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718 TM Saturdayi Anal yst mid Leader, [A...
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THE EIGHTH GOMMAJ^MENT.* UTHORSHiP in En...
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? The Eighth Commandment, liy Cuarlm JIb...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Self-Educatxox. 3)0p.Iii's Dunciii'l I-T...
compared with the clean , clear sound of the original discharge : it is aimed gainst the formality of common school teaching , and its effects . Here are the lines : — " With the same cement ever sure to bindj Bring to the same dead level every mind , Then take ife to develope , if you can ; ' 7 hen hew the block off , and take out the man . " Who has not heard this expressed more or less loosely or mystically in lieu of meeting with the neat self-explaining metaphors of our great poet ? Undoubtedly there is less- reason for the satire in our days than in his . and even in his it was less called for than in the olden times of trivia , quadivia aaA . penia . ta 2 a ; the diff e rence between the two being , probabl y ^ that at the earlier period teachers were sounder and systems more limited and formal , and in the later the field was wider , but the guide more superficial and falteiirig ; but in both the education was indifferent if it stood still where the master or professor left it , and all the distinguished men of the two periods were those whose real education was mainly self given .
Our own times differ widely from both ; an average of better teachers , of more choice in study , more pathos open or began , more formative or suggesting influences pressing or pointing on all sides , and in all directions . We admit fully the value of self-education , in spite of the danger of the conceit which it may engender for want of rivalry and varied standards of measurement ; of its frequent ignorance of what has been done before , and , in consequence , its rethinking of old thoughts and re-inventing of old inventions . We admit readily : that what is self-taught is often best taught , that often the truth arrived at by self teaching , even though not a new one , has a life of its own , and a freshness " in its very utterance which makes it nearly as good as new to those who heat it , and a root and vigour which is likely to make it last and , live when transplanted into the mi nds of others , if introduced fresh from the miiid to which it has been native , and
that science can carry the loving heart " With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs , ere ' ; , - ' .. 'V- '¦; ¦ ' ¦ ¦ : ¦^ - i' Wit ^ » P ? V ® ^ eeit ^ ftcre * " And this is said with the more conviction , because though we have mdividually received our due modicum of blame and praise , canings and prizes , from a regularly constituted statutory prbiKus , we have beenconscious , in pur own case , of great difficulty in comprehending the oral explanations of others ; in spite , however , of all this we are inclined to hold hard by a regular formal education , and ^ to secure ah ample basis , even though it should dwarf the statue make it invisibleEducation \
to be placed on it * or j almost , is now wanted quite as much tp steady as to elevate , for ballast more than for gas , sails , or feathers ; to give humility , more than create assurance . Vanity arid insatiable unprofitable curiosity and love of dabbnng has been a ; thousand times repressed ; geriniSj if accompanied by moral energy , has never been hide-bound by a regular arid even sternly formal education ; provided that education has been what could fairly be called , for the average mind , an . useful one . Genius is inspired with wings , which scarcely ever fair to raise it from the lowest scales of life , and , if circumstances , at first amoarentlv almost hopeless in their character , cannot keep it down ,
education , certainly , if it coristrains at all , is hkely to dp so usetuiiy , -supporting it at ilrat iir ^ rstraight-and-undeviating-npward-fiiglvfer till it can fix its eye , or sweep the horizon , and then soar grandly arid decisively to any quarter that invites it , Let your first education be merely that of others / your second and highest must beyourown . ¦¦ ' ,. ' ¦ ¦' , ¦" , "¦ , " i i .- j Strange to say , whilst some have objected to scholastic and academical training , the too great uniformity of their products , others have been scandalized at so much diversity as is found actually to exist among them , looking for results as accurate and . measurable as Plato might sigh after , or Lycubgtts effect . We 'might eilip away from between the two fires , and leave the opponents ; at the opposite sides of the circumference , to blaze away at each other ; however , the firing is heaviest from Pope ' s sido ^ of the Question against the too great uniformity , and towards that wo iiiuim . Dogs ji mischievous uniformity or a smooth sameness exist ,
wtdoes it notP In certain cases , undoubtedly , mid , to a certain extent . ; ias , for instance , where the school is one , the presiding influence cone , the subject one ; as in a painting academy , a sameness of result may , . to a certain extent , be anticipated , though not oven here to the binding or crushing of a first rate mind : as some groat man said , " I am . » n ancestor , " so even the student of a painting : academy may , ere long , feel within himself and exclaim , " I , too , awn a master . " So , again , in the case of a school of political economy , tfar instance , the same theories , the same mode of thinking , may jrtxon almost ad ivfinitum , and perpetual guidance end in powor-Fesaness and slavery , with , not only the same train of thinking , but the same essence of thought ; many , who have been the masters * of others , have been the pupils of htm who might
" atill . have kept _ L _ _ Tlmjealaua-ke ; M > £ to If Bacon ' s eagle spirit had not leapt Like lightning out of darkness . " Brit the walls of tho academy aro now less likely to shut out the liffhtwhon masters are varied , and subjects ^ manifold : it wo look move decply-indecd , and this applies } o all time , where i « the man who can bo said really to have received one unafornveducation H In Hpito ovon of tho infant school * of ancient Sparta ami modern Eland iiicrc is tho homo education , with its infinitel y varied
