An Essay Upon Projects

by Daniel Defoe

constable, &c., to search for the said persons and goods, who shall

  be aided and assisted by the trained bands, if need be, without any

  charge to the creditors, to search for, and discover the said

  persons and goods; and whoever were aiding in the carrying in the

  said goods, or whoever knowingly received either the goods or the

  person, should be also guilty of felony.

  For as the indigent debtor is a branch of the commonwealth which

  deserves its care, so the wilful bankrupt is one of the worst sort

  of thieves. And it seems a little unequal that a poor fellow who

  for mere want steals from his neighbour some trifle shall be sent

  out of the kingdom, and sometimes out of the world, while a sort of

  people who defy justice, and violently resist the law, shall be

  suffered to carry men's estates away before their faces, and no

  officers to be found who dare execute the law upon them.

  Any man would be concerned to hear with what scandal and reproach

  foreigners do speak of the impotence of our constitution in this

  point; that in a civilised Government, as ours is, the strangest

  contempt of authority is shown that can be instanced in the world.

  I may be a little the warmer on this head, on account that I have

  been a larger sufferer by such means than ordinary. But I appeal to

  all the world as to the equity of the case. What the difference is

  between having my house broken up in the night to be robbed, and a

  man coming in good credit, and with a proffer of ready money in the

  middle of the day, and buying 500 pounds of goods, and carrying them

  directly from my warehouse into the Mint, and the next day laugh at

  me, and bid me defiance; yet this I have seen done. I think 'tis

  the justest thing in the world that the last should be esteemed the

  greater thief, and deserves most to be hanged.

  I have seen a creditor come with his wife and children, and beg of

  the debtor only to let him have part of his own goods again, which

  he had bought, knowing and designing to break. I have seen him with

  tears and entreaties petition for his own, or but some of it, and be

  taunted and sworn at, and denied by a saucy insolent bankrupt. That

  the poor man has been wholly ruined by the cheat. It is by the

  villainy of such many an honest man is undone, families starved and

  sent a begging, and yet no punishment prescribed by our laws for it.

  By the aforesaid commission of inquiry all this might be most

  effectually prevented, an honest, indigent tradesman preserved,

  knavery detected and punished; Mints, Friars, and privilege-places

  suppressed, and without doubt a great number of insolencies avoided

  and prevented; of which many more particulars might be insisted

  upon, but I think these may be sufficient to lead anybody into the

  thought; and for the method, I leave it to the wise heads of the

  nation, who know better than I how to state the law to the

  circumstances of the crime.

  OF ACADEMIES.

  We have in England fewer of these than in any part of the world, at

  least where learning is in so much esteem. But to make amends, the

  two great seminaries we have are, without comparison, the greatest,

  I won't say the best, in the world; and though much might be said

  here concerning universities in general, and foreign academies in

  particular, I content myself with noting that part in which we seem

  defective. The French, who justly value themselves upon erecting

  the most celebrated academy of Europe, owe the lustre of it very

  much to the great encouragement the kings of France have given to

  it. And one of the members making a speech at his entrance tells

  you that it is not the least of the glories of their invincible

  monarch to have engrossed all the learning of the world in that

  sublime body.

  The peculiar study of the academy of Paris has been to refine and

  correct their own language, which they have done to that happy

  degree that we see it now spoken in all the courts of Christendom,

  as the language allowed to be most universal.

  I had the honour once to be a member of a small society, who seemed

  to offer at this noble design in England. But the greatness of the

  work, and the modesty of the gentlemen concerned, prevailed with

  them to desist an enterprise which appeared too great for private

  hands to undertake. We want, indeed, a Richelieu to commence such a

  work. For I am persuaded were there such a genius in our kingdom to

  lead the way, there would not want capacities who could carry on the

  work to a glory equal to all that has gone before them. The English

  tongue is a subject not at all less worthy the labour of such a

  society than the French, and capable of a much greater perfection.

  The learned among the French will own that the comprehensiveness of

  expression is a glory in which the English tongue not only equals

  but excels its neighbours; Rapin, St. Evremont, and the most eminent

  French authors have acknowledged it. And my lord Roscommon, who is

  allowed to be a good judge of English, because he wrote it as

  exactly as any ever did, expresses what I mean in these lines:-

  "For who did ever in French authors see

  The comprehensive English energy?

  The weighty bullion of one sterling line,

  Drawn to French wire would through whole pages shine."

  "And if our neighbours will yield us, as their greatest critic has

  done, the preference for sublimity and nobleness of style, we will

  willingly quit all pretensions to their insignificant gaiety."

  It is great pity that a subject so noble should not have some as

  noble to attempt it. And for a method, what greater can be set

  before us than the academy of Paris? Which, to give the French

  their due, stands foremost among all the great attempts in the

  learned part of the world.

