VIII. DEPARTMENT: 



CALLOGRAPHY. 



IN the department of Callography, we comprehend a wide range 

 of entertaining and miscellaneous literature ; particularly Poetry and 

 the Drama ; Romances, Novels, Tales and Fables ; Essays and Let- 

 ters ; and Orations, Addresses, and Speeches, not strictly belonging to 

 the other departments. The name is derived from the Greek xaA.o$, 

 beautiful, or xaM-oj, beauty ; and ypa<j>w, I write, or ypa^, a descrip- 

 tion. It corresponds nearly to the term Polite Letters ; which is 

 nearly synonymous with the French term Belles Lettres : but both 

 of these terms are generally used in a more extensive, though rather 

 vague signification. The French have several works giving general 

 views of this department; among which we may mention those of 

 Le Batteaux, La Harpe, and the Countess D'Hautpoul, under the 

 title of Cours de Litterature, or Course of Literature. All that we 

 can here attempt, in this department, will be a brief allusion to some 

 of the best works, as far as we are able to discriminate. Works of 

 this class are prominent subjects of criticism ; though the latter term, 

 as already explained, is correlative with the whole extent of human 

 knowledge, (p. 37). 



The study of Callography, unfolds, to some extent, what has been 

 termed a knowledge of the world, that is of mankind, their characters, 

 passions, and principles of action. At the same time, it requires a 

 considerable portion of such knowledge, in order to be understood 

 and appreciated. It may also aid in storing the mind with grand and 

 beautiful ideas ; in warming the heart with noble sentiments ; and in 

 giving vivid impressions of scenes and events, which embody, as it 

 were, the spirit of distant nations and past ages. While such results 

 may be derived from the best Callographic Writings, it must be 

 confessed that other works of this class abound in feeble, false, or 

 unworthy sentiments and ideas ; such as tend to enervate both the 

 memory and the reasoning powers, and to unfit the mind for the 

 active duties of life. Some of them are purposely designed to corrupt 

 the heart, and poison the fountains of all virtue ; either openly, or 

 by the most artful and alluring disguise ; and such works have been 

 ruinous to many victims, by stimulating their passions, or sanctioning 

 their crimes. Even the best works of imagination, we think, should 

 be regarded as a luxury, and read only in leisure hours, for relaxation 

 and amusement : but the indiscriminate and unrestrained perusal of 

 inferior works of this class, is fatal to intellectual vigor, and to the 

 pursuit of exact and useful knowledge. 



The progress of Callography, has generally been concurrent with 

 that of the other branches of literature ; though in early times the 



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