w P t 
i, THE 
MONTHLY. MAGAZINE. 
No. 177.] 
- othe Editor of the Monthly Mugazine. 
; SIR, 
HAT similar causes produce similar 
effects is an axiom as old as phi- 
losophy ; and that there is nothing new 
underthe sun, is another axiom contirmed 
by long experience. : 
Taunled to obtrude these observations 
upon you at the present time, in conse- 
quence of the distinction lately assumed 
in literature by a class of Scribblers, who 
have recently emerged from the shades 
of Grub-street, whose own private infa- 
mies render their ill word no slander 
» Among those who know them, and whose 
= sole object is to subsist, for a short sea- 
sOn, on the inconsiderate patronage be- 
stowed on priyate anecdote and scurri- 
_ lity. 
" To the secret pleasure which is felt 
* by most persons in the degradation of 
others, may, doubtless, be referred the 
avidity with which scandal is devoured 
by the public. The knowledge of this 
depraved appetite consequently gives 
rise, at successive periods, to literary 
Speculations of desperate adventurers, 
- who; setting at deliauce every principle 
of moral feeling; and all regard for truth 
and decency, surprise the world for a 
time by the audacity of their assertions, 
_ and by the turpitude of their inventions, 
‘They meet, however, with encourage- 
Z ment from rogues or fools, until, by 
~ ‘falsehoods too gross'to be tolerated, they 
have surfeited and disgusted even such 
~ patrons. The interdict which follows is 
generally as certain as it is just. Their 
infamous works are by the common 
=. voice speedily proscribed society—the 
_ ‘good sense of mankind predominates 
‘again, and the vicious authors, and their 
_ _abettors, generally end their days either 
__,by their own. hands, or in some prison, 
~ parish workhouse, or public hospital. 
t 
____ This is no ideal portrait. Repetitions 
_ of the same causes ahd consequences 
t. take place every twelve or fifteen years. 
The history of literature indicates one or 
___,fwo, epochas of scurrilicy in every gene- 
_ jfation, and the termination is always, 
 sanglis necessarily, the samc. — 
| Moyrutx Mic., No. 177- 
NOVEMBER 1, 1808. 
** As long as thofe who write are ambitiows of making Converts, and of giving to their Opinions a Maximum of 
_ “* Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greateft Effect the 
. “ Curiofity of thofe whe read either for Amufement or Inftrustion.” JOHNSON, 
[4 of Vor. 26. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
It is not to be expected, that those 
who are themselves the dupes of the worst 
passions should profit by unerring expe- 
rience ; but a salutary lesson, inculcating 
patience, may he derived from an obser= 
vation of the past by those who are the 
victims of those passions, and who as 
such are generally singled out for their 
eminence in wisdom or virtue. While 
the lawyers do not choose to make the 
distinction which plainly exists. between 
discussions on public objects, and libels 
on private character; and while a man 
who seeks redress in a court of law for a 
private libek, is liable to be still further 
calumniated by council pazd by his libel- 
lers, for the express purpose of insulting 
him, and is liable afterwards to see those 
venal calumnies printed with impunity 
and industry in all the newspapers, he 
will act prudently to submit to the origi« 
nal outrage, rather than run the risk of 
sustaining a greater by an appeal to such 
justice. If, for example, a caricature, 
calculated to bring’ a respectable man 
into contempt, and inade the sole object 
of a complaint, may be treated by the 
president of a court of law as a piece of 
fair criticism, and may be gravely con~ 
founded in terms with the ablest contro- 
versies on subjects of legislation and phi- 
losophy ; if the true ground of action, 
as declared upon, may be overlooked, 
and a silly and puerile, though malicious, 
‘travestie, may in like manner be cons 
founded as well withthe real ground of 
action as with sober‘discussion ; if judges 
will not distinguish between the avowed 
discussions of legislators and philoso 
phers, and the anonymous impertinencies 
and misrepresentations of- venal and ma- 
licious Scribblers, and juries will permit 
themselves to be dictated to’ by judges, 
then indeed social order is at an’ end ;— 
‘the domination of the strongest super- 
sedésthat of justice—audacious falsehood 
triumphs over modest truth—and the |i- 
berty of the press becomes a Curse in- 
‘stead of a blessing ! 
Those who uphold the publication of 
private libels, and who studiously con- 
‘found libels on private life with the free. 
1 tied: dom 
