52 Removal of popular Er 



■which appears, ftotn all who have writ- 

 ten upon the subject of insanity, to be 

 «r no real \n\\>\\p utility, howevei ab- 

 surd the sum I jiroposed jnight appear to 

 those who calcuhite but little how even 

 that sum will be raised. However, my 

 absurdity is not likely to be perpetuated 

 for ao-es in a monument oi' stone and 

 mortar; therefore, may liic authors of 

 the late Lunatic Act let that grand and 

 immutable principle — Justice, always 

 preponderate and govern their actions, 

 rather than thirst for arbitrary power. 

 April 25, 1816. W. S. P. 



To the Editor of the MoniUy Magazine. 



SIR, 



WE may adopt as a general prin- 

 ciple, incapable of subversion, 

 that, " General practice cannot change 

 the vMture of things ; or can universal 

 «rror alter the properties oftrulh." 



The philosophy of the universe will 

 still continue tl>e same, and eternal ve- 

 rity wiil remain inviolate; though all 

 the powers of mischief were^ to be 

 brought into nnity of action witli wicked 

 ingrate men, in one body, at the same 

 instant, and in a joint ed'ort essay to at- 

 tack the sacred order of things, and tlie 

 holy divinity of truth. 



I was led to these reflections and to 

 adopt the preceding position or axiom, 

 on reflecting npon the various and in- 

 consistent follies by which even some 

 sensible people sufl'er themselves to be 

 directed ; — among which, mental depi a- 

 ■vilies are various traditional supersti- 

 tions, and vulgal apothegms now re- 

 ceived as universal truths. 



The learned physician Sir Thomas 

 Browne sueeessfiilly consbatted many 

 of these, in his erudite work Pseudodoxia 

 Epidcmica, published in 1672. Should 

 it ever be my fate to re-edite that valu- 

 able work, at some fut\ue period, as I 

 have contempbted ; I shall find a great 

 many other obstructions to remove; — 

 and I cannot refuse myself the consola- 

 tion of self-approval, on anticipating 

 that every labour tending to remove 

 errors, is to be considered nearly equally 

 serviceable wilh tliose exertions which 

 •successfully elicit truth. 



It is truly shocking to behold the 

 multifarious cflects, distressing in the 

 extreme, under which the human mind 

 suffers; and when we oljserve minds so 

 well cultivated as the learned and 

 pious Dr. Johnson's was, victims to this 

 extravagant folly ; at the time their dis- 

 tress commands our grief; (for minds 

 noder its iiifiucnct! feel equally with 



rors and Supersiilio7is, [Aug. 1, 



those who suffer positive calamity;) t» 

 them it is the same — we must experi- 

 ence the honest indignant resentment 

 arising from a wish to annihilate it, and 

 at least to banish the remembrance from 

 all rational society. The doctor, (if re- 

 port be true,) although a pious Chris- 

 tian, was, perhaps without suspecting 

 it, a dupe to the grossest errors of Pa- 

 ganism. As snch may be regarded his 

 Amhnlomancy, and many other foolish 

 observances. 



Independent of such imbecile prac- 

 tices, in which all the privileged follies of 

 the ancients consisted, as rabdomancy, 

 ophiomaney, auspicium, augury, and 

 divination, for many of which they, the 

 ancients, had public professors; the doc- 

 tor's very ingenious contrivance appears 

 to have been an iraprovemeut, at least, 

 upon ancient madness. 



Many common apothegms now vievr- 

 ed by society as truths, which most pro- 

 verbs are said to have for foundatior», 

 doubtless had their origin from special 

 or particular circumstances ; therefore, 

 they should not be now considered as 

 general or universal in their applica- 

 tion. Among such, it is to be presumed, 

 should be regarded tlic vnlgar observa- 

 tion, that " The nearer the church, the 

 farther from God." Now. this, being 

 founded upon the class of circumstances 

 last ment ioned, should not have the liberal 

 construction given to it, as it is gene- 

 rally bestowed upon pine local considera- 

 tions. I think I am warranted, from in- 

 stances repeatedly seen among our reve- 

 rend officers of the holy altar, in pre- 

 suming that it is somewhat more than 

 probable this proverb had its origin 

 from the infamous conduct of some in- 

 dividual of that body, eminent, perhaps, 

 for licentious debauchery: — as Milton, 

 in his enumeration of the inhabitants of 

 Pandemominm, takes occasion to com- 

 ment upon the scriptural text, which 

 describes the defection of Eli's sons, 

 where he says, 



Belial came last, than whom a spirit 

 more lewd 

 Fell not from heaven, or more gross to lov« 

 Vice for itself: to him no temple stood 

 Or altar smoak'd ; yet who more oft than he 

 In temples, and at altars, when the priest 

 Tmns atheist ? as did Eli's sons, who fill'd 

 With lust and violence the house of God. 

 Par. Lost, b. 1. 



That this is the construction which 

 ought to be put upon this common ex- 

 pr(\ssion, I submit to your opinion, and 

 that of a liberal public. 



PHILO-ANTIQI'ARII'S. 



r« 



