" USE AND ABUSE OF FICTION."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4605, 28 May 1872, Page 3

" USE AND ABUSE OF FICTION."

The first of the winter course of lectures in connection with the Young Men's Christiav Association was given-last night in the larg< room of the Association. There was a large attendance. The Rev. E. N. Breo, Presi . dent,; occupied the chair. The Rev. \Varlow Davies opened the meeting with prayer.— After a few introductory remarks by the Chairman, oho lecturer (Mr. WV L. JReos; came forward amida't donsiderable applause. The subject of the lecture was ''The Us£ and Abuse of Fiction." The lecturer stated that the meaning of fiction was the imagining or inventing of something — the invention of books. He did not mean to include such inventions as the ateam engine or steam hammer. Those represented a clas3 of inventions which were not fictions, as anyone might ascertain by puttiug his hand underneath the ateam hammer in full work. He divided his subject under three heads, which represented different classes of fictions. The first were those in. Holy Wiit, called parables ; the second were the romances ; and the third, the novels pure simple. He contrasted the advantages of the present age with those of past times, and showed that the present ago, by the invention of the art of printing, had access to all the stores of learning in the past. The schools and universities were now more accessible than they were in ancient times ; but of the young the most important means of education was through the novel. Novels were found in every library ; in the houses of the rich and poor, at home and abroad. From these novels the minds of their readers were constantly receiving impressions either for good or evil, as the reading of novels was the branch of education which was most carefully cultivated. .Novels were now more numerous than all other classes of books put together ; and the man or woman who was not posted up in the latest standard novel was considered an unread person. He disposed of various objections urged against the reading of novels. The first objection was that novels did not relate that which was real ; and to this he contrasted the parable 1 ? of Christ. It was also said, " You canuot learn through fiction anything that will make you wiser, or better able to overcome the battles and trials of life." He said it was by means of history that many facts were impressed on some minds which would have been overlooked had it not been for fiction. He referred to the writings of Charles Kingsley, and held that all would be better by reading those works ; to those of Sir Walter Scott, which were pregnant with historical references. He also reviewed the works of Charles Dickens, and held that those who had read his works would have learned of contemporaneous history facts and incidents which they would not otherwise have become acquainted with. He also spoke of the works of Charles Lever, Mrs. Beepher Stoive, and others. Abuses in England had been exposed through the pages of the novel, as regarded doings at private lunatic asylums, the Courts of law, &c. The next objection noticed was, That the histories in novels are unreal, and tend to foster a spirit of unrest and adventure. It would be well to remember that the race they belonged to was odo of adventure. That spirit had carried Britain's sons to all parts of the world. It was the same spirit— the holy spirit of adventure — that carried her missionaries into so many distant lands. It was the same spirit of adventure that mado Britain what she was ; that had created her colonies; that had planted the Great Eepublic of America ; ' that spanned the oceans aud seas, and crossed the desert places with railways and telegraphs. It was adventure that drew Livingstone into the wilds of Africa, and which was now drawing other Britons there to search for him. It was the spirit of adventure that enticed Sir John Franklin away among the icy fields of the North,, and it was the same holy spirit that was oausing his noble lady to find out the fat© that befel him. - He hoped that long agea yet to come would find the same spirit of adventure characteristic of the Briton. He instanced Milton% "Paradise Lost" as an indication 'Of Mhffi notion was, and also Bunyan's "Pilgrim I*Progress."1 * Progress." These were simply works of fiction, the last of which was written in a gaol. He next referred to Parliamentary eloquence, and mentioned the appeals of Edmund Burke. Some of his most powerful appeals were merely the result of grouping a certain, number of incidents together, all of which, were imaginings of his own brain ; and it would be found that truth was far stronger and much more unlikely than novels. Instances were given in tho career- of Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, the claimant to the Tichborne estates, and the career of the convict Haley. Such instances evolved chains of circumstances which no novel-writer would have dreamed of tracing upon paper. The proper function of novelreading was to inform the mind and strengthen the heart. In referring to the second part of his subject, he held that fiction was abused when its writers wrote trash and falsehood. He gave an instance of what ho meant by referriug to the works of "Ouida." On iaquiriag at the libraries here he found that all the works by this writer were much sought after. He got one and read a portion of ifc, and found it the veriest trash. Several portions were unfit to be repeated, and which the lecturer justly said would oauae a lady's or gentleman's face to blush if repeated in ordinary conversation. And yet he was informed that these works were engaged by the ladies 'of Auckland "three or four deep." He condemned the reading of all such sensational novels, which would poison 1 the mind, and sooner or later' tell unfavourably upon both mind and heart. It was astounding that such works should be sought after at our leading libraries, whilst the works of Charles Kingsley and 3ir Walter Scott were neglected. Fiction was for a recreation of the mind, as football, Ac, was for the body ; but when the mind becamo excited by-reading of murders, elopements, and half-a-dozen' divorces, it was unfitted to perform its daily duty. He cautioned the parents of families to see that the fiction their children read was of a healthy and instructive character, and not of the morbid i exciting class so common in the present day. The parent ought to know the character of every; work read by his children either from his own reading or the adrice of friends upon jwhom he could* rely.— Captain Daldy proposed a $qto, of thanks ,to the lecturer,, which was carried; by« acclamation. — Th!e meeting was closed -Dy singiugthe Doxology, and the Chairman pronouncing the Benediction. > , • j .

,- We desire to malto knomi to oar numeroai ca»tomcrs that we bare removed our stock of men's niyl .hoys' .clothing Item 96 and.9B, Qneen-itreot, to tljo National Mart, corner of Queen- jnd Wyndham stretV. where we are telUnp evtry article in men'i and Jipj? ' clothing 4t extrnordla»rilylowprioen. Men't f^gejt, Oalatev, »nd i»c «ulto, from 31». ; men'i f*stiion'ab]etweed trou»era andTeiti, 17». 6d. ; bHolt cloth coai£,< 1»». 6d. ; all-wool Crimean »hirts, 4«. Od ; stout je«n > »birti,2». 3d. -good -felt hatf, 81. A very large ! asiortment of tlea, colltr^'Ac.— S. asp J, E. Vatdb.—