Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
tical wisdom , from the pulpits which they never warmed with religious fervour . The recompence of the one is indeed in distant reversion ; of the other in immediate expectancy . Surely the professors of the church would more rationally triumph in the indulgence of ecclesiastical freedom . If however they riot in the illiberality of controversy ; if they pore upon abstruser themes of metaphysics , or weary themselves to explain inexplicable mysteries ; they sacrifice good
manners to ostentation , and the plain precepts of Christianity to the conceits of laborious curiosity . in . Democracy , that slig hter deviation from the original barbarism of nature , is little better than a restless ferment , or a lethargic stagnation of the soul . The lethargy contracts every generous spirited idea in the Hollander , as the fever actuated the ambitious
principle in our own country , deceived into shackles by the hypocrisy of CROMWELL . But the last was of short duration ; the eyes of the public were soon opened ; and the son was invited to succeed to the throne of an injured father . Democracy has been considered , from more distant periods , the immediate nurse of genius . Longinus has so charaterized it ; for it be concluded that the sentiments put in the mouth of his
philomay sophic friend are in reality his own : we may observe , however , that the author instantly limits the reflection to oratorical exertions ; and in this respect he may be seconded , that' a slave never yet became antorator , ' with the distinction , however , that he must have been a slave from birth : Nature in the free-born breathes the spirit of
manhood ; and the powers cf the mind will burst the fetters by which it disdains to be enthralled . The talents of oratory may seem little to ensure success in popular establishments , where equality of condition predominates ; and the voice of wisdom , issuing from the honesty of a few , is weak against the passions and prejudices of numbers . The interests of a partyinfluence direct the decisions of the senate , which everymember alike is impatient to controul . Remove opposition
, , and the efforts of oratory are impertinent ; they melt into a shadow , in the formal ' routine' of public adjustments . The less noisy , though as ingenuous exertions of abilities , is rarely called forth by democracy : the a » ra of usurpation , the a ? ra of disgrace in the annals of our country , furnishes a melancholy proof of this . Experience here may be regarded as mathematical demonstration : amid
the profusion of incense prostituted to the wolf Protector , as few signs of genius as of truth are to be distinguished . MILTON , indeed , acquitted himseif excellently in a public contest with SAIMASIUS . His classical labour was cried up as a prodigy at the time , while the work which entitled hint to immortality was suffered to sleep undisturbed . The one was a sacrifice to the temporary ardour of politics , the other remains an honour to letters and to England . Dryden
existed at this period , but his muse may seem to have been convulsed with the times , unfavourable to his talents as a writer , and his integrity as a man . Could he , who taught poetry to speak the voice of reason , adorned the Augustan bavds with a language equal , if not superior . to their own , and emulated their triumphs in the walk of originality , —could he , even for bread , fritter genius into panegyrics
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
tical wisdom , from the pulpits which they never warmed with religious fervour . The recompence of the one is indeed in distant reversion ; of the other in immediate expectancy . Surely the professors of the church would more rationally triumph in the indulgence of ecclesiastical freedom . If however they riot in the illiberality of controversy ; if they pore upon abstruser themes of metaphysics , or weary themselves to explain inexplicable mysteries ; they sacrifice good
manners to ostentation , and the plain precepts of Christianity to the conceits of laborious curiosity . in . Democracy , that slig hter deviation from the original barbarism of nature , is little better than a restless ferment , or a lethargic stagnation of the soul . The lethargy contracts every generous spirited idea in the Hollander , as the fever actuated the ambitious
principle in our own country , deceived into shackles by the hypocrisy of CROMWELL . But the last was of short duration ; the eyes of the public were soon opened ; and the son was invited to succeed to the throne of an injured father . Democracy has been considered , from more distant periods , the immediate nurse of genius . Longinus has so charaterized it ; for it be concluded that the sentiments put in the mouth of his
philomay sophic friend are in reality his own : we may observe , however , that the author instantly limits the reflection to oratorical exertions ; and in this respect he may be seconded , that' a slave never yet became antorator , ' with the distinction , however , that he must have been a slave from birth : Nature in the free-born breathes the spirit of
manhood ; and the powers cf the mind will burst the fetters by which it disdains to be enthralled . The talents of oratory may seem little to ensure success in popular establishments , where equality of condition predominates ; and the voice of wisdom , issuing from the honesty of a few , is weak against the passions and prejudices of numbers . The interests of a partyinfluence direct the decisions of the senate , which everymember alike is impatient to controul . Remove opposition
, , and the efforts of oratory are impertinent ; they melt into a shadow , in the formal ' routine' of public adjustments . The less noisy , though as ingenuous exertions of abilities , is rarely called forth by democracy : the a » ra of usurpation , the a ? ra of disgrace in the annals of our country , furnishes a melancholy proof of this . Experience here may be regarded as mathematical demonstration : amid
the profusion of incense prostituted to the wolf Protector , as few signs of genius as of truth are to be distinguished . MILTON , indeed , acquitted himseif excellently in a public contest with SAIMASIUS . His classical labour was cried up as a prodigy at the time , while the work which entitled hint to immortality was suffered to sleep undisturbed . The one was a sacrifice to the temporary ardour of politics , the other remains an honour to letters and to England . Dryden
existed at this period , but his muse may seem to have been convulsed with the times , unfavourable to his talents as a writer , and his integrity as a man . Could he , who taught poetry to speak the voice of reason , adorned the Augustan bavds with a language equal , if not superior . to their own , and emulated their triumphs in the walk of originality , —could he , even for bread , fritter genius into panegyrics