2993. FICTION, Education and.—
A
great obstacle to good education is the inordinate
passion prevalent for novels, and the
time lost in that reading which should be
instructively employed. When this poison infects
the mind, it destroys its tone and revolts
it against wholesome reading. Reason
and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected.
Nothing can engage attention unless dressed
in all the figments of fancy, and nothing so
bedecked comes amiss. The result is a
bloated imagination, sickly judgment, and
disgust towards all the real businesses of
life. [191]
—
To N. Burwell. Washington ed. vii, 102.
Ford ed., x, 104.
(M.
1818)
