ciety and if we are protected by law in some cases against those who unadvisedly, idly, wantonly or neglectfully are the causes whence mischief doth arise, how much more ought we in this case, where the evil is so ruinous in its nature, and extends itself so far.

The distinction to be made between the publication of truth and falsehood, is one to which the mind of no honest man can possibly refuse his assent; not even the most zealous philanthropist could in conformity with his professions, make the slightest objection to such a proposal. A guarantee for the public mind against falsehood and misrepresentation is all that is required.

It is useless to rest without some such assurance as this; it is vain to suppose that the liberal and enlightened mind of the public will be able to purge itself of these and similar impurities. There will be those, indeed, on every topic, who will doubt and disbelieve on one side or the other; but with the majority of the world it is far otherwise; the bias of general opinion will be in favor of that which is most frequently and most openly laid before them. A falsehood excites curiosity, a falsehood sells well, and therefore becomes the staple of the market; and when perseveringly told some thirty or forty times (however appearances may at first have been against it,) begins to obtain belief: nay we know such to be the nature of repetition, that in the end a lie grows to have an hold even on the mind of its own propagator. We see how common it is for the veteran retailer of wit and anecdote to repeat a self-fabricated tale over and over, till he becomes at last his own proselyte.

For those persons who have so lately begun their career in this publishing world, it would be a mercy to check them now in the bud: they alas! but little know the ulterior consequences, even to themselves, of that confusion which they seek to introduce: they are not aware that their power is but to excite, not to guide, the storm. But how much more charitable an act would it be towards that numerous class of readers who are now the guiltless partakers of their sentiments, if they can be saved from the snare that is laid for them. They are the first to be sacrificed, they are the advanced guards to be set forward in motion, and then trodden down as success shall have elevated over their heads the prime agents in the scheme.

It is impossible for any man possessed of affection for those he mixes with in life, of feelings of real humanity towards those whom he sees moving in various spheres around him in the world, to reflect on these matters without some emotion. These are a few thoughts scattered on the subject, and if they shall prompt some more competent hand to treat the matter in a more efficient way, the end of these pages will have been fully answered.

*D

A

DISSERTATION

ON THE

THEORY AND PRACTICE

OF

BENEVOLENCE:

BEING A PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

BY GEORGE DYER, A.B.

NEW EDITION;

WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS.

"But 'tis not that Compassion should bestow
"An unavailing tear on want or woe:

"Lo! fairer order rises from thy plan,

Befriending virtue, and adorning man."

TO BENEVOLENCE. BOWLES'S POEMS.

Concluded from No. XXVI. of this Work.

LONDON:

VOL. XIV.

Pam.

NO. XXVII.

E

A DISSERTATION, &c.

PART II.

CHAP. III.

BENEVOLENCE IS INDEPENDENT IN ITS CHARACTER.

OH Genius! art thou to be envied or pitied? Doomed to form expectations the most sanguine, and to meet with disappointments the most mortifying! to indulge towards others the most generous wishes, to receive thyself too often the most illiberal treatment! to be applauded, admired, and neglected! to be a friend to all-befriended, often, by none! Oh! thou creative, discriminating power, source of inexpressible delights, and nurse of unknown sensibilities that perpetuate distress; fancy shall embody thy form; and often visit the grave of Chatterton, to drop the tear of sympathy over that ingenious, unfriended, unfortunate youth!

I know it has been thought rather grating to the finer feelings, to speak thus of the struggles with which literature and genius have sometimes had to contend; I know that a list of former English poets might be made out, who have been as fortunate and successful in life as their more worldly neighbours; and I know, thanks to the liberality of the present times, that instances might be pointed out of persons, who, if they have not enriched themselves by their poetry, have not been impoverished by it. Still I must so far assert the truth, as to maintain, that a failure in worldly success has not always been the criterion of a low genius, and that some have been destined to swim against the stream, "fallen on evil days," if not " on evil tongues." I have been speaking to facts, and I wish they were but few: I am pleading the cause of

benevolence; and among the general occasions for its exercise, have met with one, which ought not to have been left unnoticed. I am justifying the original, and, I doubt not, the present object of the Literary Fund; which object being kept in view, it is enough to say, that what has frequently happened, according to the preceding statement of facts, may happen again.

It has often been objected to schemes for relieving authors, that there are few persons who possess not the means of support if they will but employ them, and if no unnatural force resist their endeavours. This is true. To do the first, therefore, is a part of prudence, that every individual should comprehend: to prevent the last, is a part of justice, that political institutions should secure. It is incumbent on the man of letters to take these maxims along with him in the outset of his literary career. Every one who thinks he can write, the public are not bound to read, much less to support; but he who possesses the talents to instruct or amuse the public, has the powers to procure a maintenance, by some course of industry. The man of fortune who patronises genius, is entitled to esteem; but every man of fortune is not bound to be a patron, though every man of letters is bound to know how to live.

I am aware that it has been urged, in opposing the attempt to assist literary men and their families under difficulties, that it would tend to give encouragement to trifling productions, and might occasion an influx of needy, useless writers, so as even to be the cause of an evil, which it is proposed to remedy. But we have seen, that the works which fail have not been uniformly trifling; that the writers who have been frequently needy, have not always been useless. If there is any thing in the objection, it does not go far enough; and the evil should be traced to its true source. It has been maintained by the author of the CLAIMS of LITERATURE, that the origin of the evil lies in universities and other academical institutions, which do not properly educate youth for the world, but send them forth to professions that are already overstocked, without the means and motives which are beyond such professions, without a due regard to the present state and manners of society, which are very different from what they were when those institutions were first founded. It is then of the nature of human affairs, that good and evil, like pleasure and pain, should grow together, or follow each other. But surely where an evil already exists, an attempt to alleviate its inconveniencies should not be reckoned an evil but a good: there are cases of distress which prudence cannot foresee, and against which industry cannot always provide. An endeavour to form a just calculation of such cases, then, so as to make them fall within the reach of