CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
CONTENTS
PRONOUNCERS.
COOLING THE AIR OF ROOMS IN HOT CLIMATES.
THE CHURCH OF THE CUP OF COLD WATER.
MUSIC-GRINDERS OF THE METROPOLIS.
A VOICE FROM THE DIGGINGS.
THE HISTORY OF JANE A POOLE.
THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
CHILDREN'S JOYS AND SORROWS.
A REJECTED LOVER.
THE TEARS OF OYSTERS.
'ROBESPIERRE.'
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'SINFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
| No. 430. New Series. | SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 1852. | Price 1½d. |
PRONOUNCERS.
Do you not find, in almost every company, one who pronouncesdecisively upon every matter which comes in question? His voice isloud and firm, his eye bold and confident, and his whole manneroracular. No cold hesitations as to points of fact ever tease him.Little time does he require to make up his mind on any speculativesubject. He is all yes or all no at once and without appeal.Opposite opinions he treats with, at the best, a sublime pity, meantto be graceful, but, in reality, galling. He is often a goose; but, behe what he may, it is ten to one that he carries off the majority ofthe company in the mere sweep of his gown. They are led by him for thetime, fascinated by the energy of his pronunciations. They may allrecover from him afterwards—some after one day, some after two, andparticularly weak men after, perhaps, a week. At the moment, however,the pronouncer has vast influence, and, if immediate action can bedetermined on, it is very likely that he drags his victims into somecommittal of themselves, from which subsequent escape may not be veryeasy.
While pronouncing is thus the prominent quality of a few, it is moreor less the vice of nearly all. Men feel that they have an inherentright to their opinion, and to the promulgation of it, and are notvery apt to reflect that there is another question—as to whethertheir opinion be worth delivering; whether it has been formed upon agood basis of knowledge or experience, or upon any basis at all;whether it is the emanation of ripe judgment and reflection, or ofsome mere passing gust of ideas springing from the whim of the minute.Hence, when any question arises, it is se