Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
fated the shopkeeper and his journeyman at such a distance , that the latter formed no part of the family , and therefore acquired no domestic inclinations , and for want of them naturally took to the public house . The manufacturing population in large towns have never enjoyed the advantage of association with a class of immediate superiors who might connect them with the better orders of society ; and hence , they
have always been vicious , and continue so . Let us hope that the increasing perfection of machinery will gradually diminish their number and lighten their labour , * But while these fortuitous and perhaps inevitable circumstances had happened to prepare the population for gradual subsidence into intemperance , a narrow spirit of bigotry , intended to check this deplorable
circumstance , arose , and by its zealous and vigorous efforts accelerated it tenfold . All kinds of public amusements , in which the poor can participate , have been discouraged or expressly forbidden . The putting down of fairs , pugilism , bear-baiting , dog and cock-fighting , admits of excuse , though we will contend that any of them are better than harddrinking . But what shall we say to the impediments thrown in the way of the drama , and the prohibition of music and dancing in publichouses ? The first is in our view the finest instructor of the social
emotions that can be conceived . It was once a favourite amusement of the common people : in fact to their encouragement in barns and such unseemly places does it owe its rise . But it must be managed , and superintended and regulated by timid politicians and bigoted sectarians , until it has become dull , stale , flat , and unprofitable every where but in large towns . Music is not an accomplishment in which our peasantry are
proficients , but still they are so far human as to like it , and dancing is a very favourite amusement . The light-hearted peasantry of France , who constantly practise both , are much more moral than ours ; and , generally speaking , gay and cheerful people are less prone to drunkenness or other sorts of vice than the stern and sullen . There is no warranty for the prohibition of these amusements , even on the Sabbath , any where in
Scripture ; and we cannot help deploring , that the feeling that they are incompatible with piety , should ever have gained ground amongst us . —• At the same time , there is too little respect left among the lower orders for any thing sacred , to make us wish to try experiments that might disturb the little veneration they have for that day . If , then , our views be correct , the destruction of domestic society and
the absence of public amusement , are what have caused the great bulk of our population to descend from genial indulgence to criminal excess : but there are still considerable numbers who are said to have so far advanced in intelligence , as to be capable of the varied and refined amusement of reading , and who yet are little , if at all , better behaved than the ignorant . The intelligence in question amounts to this : we have
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
fated the shopkeeper and his journeyman at such a distance , that the latter formed no part of the family , and therefore acquired no domestic inclinations , and for want of them naturally took to the public house . The manufacturing population in large towns have never enjoyed the advantage of association with a class of immediate superiors who might connect them with the better orders of society ; and hence , they
have always been vicious , and continue so . Let us hope that the increasing perfection of machinery will gradually diminish their number and lighten their labour , * But while these fortuitous and perhaps inevitable circumstances had happened to prepare the population for gradual subsidence into intemperance , a narrow spirit of bigotry , intended to check this deplorable
circumstance , arose , and by its zealous and vigorous efforts accelerated it tenfold . All kinds of public amusements , in which the poor can participate , have been discouraged or expressly forbidden . The putting down of fairs , pugilism , bear-baiting , dog and cock-fighting , admits of excuse , though we will contend that any of them are better than harddrinking . But what shall we say to the impediments thrown in the way of the drama , and the prohibition of music and dancing in publichouses ? The first is in our view the finest instructor of the social
emotions that can be conceived . It was once a favourite amusement of the common people : in fact to their encouragement in barns and such unseemly places does it owe its rise . But it must be managed , and superintended and regulated by timid politicians and bigoted sectarians , until it has become dull , stale , flat , and unprofitable every where but in large towns . Music is not an accomplishment in which our peasantry are
proficients , but still they are so far human as to like it , and dancing is a very favourite amusement . The light-hearted peasantry of France , who constantly practise both , are much more moral than ours ; and , generally speaking , gay and cheerful people are less prone to drunkenness or other sorts of vice than the stern and sullen . There is no warranty for the prohibition of these amusements , even on the Sabbath , any where in
Scripture ; and we cannot help deploring , that the feeling that they are incompatible with piety , should ever have gained ground amongst us . —• At the same time , there is too little respect left among the lower orders for any thing sacred , to make us wish to try experiments that might disturb the little veneration they have for that day . If , then , our views be correct , the destruction of domestic society and
the absence of public amusement , are what have caused the great bulk of our population to descend from genial indulgence to criminal excess : but there are still considerable numbers who are said to have so far advanced in intelligence , as to be capable of the varied and refined amusement of reading , and who yet are little , if at all , better behaved than the ignorant . The intelligence in question amounts to this : we have