THE PRESS. 293 



when its interests are concerned, it sets at 

 defiance private feeling and private charac- 

 ter, and neither regards their virtue, dignity, 

 nor purity. 



HAL. My friends, you are growing warm* 

 I know you differ essentially on this subject; 

 but surely you will allow that the full liberty 

 of the press, even though it sometimes de- 

 generates into licentiousness, and though it 

 may sometimes be improperly used by the in- 

 fluence of wealth, power;, or private favour, is 

 yet highly advantageous, and even essential to 

 the existence of a free country; and, useful as 

 it may be to the population, it is still more 

 useful to the government, to whom, as ex- 

 pressing the voice of the people, though not 

 always vox Dei, it may be regarded as oracular 

 or prophetic. But let us change our con- 

 versation, which is neither in time nor place. 



POIET. This river must be inexhaustible 

 for sport : I have nowhere seen so many fish. 



HAL. However full a river may be of trout 



and grayling, there is a certain limit to the 



sport of the angler, if continuous fishing be 



adopted in the same pools. Every fish is in its 



u 3 