  The present King of England, of whom we have seen the whole world

  writing panegyrics and encomiums, and whom his enemies, when their

  interest does not silence them, are apt to say more of than

  ourselves; as in the war he has given surprising instances of a

  greatness of spirit more than common: so in peace, I daresay, with

  submission, he shall never have an opportunity to illustrate his

  memory more than by such a foundation. By which he shall have

  opportunity to darken the glory of the French king in peace, as he

  has by his daring attempts in the war.

  Nothing but pride loves to be flattered, and that only as it is a

  vice which blinds us to our own imperfections. I think princes as

  particularly unhappy in having their good actions magnified as their

  evil actions covered. But King William, who has already won praise

  by the steps of dangerous virtue, seems reserved for some actions

  which are above the touch of flattery, whose praise is in

  themselves.

  And such would this be. And because I am speaking of a work which

  seems to be proper only for the hand of the king himself, I shall

  not presume to carry on this chapter to the model, as I have done in

  other subjects. Only thus far:

  That a socie
ty be erected by the king himself, if his Majesty

  thought fit, and composed of none but persons of the first figure in

  learning; and it were to be wished our gentry were so much lovers of

  learning that birth might always be joined with capacity.

  The work of this society should be to encourage polite learning, to

  polish and refine the English tongue, and advance the so much

  neglected faculty of correct language, to establish purity and

  propriety of style, and to purge it from all the irregular additions

  that ignorance and affectation have introduced; and all those

  innovations in speech, if I may call them such, which some dogmatic

  writers have the confidence to foster upon their native language, as

  if their authority were sufficient to make their own fancy

  legitimate.

  By such a society I daresay the true glory of our English style

  would appear; and among all the learned part of the world be

  esteemed, as it really is, the noblest and most comprehensive of all

  the vulgar languages in the world.

  Into this society should be admitted none but persons eminent for

  learning, and yet none, or but very few, whose business or trade was

  learning. For I may be allowed, I suppose, to say we have seen many

  great scholars mere learned men, and graduates in the last degree of

  study, whose English has been far from polite, full of stiffness and

  affectation, hard words, and long unusual coupling of syllables and

  sentences, which sound harsh and untuneable to the ear, and shock

  the reader both in expression and understanding.

  In short, there should be room in this society for neither

  clergyman, physician, nor lawyer. Not that I would put an affront

  upon the learning of any of those honourable employments, much less

  upon their persons. But if I do think that their several

  professions do naturally and severally prescribe habits of speech to

  them peculiar to their practice, and prejudicial to the study I

  speak of, I believe I do them no wrong. Nor do I deny but there may

  be, and now are, among some of all those professions men of style

  and language, great masters of English, whom few men will undertake

  to correct; and where such do at any time appear, their

  extraordinary merit should find them a place in this society; but it

  should be rare, and upon very extraordinary occasions that such be

  admitted.

  I would therefore have this society wholly composed of gentlemen;

  whereof twelve to be of the nobility, if possible, and twelve

  private gentlemen, and a class of twelve to be left open for mere

  merit, let it be found in who or what sort it would, which should

  lie as the crown of their study, who have done something eminent to

  deserve it. The voice of this society should be sufficient

  authority for the usage of words, and sufficient also to expose the

  innovations of other men's fancies; they should preside with a sort

  of judicature over the learning of the age, and have liberty to

  correct and censure the exorbitance of writers, especially of

  translators. The reputation of this society would be enough to make

  them the allowed judges of style and language, and no author would

  have the impudence to coin without their authority. Custom, which

  is now our best authority for words, would always have its original

  here, and not be allowed without it. There should be no more

  occasion to search for derivations and constructions, and 'twould be

  as criminal then to coin words as money.

  The exercises of this society would be lectures on the English

  tongue, essays on the nature, original, usage, authorities, and

  differences of words, or the propriety, parity, and cadence of

  style, and of the politeness and manner in writing; reflections upon

  irregular usages, and corrections of erroneous customs in words;

  and, in short, everything that would appear necessary to the

  bringing our English tongue to a due perfection, and our gentlemen

  to a capacity of writing like themselves; to banish pride and

  pedantry, and silence the impudence and impertinence of young

  authors, whose ambition is to be known, though it be by their folly.

  I ask leave here for a thought or two about that inundation custom

  has made upon our language and discourse by familiar swearing; and I

  place it here, because custom has so far prevailed in this foolish

  vice that a man's discourse is hardly agreeable without it; and some

  have taken upon them to say it is pity it should not be lawful, it

  is such a grace in a man's speech, and adds so much vigour to his

  language.

  I desire to be understood right, and that by swearing I mean all

  those cursory oaths, curses, execrations, imprecations,

  asseverations, and by whatsoever other names they are distinguished,

  which are used in vehemence of discourse, in the mouths almost of

  all men more or less, of what sort soever.

