The succeeding essay was read before the Association, and appears, from the following prefatory remarks, to have been the production of one of its committees.—EDITOR.
“Your committee, simply from the want of a new theme, have been compelled, even at the hazard of proving tedious, to confine themselves to an old one. The many extravagancies daily exhibited by those around us might perhaps afford more matter for ridicule than admonition, but few are willing that their follies should be made the means of amusing others, whilst none will object to a little kind advice, though he be determined not to heed it. We therefore concluded that the latter mode of treating our subject, if the most stupid, would still possess the merit of being the least annoying. Then, too, stupidity having become a common quality, in which each is privileged to deal, a sacred right not to be denied without closing the mouths of more than nine-tenths of the world, our dullness can be no trespass and consequently needs no apology.”