First of all,
however, he will notice one of their objections. "The book isn't
true," say they. Now one of the principal reasons with those that
have attacked Lavengro for their abuse of it is, that it is
particularly true in one instance, namely, that it exposes their
own nonsense, their love of humbug, their slavishness, their
dressings, their goings out, their scraping and bowing to great
people; it is the showing up of "gentility-nonsense" in Lavengro
that has been one principal reason for raising the above cry; for
in Lavengro is denounced the besetting folly of the English people,
a folly which those who call themselves guardians of the public
taste are far from being above. "We can't abide anything that
isn't true!" they exclaim. Can't they? Then why are they so
enraptured with any fiction that is adapted to purposes of humbug,
which tends to make them satisfied with their own proceedings, with
their own nonsense, which does not tell them to reform, to become
more alive to their own failings, and less sensitive about the
tyrannical goings on of the masters, and the degraded condition,
the sufferings, and the trials of the serfs in the star Jupiter?
Had Lavengro, instead of being the work of an independent mind,
been written in order to further any of the thousand and one cants,
and species of nonsense prevalent in England, the author would have
heard much less about its not being true, both from public
detractors and private censurers.
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