Memoirs of Mrs. Hawkes, late of Islington. By Catharine Cecil [pp. 239-271]

Memoirs of Mrs. Hawkes.
every kind of biography is read with advantage. Like
every other species of writing it is liable to abuse, and some
productions which belong to this class, are amongst the most
insidious and corrupting which exist. Just as great as is the
difference of the effect of a truly good example and the contrary; so great is a difference between a description of the
one and the other.
Some persons, however, seem to take it for granted that
all religious biography must of course be good, and the
reading of it profitable; but this is far from being true. Much
of this class is absolutely worthless. It teaches nothing; or
what it does inculcate, is adapted to injure rather than benefit
the reader. Even biography of pious men and women may
be of no real value, and the time spent in reading such
works, wasted. As it is an easy kind of authorship to weave
a narrative of incidents out of the journals, or letters, of a
pious man, or woman, many persons venture into this field,
and the consequence is, that the public is inundated with
the lives and memoirs of persons, pious and well-mearning, it
is true; but, such as should have been permittted, after performing their work upon earth, to rest in peace. Memoirs
of weak and fanatical men and women, in which we have
the fumented froth of religion, instead of its solidity and
spirituality, do incalculable evil. A large portion of religious
professors are exceedingly liable to be affected and influenced
by narratives of this sort; and( are often led off in an erratic
course, much to their own injury, and the discomfort of
those with whom they are associated. According to the
prevalent method of preparing works of this kind, the writer
has little to do, but to select from the materials before him,
and scarcely appears in the workl. The subject of the memoir is made his own biographer, by means of his letters tot
his correspondents; or by his private diary, where he has
recorded his feelings, and also the passing events with which
he has been connected. We like this method of biography,
because it enables the reader to judge for himself of the
talents, disposition, and motives of the person: it admits
him into the very secret chamber, and even into the secrets
of the heart, of one who has acted a conspicuous part on the
theatre of the world. This, at least, is the fact, when the person, in penning his letters and journals, had no secret view to
the possibility that they might, one day, be exposed to the eye
of the public. When we consider the deceitfulness of the
human heart, even in good men, and how secretly and in
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