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    viduals under the pretence of denouncing a system , we cheerfully add our mite to the deserved praise which has been bestowed upon the many learned and virtuous men who have adorned , and do adorn the clerical vocation . But they are men , not institutions—parts , not wholes;—and , as diamonds might glitter upon a garment of coarse and unseemly manufacture—as a criminal migrht possess some virtues , and still be

    a curse to society—as an upright judge might be the speaking trumpet of a vile and unjust law—so may a pernicious code or system receive a borrowed splendour from the name of its founder , the virtues of some of its administrators , or from some adventitious or partial good resulting from its exercise . Nothing is thereby proved in favour of its first principles . The excellence of a part is no proof of the excellence of a whole . A parish priest may be a blessing to his parishioners

    —he may be the father of the poor , the gentle and persuasive advocate of morality , the instructor of the ignorant—he may " feed the hungry and clothe the naked , "—he maybe all these ; but it is the man who does well , not the system . The system , regardless whether he be fitted for the task or not , places the happiness of a number in the hands of an individual . It is the hazard of a gambler .

    In adverting to the long and continued domination of the aristocratic spirit over society , and the marvellous support of it by prejudice , there is great temptation to extend remarks beyond the limits that can possibly be allowed here ; but the consideration , that people in general , of those classes most particularly affected by its pernicious influence , are becoming alive to their wrongs , and daily less and less chary of attacking existing institutions , when their existence is demonstrably , or even hypothetically injurious to the well being of man , makes us feel less reluctant to dismiss the subject briefly .

    Surely , when we consider the progress of human intellect , or rather , the increase of its exercise , within the last tew years , it is not unreasonable to suppose that such toys , —toys in intrinsic worth , and in appearance , but instruments of evil in effect , —that such baubles as coronets , stars , and garters , such nonentities as titles , * will before very long be swept away , — that no great duration of time will elapse before a new meaning be assigned to the word " honour / ' more synonymous with virtue and personal merit than at present .

    In feudal times when the life and limb of the serf were at the disposal of his lord " , when even burghers and townsmen

    • " Stuck o ' or with titlos , and udorned with strings ! Pope—Essay on Man . Again , in th ' e same poem , ' Wtat can ennoble sotg , or slaves , or coward * ? Alaa , not all the blood of all the Howards "

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    Cursory R 'emarks on Prejudice . S < $ 9

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 369, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/41/