Michael Faraday's Mental Exercises: An Artisan Essay-Circle in Regency London (Liverpool University Press - Liverpool English Texts & Studies)

265 Pages·2008·0.69 MB·English

by  Alice Jenkins

MICHAEL FARADAY’S
MENTAL EXERCISES
AN ARTISAN ESSAYCIRCLE
IN REGENCY LONDON
LIVERPOOL ENGLISH TEXTS AND STUDIES, 

MICHAEL FARADAY’S
MENTAL EXERCISES
AN ARTISAN ESSAYCIRCLE
IN REGENCY LONDON
EDITED BY
ALICE JENKINS
First published  by
Liverpool University Press
 Cambridge Street
Liverpool L ZU
Copyright ©  Alice Jenkins
The right of Alice Jenkins to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, .
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data
A British Library CIP record is available
ISBN ---- cased
Typeset in Garamond by
BBR Solutions Ltd, Chesterfield
Printed and bound by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn
For Nicky

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction
Faraday and style 
Organizing the essay-circle 
Writing the Mental Exercises 
Reading in the Mental Exercises 
Note on editorial policy 
Part One: The ‘Mental Exercises’
List of Members and Scribes’ Rota 
Members’ Agreement 
On Study 
On Honour 
On Argument 
On Imagination and Judgement 
Hope 
On General Character 
On the Pleasures and Uses of the Imagination 
On Politeness 
Agis 
The Charms of Sleep 
Friendship & Charity 
viii michael faraday’s mental exercises
An Ode to the PASS 
Garreteer’s Epistle 
A Mathematical Love Letter 
On seeing a Rose in the Possession of a Lady at the SMHPABNASL 
On Courage 
Irritus to the Manager 
Marriage is Honourable in All 
Friendship 
On Mind and the Duty of Improving It 
A word for Page  
On the Early Introduction of Females to Society 
Memoranda 
On prematurely Forming Opinion of Characters 
On the Death of the Princess Charlotte 
Affectation 
On Conscious Approbation 
The Origin of a Critic—A Fable 
Reflections on Death 
On Avarice 
On Tradesmen 
On Laws 
On the Changes of the mind 
On Marriage 
On Calumny 
Letter to the Secretary 
Enigma 
On Marriage 
Effeminacy & Luxury 
A Brother’s Letter to Mr. Deeble 
Junius & Tullia 
A Ramble to Melincourt 
On Triflers 
th Psalm 
Infancy 
At a Village on the Dunchurch Road 
contents ix
Part Two: Contexts
Faraday and Self-Education
Faraday, from the Correspondence (–) 
Faraday, from Observations on the Means of Obtaining
Knowledge () 
Faraday, from ‘Observations on the Inertia of the Mind’ () 
Faraday’s indexes to eighteenth-century periodicals 
Faraday, from ‘Observations on Mental Education’ () 
The Improvement of the Mind
Isaac Watts, from The Improvement of the Mind () 
Samuel Johnson, from The Rambler () 
Thomas Williams, from The Moral Tendencies of Knowledge () 
Isaac Taylor, from Self-Cultivation Recommended: Or, Hints to a
Youth Leaving School () 
From The Black Dwarf () 
Mary Shelley, from Frankenstein () 
Henry Brougham, from Practical Observations upon the Education
of the People () 
The Pleasures of the Imagination
Joseph Addison, from The Spectator () 
Mark Akenside, from The Pleasures of the Imagination () 
Index 