THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



LITERATURE. 



A CLOSE examination of animated Nature, in all 

 its moral, mental, and physical attributes, will 

 prove that man is distinguished from the inferior 

 creatures of the earth by nothing so much as the 

 possession of Literature and Science. Art, in 

 the mechanical sense of the term, does not fur- 

 nish so exact and conclusive a criterion between 

 them ; since it is in many instances approached, 

 both in the manner of working, and in the ef- 

 fects produced, by the operations of Instinct; 

 nay, sometimes we observe that the unerring 

 felicity of Instinct defies competition by the 

 elaborate contrivances of Art. But Science and 

 Literature belong exclusively to man. In these 

 he dreads no rivalry from the animals of more 

 limited intelligence. 



No less decisive will this test be found, when 

 applied to mark the difference between rude and 

 civilized humanity. From what cause that differ- 

 ence originally sprang, or how it was primarily 

 manifested, it is not our present business to 

 inquire. Enough, that reason and authentic 

 history, surer guides than the freaks of ingenious 

 speculation, concur to show not only that the 

 savage is the degenerate man, but, further, that 

 some torpor of the intellect, or some perverse 

 determination of the will, must have conspired 

 with outward circumstances to retard or reverse, 

 in certain regions, that process of improvement 

 which has, in others, been so signally displayed. 

 Hence it is in those pursuits which exercise the 

 higher faculties and interest the nobler feelings, 

 that the distinction between different portions of 

 mankind becomes most evident. To supply the 

 exigencies of their physical condition, provision 

 is made by the least cultivated beings ; in works 

 of manual dexterity the mere savage is often 

 exquisitely skilled ; in magnificence of design, 

 and beauty of execution, Art has frequently 

 attained prodigious heights in communities that 

 rank but low on the scale of that general refine- 



ment, of which science and literature are the 

 only unambiguous signs. But where this stan- 

 dard of comparison is erected, the savage shrinks 

 at once from trial ; the various tribes of civilized 

 men arrange themselves in regular degrees ; and 

 at the summit appear those nations, whose 

 superior state of scientific and literary culture 

 vindicates for them both a claim of dignity and 

 a title to dominion, more valid than any thing 

 else could bestow. A single glance at the 

 political aspect and position of mankind in the 

 several quarters of the globe, is sufficient to cor- 

 roborate the truth of this assertion. Europe, 

 scarcely equal in extent to one-third of the 

 African continent, and less than a fourth part of 

 Asia or America, assumes the foremost place 

 among them, and holds huge tracts of those 

 enormous countries in absolute subjection. The 

 great truth that knowledge is power has never 

 received a more splendid illustration. 



If we submit to a further scrutiny the proposed 

 criterion of refinement, it will perhaps be found 

 that of the two elements, of which it is made up, 

 literature may be preferred to science, as an in- 

 dication of general politeness. Not that great 

 eminence in scientific pursuits can be achieved 

 by a people without the existence of extraordi- 

 nary intellectual abilities. But these abilities, 

 and the occasions to employ them, may be 

 restricted to a narrow class of individuals. The 

 history of some ancient communities unquestion- 

 ably demonstrates, both that science may flourish 

 without literature, and that the powers and 

 principles of science may be possessed by a 

 brilliant few, while the mass of those around 

 them are sunk in a deep gloom of comparative 

 ignorance. Scientific principles may easily be 

 turned into a mystery, and confined to a craft : 

 and thus becoming the very badge of isolated 

 castes, they may serve to enhance that barbarous 

 pride, which men are so apt to derive even from 

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