it is our wish to see exterminated . . , . It appears that these complaints of degenenicy chiefly originate ? ¦ ivith peevish and debilitated mortals , who , if they ever possessed ' the faculty of pleasing , liav 6 with eld age contracted a rigidity , that forbids the proffer , of sympathetic Friendship , that shuns those de- ' lightful moments of social intercourse and generous communication $ jwhich the human heart expands tb receive every Sensation , - b $ * N