178 Romances and Novels. 



discourage the acquisition of solid learning, to rill 

 the mind with vain, unnatural, and delusive ideas, 

 and to deprave the moral taste/ It would, perhaps, 

 be difficult to assign any single cause which has 

 contributed so much to produce that lightness and 

 frivolity which so remarkably characterize the lite- 

 rary taste of the eighteenth century, as the unex- 

 ampled multiplication, and the astonishing popu- 

 larity of this class of writings. 



The friend of novels will perhaps agree, that 

 the promiscuous perusal of them is dangerous, and 

 will plead for a discreet selection. But who is to 

 make this selection? On whom shall devolve the 

 perplexing task of separating the wheat from the 

 chaff, the food from the poison? If amidst the 

 mighty mass, those which are tolerably pure, and 

 especially those which are calculated to be useful* 

 be only now and then to be found, as a few scat- 

 tered pearls in the ocean, shall the delicate and ar- 

 duous task of making the choice be committed to 

 minds " unfurnished with ideas, and therefore ea- 

 sily susceptible of impressions; not fixed by prin- 

 ciples, and therefore easily following the current 

 of fancy; not informed by experience, and conse- 

 quently open to every false suggestion, and partial 

 account r" The imminent danger, and almost cer- 

 tain mischief arising from a choice made by such 

 minds cannot be contemplated by those who feel 



. J The celebrated Dr. Goldsmith, in writing to his brother, respect- 

 ing the education of a son, expresses himself in the following strong 

 terms, which are the more remarkable, as he had himself written a novel :— 

 " Above all things, never let your son touch a romance or novel ; these 

 paint beauty in colours more charming than nature ; and describe happi- 

 ness that man never tastes. How delusive, how destructive are those 

 pictures of consummate bliss ! They teach the youthful mind to sigh after 

 beauty and happiness which never existed ; to despise the little good which 

 fortune has mixed in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave; and, 

 in general, take the word of a man who has seen the world, and has 

 studied human nature more by experience than precept ; take my word for 

 it, I say, that such books teach us very little of the world." Life of 



Goldsmith, prefix td to bis Miscellaneous Works. 



