Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The honorable gentleman, thus delicately alluded to, replies, "My
honorable and learned friend (if he will permit me to call him so)
complains that his arguments are not understood; the simple reason being
that they are unintelligible. He calls them arguments level to the
meanest capacity, and let me assure him they are level to the meanest
capacity only, for they are his own. Let me hasten to relieve his
anxiety as to the remarks which I have felt it my duty to make upon the
question under discussion, by assuring him that they have been
understood by those who have intelligence to appreciate them, though I
am not prepared to vouch as much for my honorable and learned friend on
the other side of the House." Thus,
Each lolls the tongue out at the other,
And shakes his empty noddle at his brother.
One honorable member accuses another of stating that which is the
"reverse of true"--the other responds by a charge of "gross
misrepresentation of the facts of the case." Coalheavers would use a
shorter and more emphatic word to express the same thing, though it
would neither be classical nor conformable to the rules of the House.
The Frenchman delicately defined a white lie to be "valking round about
de trooth." We know what honorable members mean when they talk in the
above guise. It is, "You're another!"
Dr. Whiston accuses the Chapter of Rochester with applying for their own
purposes the funds bequeathed by pious men of former times for the
education of the poor. The reply of the Chapter is--"You Atheist!" and
they deprive the doctor of his living. Sir Samuel Romilly once proposed
to alter the law of bankruptcy, and to make freehold estates assets
appropriable for debts, like personal property. The existing law he held
to be pregnant with dishonesty and fraud against creditors. Mr. Canning
immediately was down upon him with the "You're another" argument.
"Dishonesty!" he said, "why, this proposal is neither more nor less than
a dangerous and most dishonest attack upon the aristocracy, and the
beginning of something which may end, if carried, like the French
Revolution."
Worthy men are often found differing about some speculative point,
respecting which neither can have any more certain knowledge than the
other, and they wax fierce and bitter, each devoting the other to a fate
which we dare not venture to describe. One calls the other "bigot," who
retorts by calling out "idolater," or perhaps "fanatic;" and the phrases
are bandied about with the gusto and fervor of Billingsgate--the meaning
of the whole is, "You're another!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account