A Hundred Years Ago
It is now some weeks since we have had almost anything sub- mitted to our notice besides works of fiction : the practical evil of which is, that the sight of a novel becomes so odious that we apprehend we may sometimes be induced to do less than justice to those which come last. We are far from despising. this class_ of writing : on the contrary, we deem it the source of much innocent amusement, and it may be made the channel of a knowledge of the world : novels may prove guides in morals, 'and present us with a fund of agreeable and useful information respecting the manners, habits, and institutions of foreign lands. Our objection applies solely to the extraordinary, confluence of talent to this department, to the neglect of more important modes of communicating intelli- gence, and the studies better calculated to lead to useful discoveries, to the advancement of knowledge,, to the increase of the permanent happiness of mankind.
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