Something New on Men and Manners [by L Hake ]

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: and their judgment completely perverted. And by thus tamely submitting- to the decision of others, they too often outrage their own superior powers of discernment. As partiality is apt to over-rate the abilities of a friend, or a celebrated genius, and to look upon an indifferent performance of either as a...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: and their judgment completely perverted. And by thus tamely submitting- to the decision of others, they too often outrage their own superior powers of discernment. As partiality is apt to over-rate the abilities of a friend, or a celebrated genius, and to look upon an indifferent performance of either as a master-piece in its kind; so does prejudice, on the other hand, withhold its praise, by refusing to discover the beauties of a stranger, even in a wock of excellence; while fashion, without a dissenting voice, bestows the palm of victory indifferently on either side. In support of an opinion so repugnant to can- dour and liberality, the following anecdote may not ibe considered as unaptly introduced. But where private history is .concerned, the substituting fictitious names must be allowed, though the characters are not imaginary, nor need the facts be the less credited. Henrietta Katharina, a lady of noble descent, whose natural genius was improved by an excellent education, was skilled in all the fashionable accomplishments of the day. She was not only an admirer of the fine arts, but studied;and practised them with an ease and accuracy peculiar to herself. Reduced, by an unfortunate marriage, from splendour and affluence to a state of penury and embarrassment, she languished for many years between hopes and fears, expectancies and disappointments. The affections of her husbandseemed to fly, as difficulties approached; and at length, in order to secure his own personal safety, he embarked for the Continent, leaving his wife and two infant daughters to mourn his absence amidst the clamours of unfeeling creditors. From time to time he amused her with promises that he never meant to realize; and at last totally gave up a correspondence that was calculated but to feed the...