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CHAPTER X.

ON PRACTICAL DETRACTION.

I AM now come to the class of PRACTICAL DETRACTORS, and I shall give them a chapter to themselves.

I shall begin with the EYE-INFLICTERS.

I originally stated, that detraction is of two kinds, and that there are detracting looks and actions, as well as words.

To these detractors by looks, I give the name of EYE-INFLICTERS.

This noun I have derived from a verb invented, I believe, by Dr. Parr.

I have often heard Dr. Parr say, "I inflicted my eye on such a one!" meaning, that having happened to meet a public character who had, in his opinion, forfeited his political integrity, he had fixed his powerful eye upon him, as if he would look him through, in order to make his conscience tremble at the piercing glance of an honourable and consistent man; and, in humble imitation of this learned example, I have ventured to make the word eyeinflicter. But different from the virtuous in dignation expressed by Dr. Parr's powerful eye, is the mean warfare waged against the

feelings by the EYE-INFLICTER. The glance of the eye-inflicters, in my sense of the term, wanders with a keen, minutely-searching glance over the whole person and dress, as if in order to discover faults and negligences; and it sometimes settles on us with a cold, cruel expression, which is deeply felt, but can not be described.

The eye-inflicter, then, usually seeks the kindred glance of another of the species, in a near relative or intimate companion; and they convey the look of ridicule backwards and forwards, from one eye to the other, till, against the unfortunate object of their tongueless but evident satire, an external warfare is carried on by a sort of battledore and shuttlecock process from glance to glance, while the helpless victim feels certain of being laughed at, though nought but kind words may proceed from the eye-inflicter's lips.

Can any one deny, who reads this description, that they have not, at some period of their lives, undergone the torture of this eyeinfliction? There is another species of practical detraction, connected with eye-infliction, which I have before alluded to; namely, that of shrugs, winks, and other actions of the kind.

It is in the power of any person, by winks of the eye, by shrugs of the shoulders, by shakes, and nods of the head, and the occasional judicious elevation of the hands, to stamp any narrator of a story, in any company, with the brand of falsehood. Incredulity staring

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the lifted eye, sneering from the shortened upper lip, and speaking, as it were, from the nodding head and the shrugging shoulders! And what is this but detraction? which, though acted and not uttered, is sufficient for the purpose intended, that of depreciating and injuring its, perhaps, unconscious and innocent object. With the following appropriate lines from Childe Harold I shall conclude my subject.

From mighty wrongs, to petty perfidy,

Have I not seen what human things could do?
From the loud roar of foaming calumny,
To the small whisper of the as paltry few,
And subtler venom of the reptile crew,
The Janus glance of whose significant eye,
Learning to lie with silence, would seem true,
And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh,
Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.

MIMICKS, on whom I must now comment, combine both species of detraction-the uttered as well as the acted, and can, therefore, boast a double power to lower their fellowcreatures, and make them subservient to their will and pleasure, whether they will or no.

Accomplished mimicks possess a privilege. like that of the magicians of old, and can not only raise up before our eyes the face, actions, and the manner, of the absent and the dead, but can bring the sound of their voices to our ears. Sometimes, the delusion of mimicking is perfect; I mean, it is so free from exaggeration and caricature, that even the mimicked would scarcely have been offended, had they

been hearers or witnesses of it. But this, indeed, is mimickry on its good behaviour, and in its holiday garb; on common occasions, and in its working dress, caricature and exaggeration are its meat and drink, the spirit of detraction is its soul, and its object, mischievous ridicule..

A talent for mimickry is a very dangerous snare; and to possess and not to use it is one of the most enviable triumphs of good principle. There is scarcely any talent whose exertion gives so much pleasure. It not only gratifies the vanity of the mimick, but gratifies that of the hearers; for a good piece of mimickry is a sort of conundrum or charade; it is a something to exercise one's ingenuity in guessing, and happy those who can first exclaim, "Oh! how like! I never saw such a likeness!

And how difficult it is, when we are in company with professed mimicks, to abstain from tempting them to do what one considers to be wrong, by asking them to give a specimen of their powers. Departed public characters may be considered as fair subjects for this power to be exercised upon; and were the mimick to stop there, it might be narrow and absurd to disapprove the exhibition. But the permitted use of a thing often leads to its abuse; the mimick would be tempted to go on, and exhibit the living as well as the dead; private persons would succeed, in the mimick's magic lantern, to public characters; the audience, too much amused to reprove, would encourage, by their laughter and their praise, to further dar

ing, till acquaintances, friends, and, probably, relations, would be made to join in this new "dance of death;" for such exhibitions may well be said to consist of the wounded and the maimed; and the sweet confidences, the holy trusts of private and domestic life, are broken up and destroyed; for what must appear to the hearers and spectators, on reflection, a heartless and an ungenerous enjoyment.

I have said on reflection, for there is such a charm about perfect imitations of this nature, it is only when the exhibition is over, that we can be alive to the real meanness of the display, and to the self-blame to which it ought to lead.

It is mean, because it is treacherous; and it is treacherous, because such displays can only take place in the absence and without the knowledge of the persons exhibited; as such exhibitions would not only be uncalled for in their presence, but the mimick, if called upon, would not dare to comply.

That exertion of talent which, in order to be safe, must depend on the secresy of those who witness it, because, if known to the persons on whom it is exerted, it might call forth in them pain and mortification, together with lasting hatred to the mimick, if a woman, and personal chastisement to the offender, if a man, can not be beheld, on reflection, with aught but serious disapproval, by a religious, or even by a merely moral being. But whence is it that most, if not all, persons are more offended and hurt at being taken off, as it is called, than by be

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