The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.
more heavy judgments, which militates against their reformation:  instead of reflecting on their situation as brought on by themselves, they take refuge in complaint and invective, declaring they are “sacrificed”—­in their own language, “murdered men.”  I have often said, “Why complain?  You knew the consequence of detection.”  “Yes,” would be the reply; “but look at the case of Tom ——­ and Bill ——.  Not that I am sorry they have got off; but is it not a shame to give me a lifer, and they only a month each?” Such answers are always given when any attempt is made to reconcile them to their fate.  They carry this feeling with them to the hulks, where they amuse each other with all the tales of hardship within their knowledge; meditating revenge, by which they mean becoming more desperate in crime, and making reprisals on the public, when they shall be again at large.  They become imbued with a notion the judge has more to answer for than themselves.  Opinions of this nature are very common among them, and prevent the discipline to which they are submitted having its proper effect.  Minds in the state of theirs seize on any supposed injury to brood over and stifle their own reproaches.  Of this dernier ressort they would be deprived, if equal sentences were passed on all for like offences.  They are now all ill-used men, by comparison with others who have been more fortunate.  The present system holds out so many chances for the offender to escape, that it acts as an inducement to continue his practices, and to all loose characters, not yet accomplished in the art of plunder, to become so.  Again, by the discharge of so many known thieves every sessions, so many masters are sent into the town to draw in and teach others, by which a regular supply is brought up to fill the ranks of those who fall in the conflict.

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THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

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SCRIPTURAL ANTIQUITIES.

A little volume has just appeared, with the title of The Truth of Revelation demonstrated by an appeal to existing monuments, sculptures, gems, coins, and medals.  The author is stated to be “a Fellow of several learned Societies,” and has dedicated his work to Dr. Chalmers, who approved of its original plan.  We confess this to be too extensive for us to explain in a few lines, although we do not hesitate to say, that a more amusing book upon abstruse subjects has scarcely ever met our attention.  It is literally filled with facts and closely-packed inquiries, and these are so attractively arranged as to amuse a listless reader.

The Ark of Noah and Mount Ararat.

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Project Gutenberg
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.