  I am not about to argue anything of their being sinful and unlawful,

  as forbid by divine rules; let the parson alone to tell you that,

  who has, no question, said as much to as little purpose in this case

  as in any other. But I am of the opinion that there is nothing so

  impertinent, so insignificant, so senseless, and foolish as our

  vulgar way of discourse when mixed with oaths and curses, and I

  would only recommend a little consideration to our gentlemen, who

  have sense and wit enough, and would be ashamed to speak nonsense in

  other things, but value themselves upon their parts, I would but ask

  them to put into writing the commonplaces of their discourse, and

  read them over again, and examine the English, the cadence, the

  grammar of them; then let then turn them into Latin, or translate

  them into any other language, and but see what a jargon and

  confusion of speech they make together.

  Swearing, that lewdness of the tongue, that scum and excrement of

  the mouth, is of all vices the most foolish and senseless. It makes

  a man's conversation unpleasant, his discourse fruitless, and his

  language nonsense.

  It makes conversation unpleasant, at least to those who do not use

  the same foolish way of discourse, and, indeed, is an affront to all

  the company who swear not as he does; for if I swear and curse in

  company I either presume all the company likes it or affront them

  who do not.

  Then it is fruitless; for no man is believed a jot the more for all

  the asseverations, damnings, and swearings he makes. Those who are

  used to it themselves do not believe a man the more because they

  know they are so customary that they signify little to bind a man's

  intention, and they who practise them not have so mean an opinion of

  those that do as makes them think they deserve no belief.

  Then, they are the spoilers and destroyers of a man's discourse, and

  turn it into perfect nonsense; and to make it out I must descend a

  little to particulars, and desire the reader a little to foul his

  mouth with the brutish, sordid, senseless expressions which some

  gentlemen call polite English, and speaking with a grace.

&nbs
p; Some part of them indeed, though they are foolish enough, as effects

  of a mad, inconsiderate rage, are yet English; as when a man swears

  he will do this or, that, and it may be adds, "God damn him he

  will;" that is, "God damn him if he don't." This, though it be

  horrid in another sense, yet may be read in writing, and is English:

  but what language is this?

  "Jack, God damn me, Jack, how dost do? How hast thou done this long

  time, by God?" And then they kiss; and the other, as lewd as

  himself, goes on:-

  "Dear Tom, I am glad to see thee with all my heart, let me die.

  Come, let us go take a bottle, we must not part so; pr'ythee let's

  go and be drunk by God."

  This is some of our new florid language, and the graces and

  delicacies of style, which if it were put into Latin, I would fain

  know which is the principal verb.

  But for a little further remembrance of this impertinence, go among

  the gamesters, and there nothing is more frequent than, "God damn

  the dice," or "God damn the bowls."

  Among the sportsmen it is, "God damn the hounds," when they are at a

  fault; or, "God damn the horse," if he baulks a leap. They call men

  "sons of -," and "dogs," and innumerable instances may be given of

  the like gallantry of language, grown now so much a custom.

  It is true, custom is allowed to be our best authority for words,

  and it is fit it should be so; but reason must be the judge of sense

  in language, and custom can never prevail over it. Words, indeed,

  like ceremonies in religion, may be submitted to the magistrate; but

  sense, like the essentials, is positive, unalterable, and cannot be

  submitted to any jurisdiction; it is a law to itself; it is ever the

  same; even an Act of Parliament cannot alter it.

  Words, and even usages in style, may be altered by custom, and

  proprieties in speech differ according to the several dialects of

  the country, and according to the different manner in which several

  languages do severally express themselves.

  But there is a direct signification of words, or a cadence in

  expression, which we call speaking sense; this, like truth, is

  sullen and the same, ever was and will be so, in what manner, and in

  what language soever it is expressed. Words without it are only

  noise, which any brute can make as well as we, and birds much

  better; for words without sense make but dull music. Thus a man may

  speak in words, but perfectly unintelligible as to meaning; he may

  talk a great deal, but say nothing. But it is the proper position

  of words, adapted to their significations, which makes them

  intelligible, and conveys the meaning of the speaker to the

  understanding of the hearer; the contrary to which we call nonsense;

  and there is a superfluous crowding in of insignificant words, more

  than are needful to express the thing intended, and this is

  impertinence; and that again, carried to an extreme, is ridiculous.

  Thus when our discourse is interlined with needless oaths, curses,

  and long parentheses of imprecations, and with some of very indirect

  signification, they become very impertinent; and these being run to

  the extravagant degree instanced in before, become perfectly

  ridiculous and nonsense, and without forming it into an argument, it

  appears to be nonsense by the contradictoriness; and it appears

  impertinent by the insignificancy of the expression.

  After all, how little it becomes a gentleman to debauch his mouth

  with foul language, I refer to themselves in a few particulars.

  This vicious custom has prevailed upon good manners too far; but yet

  there are some degrees to which it has not yet arrived.

  As, first, the worst slaves to this folly will neither teach it to

  nor approve of it in their children. Some of the most careless will

  indeed negatively teach it by not reproving them for it; but sure no

  man ever ordered his children to be taught to curse or swear.