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  • Jan. 1, 1866
  • Page 29
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The Masonic Press, Jan. 1, 1866: Page 29

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    Article REPRINT OF SCARCE, OR CURICUS, BOOKS ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 6 →
Page 29

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Reprint Of Scarce, Or Curicus, Books On Freemasonry.

favourable , representation of the frailties or disorders of love . But a yet more important effect of good fiction will be to explode false heroism . That cruel ambition and implacable revenge , celebrated by so many orators and poets under the epithet of valour , will he divested of the lustre they have clothed it with , and we shall soon look upon , whatever has contributed to raise these false virtues to such an eminence , as the deceitful beauties of eloquence or poetry .

This happy effect seems to be already infused in the minds of men . The spoil of nations does now no longer appear an object o £ emulation , at least among civilized people . Panegyrics upon conquests and devastations are no more patterns in the education of princes ; and good poets have done Avith extolling them for making arms alone their pastime . I find no reason to repent of what I formerlsaid speaking of Telemachus—that if

y the happiness of mankind could be said to arise from a poem , it Avould bo from that ; and though princes may not often apply themselves much to reading , yet those who have tho care of their education , knowing as well the origin as progress of learning , do not suffer them to bo ignorant , either in those principles of morality or maxims of lenity , which even their own times may have produced and established . Princes now ascend the

throne endued with a knowledge of true glory , and imbibing the very same sentiments on this head with the public , thcj r concur in supporting it in that tranquillity and happiness which is expected from them . A peace , the long continuance of which has no precedent in our history , is unquestionably owing to the wisdom of a great minister ; and the French nation acknowledges all the obligations due to him for that unwearied administration which is the support of their tranquillity . But the princes

he has to treat with Avould , perhaps , more strenuously oppose his measures if an education , advanced by a work which is of service to all the kings in the universe , had not reconciled them to the same dispositions of mind as the young and august monarch , in whose kingdoms Telemachus took its birth . If we are allowed to assert that the increase of literature has

introduced a politeness and good taste in all the courts and cities of Europe , we may justly attribute , at least in part , that fondness for peace which at this time seems to be the favourite passion of all nations , to those works which contain an excellent moral , set off with all the embellishments that can render it agreeable . AVe may certainly number them among the causes of that just and pacific temper of mind , which every one is seemingly big withand which by degrees extirpates those animosities

, among nations , which the bare remoteness of their former inducements began to render unjust and reproachful ; and in the place of which a mutual value for the virtues , talents , and every commendable quality of their neighbours- is daily substituted . A natural consequence of the success of Telemachus , next to reforming our judgments and softening our mannersought to be laying a foundation

, for a new kind of Avork . Tho first poems of antiquity produced imitations of the same form and denomination , as epopeas , tragedies , idylls , and the like ; but the author of Telemachus has only been imitated in the essential part—that is , by the same intention or zeal to produce the same effects . Thus Telemachus is an epic poem , but the Travels of Cyrus , in conformity to their titlecontain only the hero ' s rambles in search of

instruc-, tions from all the wise men of his times , in order to introduce into his own dominions whatever he found good and profitable in the different customs o £ the most celebrated kingdoms and commonwealths . The work before us is , with regard to the moral design of it , of the same species with both , but more different in the form of it than they are one from the other . They are both properly a system of education ; and

“The Masonic Press: 1866-01-01, Page 29” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 23 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/msp/issues/mxr_01011866/page/29/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
Untitled Article 3
NUMBER ONE. Article 4
"LIVE AND LET LIVE." Article 9
OBJECTS OF MASONIC REFORM. Article 11
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES, DOCUMENTS, &c. JERUSALEM ENCAMPMENT, MANCHESTER. Article 20
REPRINT OF SCARCE, OR CURICUS, BOOKS ON FREEMASONRY. Article 27
THE RITE OF MISRAIM. Article 32
NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS. Article 36
MASONIC ENCLAVES. Article 38
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 38
EVENTS AND THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED. Article 41
CLOTHING FOR THE RISING STAR OF WESTERN INDIA. Article 43
REVIEWS. Article 43
POETRY. Article 44
THE MASONIC REPORTER. Article 46
KNIGHT TEMPLARY. Article 47
CRAFT FREEMASONRY. Article 50
OBITUARY. Article 50
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 51
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Reprint Of Scarce, Or Curicus, Books On Freemasonry.

favourable , representation of the frailties or disorders of love . But a yet more important effect of good fiction will be to explode false heroism . That cruel ambition and implacable revenge , celebrated by so many orators and poets under the epithet of valour , will he divested of the lustre they have clothed it with , and we shall soon look upon , whatever has contributed to raise these false virtues to such an eminence , as the deceitful beauties of eloquence or poetry .

This happy effect seems to be already infused in the minds of men . The spoil of nations does now no longer appear an object o £ emulation , at least among civilized people . Panegyrics upon conquests and devastations are no more patterns in the education of princes ; and good poets have done Avith extolling them for making arms alone their pastime . I find no reason to repent of what I formerlsaid speaking of Telemachus—that if

y the happiness of mankind could be said to arise from a poem , it Avould bo from that ; and though princes may not often apply themselves much to reading , yet those who have tho care of their education , knowing as well the origin as progress of learning , do not suffer them to bo ignorant , either in those principles of morality or maxims of lenity , which even their own times may have produced and established . Princes now ascend the

throne endued with a knowledge of true glory , and imbibing the very same sentiments on this head with the public , thcj r concur in supporting it in that tranquillity and happiness which is expected from them . A peace , the long continuance of which has no precedent in our history , is unquestionably owing to the wisdom of a great minister ; and the French nation acknowledges all the obligations due to him for that unwearied administration which is the support of their tranquillity . But the princes

he has to treat with Avould , perhaps , more strenuously oppose his measures if an education , advanced by a work which is of service to all the kings in the universe , had not reconciled them to the same dispositions of mind as the young and august monarch , in whose kingdoms Telemachus took its birth . If we are allowed to assert that the increase of literature has

introduced a politeness and good taste in all the courts and cities of Europe , we may justly attribute , at least in part , that fondness for peace which at this time seems to be the favourite passion of all nations , to those works which contain an excellent moral , set off with all the embellishments that can render it agreeable . AVe may certainly number them among the causes of that just and pacific temper of mind , which every one is seemingly big withand which by degrees extirpates those animosities

, among nations , which the bare remoteness of their former inducements began to render unjust and reproachful ; and in the place of which a mutual value for the virtues , talents , and every commendable quality of their neighbours- is daily substituted . A natural consequence of the success of Telemachus , next to reforming our judgments and softening our mannersought to be laying a foundation

, for a new kind of Avork . Tho first poems of antiquity produced imitations of the same form and denomination , as epopeas , tragedies , idylls , and the like ; but the author of Telemachus has only been imitated in the essential part—that is , by the same intention or zeal to produce the same effects . Thus Telemachus is an epic poem , but the Travels of Cyrus , in conformity to their titlecontain only the hero ' s rambles in search of

instruc-, tions from all the wise men of his times , in order to introduce into his own dominions whatever he found good and profitable in the different customs o £ the most celebrated kingdoms and commonwealths . The work before us is , with regard to the moral design of it , of the same species with both , but more different in the form of it than they are one from the other . They are both properly a system of education ; and

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