doublo inihroiices of father and mother , and friemls ^ -tlio cuucuuon of Kuidauco for some dispositions , tho education of reaction for othS ^ whoro every thing that h taught of truth or conduct scorn *
to point to the opposite pole , as if the ivory end of the needle were taken for the index ; the intellect , not merely regarding that opposite , but the will asserting its freedom by aiming at it in conduct , and so good parents mourn over evil children , and the Dissenting father over the Puseyisticial son . Then , in England , comes the training in two schools , very often in three or more , where even , though the same things are professedly taught , and professedly in the same manner , yet the master s influence is different in degree , different in mode of exertion , his tastes different , his modes of conveying information different ,- his suggestions , his individual opinions , the stress which he lays on the comparative importance of various points , different . What real uniformity is in tters of where
here ? In matters of morals , ma expediency , or several considerations have to be taken into account , the conclusions will be different , and the natural temperament will modify even the aspects of truth , which , indeed , temperament often modifies even more than doctrine does , and prevents its appearing , in the words of Plato , " eternally one and single . " What education , splf or other , shall strip us of this or overcome it ? For this , even Jesuits find it necessary to be elastic , and calculate upon it rather than control it . The same college , for aught we know the same school , produced a Newman , a Wilberforce , a Proude , a Whateley , and an Arnold ; pick out , if you can , five more different men . Is there any object to which five men , self-taught or taught uniformly , attach
the same relative importance , or even absolutely the same meaning .- ' Amongst the very virtues every man has his idol . " I , " says the last of those five , " should be disposed to worship truth and justice too much , for I should put mercy in the back-ground . " Convictions depend much upon accumulation of facts ; and facts , if not accumulated , are retained very much iri accordance with temperament , which will influence the final intellectual pursuits , and the moral and social judgriients . Whatever their education * we shall never fear too great uniformity , either iri acquirement or opinion , at ^ any rate in those Englishmen whose powers give perfection , to these acquirements , and whose character weight to their opinions ; for the rest , it is of small matter . -
718 Tm Saturdayi Anal Yst Mid Leader, [A...
718 TM Saturdayi Anal yst mid Leader , [ Aug . I 1 > I 860 .
The Eighth Gommaj^Ment.* Uthorship In En...
THE EIGHTH GOMMAJ ^ MENT . * UTHORSHiP in England is regarded as the unpardonable XjL sin . It appears to be so , arid it is so . . Property in his work is either denied , or grudgingly restricted . _ It may be stolen With almost inTpunity . The thief is favoured by the law , or the state of the law , or the forms of the £ ourt , or the rules of the Bench ; and if he do not escape it is pure accident . Against this condition of things , Mr . Charles Reade has lifted up an eloquent and vehement voice . He declaims like the arigel of justice ,, he writeslikeari orator , and hethinks and feels like an honest and honourable rnari . , . 1 ^ . , , , . , „ ho himself
- But not like an Englishman , ebriie will say ; indeed , spurns the notion of Anglo-Saxon relationship ; it being , as it were , the stupid instinct of the hard-headed Anglo-Saxon ¦ ¦ to " pillage authors and murder their families , " Against this stupidity , this hard-headedness , this blind instinct of Anglo-Saxon ignorance , it is that he makes his forehead brass and his hand iron . He flashes his living sword in the face pTit , thatm ^ HiTl * leTiiri 3 i ^ glimpse of truth . He goes in for this desperate chance ; but his courage abates riot , and ho still flourishes his weapon , to command attention , if not to slay . And all this lie does in the manliest style . Chiyalric Heade ! we are proud of thee . Thou art , indeed , the champion of Truth , of Justice ; and we foresee that there is a victory in reserve for thee , by the decree of the Watchers '¦'¦¦
. _ . _ . . „ . But , after all , what is the contest about ? Is it not all in favour of thoso odious Fronch plays with which the stage is flooded ? Oh , short-sighted and barbarous folly ! It is in favour of an equitable adjustment of property between tho English and French author , tho want of which now causes the overflow ol foreign talent , and the prosonco of which would so regulate the market as to prevent nativo talpnt from being undersold . In a word , do iustico to tho foroign . author , and . justico to tho nativo author follows of course . So oven-handed is Justice . # Nino or ten years ago this truth was partially soon by the
Legislature of England , whioh co-operated with that of France in settling tho question of dramatio copyright . The intontiori was good enough ; but interosted parties wore suffered to have influence , and accordingly a proviso was added to tho statute , . b y winch that intention was altogether defeated . Tho fatal proviso runs thus : — "It is understood that tho proteotion stipulated by tho present artiolo is not intopdod to prohibit fair imitations , ov adaptations of dramatio works to tho stage in England and Franco rnannntivGlv . but is onlv meant to provont piratical translations .
Under cover of this proviso , things wont on in tho old way , and tho treaty became a doad letter . Uut-tho-gallant _{^ arlcaJloade , 4 oalous . odtMs-couutry ! sJiQnQiu , arid willing to trade iri French translations on fair and honourablo torms , and , not otherwise , refused to beliovo that *' nn Act that aimod at international justice " could have been thus intentionally " degraded into , a feat of partiality and international injustioo . " Ho rofused , wo say , to boliovo it ; and ho forthwith proceeded to bring tho matter praotioally to tho tost . Tho manuer in whioh this was ultimately dopio gave riso to tho funniost series of transactions on record . A gontleman was brpught into ooutaot with blackguards , and tho inoidonts that
? The Eighth Commandment, Liy Cuarlm Jib...
? The Eighth Commandment , liy Cuarlm JIbkdb , XrUbnor ami Co ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11081860/page/6/
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