{"id":12414,"date":"2019-08-13T15:07:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T15:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?post_type=kbe_knowledgebase&p=12414"},"modified":"2019-08-13T15:07:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T15:07:28","slug":"knox-and-elegant-extracts","status":"publish","type":"kbe_knowledgebase","link":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?kbe_knowledgebase=knox-and-elegant-extracts","title":{"rendered":"Knox and Elegant Extracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here is the title pate of The Elegant Extracts, of Prose, which is referred to by Harriet as making up part of Robert Martin\u2019s reading material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did JA choose to tell us about this item in Robert\nMartins collection of books?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look a little at the history of the these book and\ntheir author .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These books, and the companion anthology, Elegant Extacts\nin Verse, were collated by Vicesimus Knox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He became the Headmaster of Tonbridge School in Kent and was\nfamous for his liberal, enlightened views on education which were influenced by\nthe teachings of John Locke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knox promoted the reading of fiction as a means of\nexercising the imagination and encouraging critical and creative thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His book Liberal Education<\/em>(1781) has some interesting points to make about education, and he was particularly scathing about the shortcomings of the state of university education in the late 18th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had attended Oxford from 1771\u20131778 and seems to have disapproved of the somewhat immoral regime there. He asserted in his book, that :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to send a son to either university without the safeguard of a private tutor would probably \u201cmake shipwreck of his learning, his morals, his health and his fortune.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He suggested reforms to the university system in his pamphlet A Letter to Lord North<\/em>, which Knox addressed to the Oxford Chancellor in 1789. This pamphlet suggested the intervention of Parliament, and advocated a stricter discipline, a diminution of personal expenses, the strengthening of the collegiate system, an increase in the number of college tutors, the cost to be met by doubling tuition fees and abolishing \u201cuseless\u201d professors, with confiscation of their endowments. College tutors were to exercise a parental control over their pupils, and professors not of the \u201cuseless\u201d order were to lecture thrice weekly in every term, or resign<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an extract from one of his essays: On the Spirit of Despotism:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ignorance of the grossest kind, ignorance of\nman’s nature and rights, ignorance of all that tends to make and keep us happy,\ndisgraces and renders wretched more than half the earth, at this moment, in\nconsequence of its subjugation to despotic power. Ignorance, robed in imperial\npurple, with pride and cruelty by her side, sways an iron sceptre over more\nthan one hemisphere. In the finest and largest regions of this planet which we\ninhabit, there are no liberal pursuits and professions, no contemplative\ndelights, nothing of that pure, intellectual employment which raises man from\nthe mire of sensuality and sordid care, to a degree of excellence and dignity,\nwhich we conceive to be angelic and celestial. Without knowledge or the means\nof obtaining it, without exercise or excitements, the mind falls into a state\nof infantile imbecility and dotage; or acquires a low cunning, intent only on\nselfish and mean pursuits, such as is visible in the more ignoble of the\nirrational creatures, in foxes, apes, and monkies. Among nations so corrupted,\nthe utmost effort of genius is a court intrigue or a ministerial cabal.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spirit of Depsotism (1795)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her comic poem \u201cI\u2019ve a pain in my head\u201d (written by JA as an account of her visit to Mr Newnham an apothecary with a relation of her brother Edward\u2019s tenants in Chawton), she parodies a poem entitled \u201cThe Doctor and the Patient\u201d which is to be found in Knoxes books. W<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prose books were collections of essays from publications such as the Rambler, Spectator and, the Idler and also contain extracts from works by leading modern authors such as Gilpin , Swift, the Scot Hugh Blair, French philosophers such as Voltaire and classical authors such as Pliny<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The books were used as standard texts is schools for years: indeed, this was the use for which Knox explicitly intended for his books, for he believed in the reading of fiction as a means of exercising the imagination and critical and creative thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The books \u201care calculated for classical schools, and for those in which English only is taught.” The extracts \u201cmay be usefully read at the grammar schools, by explaining everything grammatically, historically, metrically and critically, and then giving a portion to be learned by memory”(See Extracts in Verse, preface).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1810 Wordsworth wrote that Elegant Extracts in Verse “is circulated everywhere and in fact constitutes at this day the poetical library of our Schools”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1843 Robert Chambers, introducing his own Cyclopaedia of English Literature says it will take the place of Knox’s Extracts which,”after long enjoying popularity as a selection of polite literature for youths between school and college\u2019 has now sunk out of notice”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three volumes of Vicesimus Knox’s anthologies were both\nexpensive and popular: Elegant Extracts in Prose (1783), and Elegant Extracts\nin Verse (c. 1780) had each at least 15 editions, and Elegant Epistles (1790)\nhad at least 10. Each volume was issued in an abridged form, but in only one or\ntwo editions. The unabridged volumes had each about 1000 pages and sold for\nfive guineas. Which was a considerable amount in the late 18th \/early 19th\ncentury<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does this tell us about Robert Martin who reads these books? That he is, I think, certainly better read than Harriet and quite possibly, Emma. It is quite ironic that the girl who can make fine reading lists but never completes her task, is able to dismiss a man who even though he reads only extracts of works, is probably much better read than herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another point to bear in mind is that he, or at least his\nfamily, is prepared to spend quite large amounts of money on books, even though\ntheir income would not match Emma\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude, I am sure JA really did approve of this young\ngentleman ,trying to improve himself by extensive reading such books as came\nhis way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it is interesting that JA provides a little insight\ninto Robert Martin \u2018s depth of understanding by letting us know that he reads\nsuch books as these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.pemberley.com\/images\/Emma\/elegantex.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.pemberley.com\/images\/Emma\/vknox.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is the title pate of The Elegant Extracts, of Prose, which is referred to by Harriet as making up part of Robert Martin\u2019s reading material. Why did JA choose to tell us about this item in Robert Martins collection … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","kbe_taxonomy":[259,266],"kbe_tags":[290,492],"class_list":["post-12414","kbe_knowledgebase","type-kbe_knowledgebase","status-publish","hentry","kbe_taxonomy-education","kbe_taxonomy-emma","kbe_tags-books","kbe_tags-elegant-extracts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12417,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12414\/revisions\/12417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kbe_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_taxonomy&post=12414"},{"taxonomy":"kbe_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_tags&post=12414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}