Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
I am quite satisfied, that there are as many _sorts_ of men as there are
of dogs. Swift was a man, and so is Walter the base. But is the _sort_
the same? It cannot be _education_ alone that makes the amazing
difference that we see. Besides, we see men of the very same rank and
riches and education, differing as widely as the pointer does from the
pug. The name, _man_, is common to all the sorts, and hence arises very
great mischief. What confusion must there be in rural affairs, if there
were no names whereby to distinguish hounds, greyhounds, pointers,
spaniels, terriers, and sheep dogs, from each other! And, what pretty
work, if, without regard to the _sorts_ of dogs, men were to attempt to
_employ them_! Yet, this is done in the case of _men_! A man is always
_a man_; and, without the least regard as to the _sort_, they are
promiscuously placed in all kinds of situations. Now, if Mr. Brougham,
Doctors Birkbeck, Macculloch and Black, and that profound personage,
Lord John Russell, will, in their forth-coming "London University,"
teach us how to divide men _into sorts_, instead of teaching us to
"augment the capital of the nation," by making paper-money, they will
render us a real service. That will be _feelosofy_ worth attending to.
What would be said of the 'Squire who should take a fox-hound out to
find partridges for him to shoot at? Yet, would this be _more_ absurd
than to set a man to law-making who was manifestly formed for the
express purpose of sweeping the streets or digging out sewers?
_Farnham, Surrey, Thursday, Oct. 27th._
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