Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On The Writings Of Lord Chesterfield.
ESSAY ON THE WRITINGS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD .
A MONG the publications which have contributed , within the last ¦ £ "¦*¦ century , to diffuse immorality , I do not hesitate to place the Letters of Lord Chesterfield in the foremost rank . Li ght and airy and flimsy books may induce a futile way of thinking . By inuring the mind to images of inanity , they may , awhile , indispose it for" the seriousness that becomes the dignity of man . But , if they do not inculcate vicethey will not pervert the reasonnor
immediatelin-, , y fluence the moral conduct . Licentious writings may temporally inflame and agitate the passions ; may picture to the mind voluptuous scenery , and occasion irregularities and deviations from virtue . But , maturer reason will often recur , and disapprove of such excesses ; since these writings have no secret end to corrupt the princi ples . The inclinations were indulged in a temporary frenzy ; but as there
was no procedure upon conviction , judgment did not pretend to justify the indulgence . The Letters of Chesterfield , however , are a deliberate system of corruption ; pretendedly founded upon the principles of reason , and introduced in the most insinuating manner . They are addressed in the calm hour of meditation , amidst the stillness of a library , from a father to his son . He , who was bound by reason and the relisrion of nature ( which even the heathen understood ) to guard his son
against every vice and to inform nim in every virtue , sits down coolly to give him instruction how to sin ! He , who should have pointed out to an inexperienced youth the lurking places of evil , taught him how to detect and shun them , shewn him its various tempting shapes , and exhibited vice in her native deformity ; studies with more than Belial artifice ( for it is a father working the ruin of his child ) to conduct his own offspring into
the mazes of sin , and attempts to throw a new and flattering disguise over the most shocking immoralities . What virtuous man can behold , without indignation , a father turned pander to his son ! Is not this worse than parricide ?—Can any crime equal or approach it in turpitude ? But the heart of Chesterfield was too corrupt to stop here . He
began by poisoning his child , and he proceeded by spreading the venom through the mass of society . Whether his Lordship ' s advice were meant chiefly and even ex ^ clusively for his son , or considered as proper advice for young men in general , is a question very little ' to the purpose , when it is considered , that the Letters were evidently composed with a view to publication . It is clear enough , that his Lordship ' s instructions had not regard to the young man only ; since the father was evidently training up
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On The Writings Of Lord Chesterfield.
ESSAY ON THE WRITINGS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD .
A MONG the publications which have contributed , within the last ¦ £ "¦*¦ century , to diffuse immorality , I do not hesitate to place the Letters of Lord Chesterfield in the foremost rank . Li ght and airy and flimsy books may induce a futile way of thinking . By inuring the mind to images of inanity , they may , awhile , indispose it for" the seriousness that becomes the dignity of man . But , if they do not inculcate vicethey will not pervert the reasonnor
immediatelin-, , y fluence the moral conduct . Licentious writings may temporally inflame and agitate the passions ; may picture to the mind voluptuous scenery , and occasion irregularities and deviations from virtue . But , maturer reason will often recur , and disapprove of such excesses ; since these writings have no secret end to corrupt the princi ples . The inclinations were indulged in a temporary frenzy ; but as there
was no procedure upon conviction , judgment did not pretend to justify the indulgence . The Letters of Chesterfield , however , are a deliberate system of corruption ; pretendedly founded upon the principles of reason , and introduced in the most insinuating manner . They are addressed in the calm hour of meditation , amidst the stillness of a library , from a father to his son . He , who was bound by reason and the relisrion of nature ( which even the heathen understood ) to guard his son
against every vice and to inform nim in every virtue , sits down coolly to give him instruction how to sin ! He , who should have pointed out to an inexperienced youth the lurking places of evil , taught him how to detect and shun them , shewn him its various tempting shapes , and exhibited vice in her native deformity ; studies with more than Belial artifice ( for it is a father working the ruin of his child ) to conduct his own offspring into
the mazes of sin , and attempts to throw a new and flattering disguise over the most shocking immoralities . What virtuous man can behold , without indignation , a father turned pander to his son ! Is not this worse than parricide ?—Can any crime equal or approach it in turpitude ? But the heart of Chesterfield was too corrupt to stop here . He
began by poisoning his child , and he proceeded by spreading the venom through the mass of society . Whether his Lordship ' s advice were meant chiefly and even ex ^ clusively for his son , or considered as proper advice for young men in general , is a question very little ' to the purpose , when it is considered , that the Letters were evidently composed with a view to publication . It is clear enough , that his Lordship ' s instructions had not regard to the young man only ; since the father was evidently training up