These ingenious methods constitute a sort of machinery, by which
thought and study are done to every person's hand, without his putting
himself to the slightest inconvenience in the matter. There is another
species of machine for the wholesale manufacture of individual
morality. This excellent result is effected by societies for all
manner of virtuous purposes; with which a man has merely to connect
himself, throwing, as it were, his quota of virtue into the common
stock; and the president and directors will take care that the
aggregate amount be well applied. All these, and other wonderful
improvements in ethics, religion, and literature, being made plain
to my comprehension, by the ingenious Mr. Smooth-it-away, inspired
me with a vast admiration of Vanity Fair.
It would fill a volume, in an age of pamphlets, were I to record
all my observations in this great capital of human business and
pleasure. There was an unlimited range of society- the powerful, the
wise, the witty, and the famous in every walk of life- princes,
presidents, poets, generals, artists, actors, and philanthropists, all
making their own market at the Fair, and deeming no price too
exorbitant for such commodities as hit their fancy. It was well
worth one's while, even if he had no idea of buying or selling, to
loiter through the bazaars, and observe the various sorts of traffic
that were going forward.
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