Some have had recourse to allegories, others to fables. The fables of
Aesop, though a fiction from the beginning to the end, have been useful
to many. But we have a peculiar instance of the use and innocence of
fictitious descriptions in the sacred writings. For the author of the
christian religion made use of parables on many and weighty occasions.
We cannot therefore condemn fictitious biography, unless it condemn
itself by becoming a destroyer of morals.
The arguments against novels, in which the Quakers agree as a body, are
taken from the pernicious influence they have upon the minds of those,
who read them.
The Quakers do not say, that all novels have this influence, but that
they have it generally. The great demand for novels, inconsequence of
the taste, which the world has shewn for this species of writing, has
induced persons of all descriptions, and of course many who have been
but ill qualified to write them. Hence, though some novels have appeared
of considerable merit, the worthless have been greatly preponderant. The
demand also has occasioned foreign novels, of a complexion by no means
suited to the good sense and character of our country, to be translated
into our language. Hence a fresh weight has only been thrown into the
preponderating scale.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133