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    THE PROVOST OF BRUGES.

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    Untitled Article

    A Tragedy in Five Acts . London . Macro ? ie ) 1836 . This is not a great tragedy , but it contains one element of greatness which renders its appearance admirably suited to the present tone of the age ; and the manner in which it has been received by the public augurs well for the long-desired acknowledgment of the heartfelt principle it tends to inculcate . Ever since the period when social man first began to think with natural freedom ; to examine the principles and practice of the institutions which bound him to his fellows , and

    eventually to express boldly the result of his examination ; a conviction has gone abroad that mere conventional nobility is a hoax upon humanity . In vain has it been shown from time immemorial , in the senate and the battle-field , the festive hall , and the arena of science and general literature , or in the

    " words and deeds" of private life , that those gifted by nature and their own acquirements , were the only individuals who ever became eminent in intellectual powers and pursuits , in personal prowess , in brilliant accom p lishments , ana in public or private heroism and loftiness of practical conduct . The social institutions still persisted in principles diametrically opposed to the facts . We say , therefore , that mere conventional nobility is a hoax the most gross and barefaced ; first , because it has invariabl y been made apparent to all eyes , whenever the real nobleness of nature was brought

    into opposition , contention , and comparison ; secondly , because those who were , and are , the sufferers by the hoax , have always been made to pay for its infliction and continuance , instead 01 those who derived all the benefit from fc < playing it off" upon their oppressed fellow creatures . It has all the beautifully just and logical effect of making a man , who

    has the right use of his eyes , pay a constant tax for enjoying blindness . It reminds one of the story of " stone broth , " with this difference , that the grave joke is repeated as often as broth is wanted . If , in addition to the actual loss of sight , we were

    all affected with a mental gutta-serena , there would be grounds for the assumption of an authority among those who were not so afflicted , as well as good reasons for our quiescence . But as the living truth , armed with the facts and proofs of ages , and enjoying the advantage of its full

    com plena en t of senses , shows that such an assumption is nothing but the blank reverse of the picture ; though stained with gold and gross effigies , and with absurd falsehoods , baptised

    Untitled Article

    129

    The Provost Of Bruges.

    THE PROVOST OF BRUGES .

    Untitled Article

    No . 111 . K

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 129, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/1/