Shallow-deep, the Rev. Mr. Stumble-at-truth, that fine old
clerical character the Rev. Mr. This-today, who expects shortly
to resign his pulpit to the Rev. Mr. That-tomorrow; together with
the Rev. Mr. Bewilderment, the Rev. Mr. Clog-the-spirit, and,
last and greatest, the Rev. Dr. Wind-of-doctrine. The labors of
these eminent divines are aided by those of innumerable
lecturers, who diffuse such a various profundity, in all subjects
of human or celestial science, that any man may acquire an
omnigenous erudition without the trouble of even learning to
read. Thus literature is etherealized by assuming for its medium
the human voice; and knowledge, depositing all its heavier
particles, except, doubtless, its gold becomes exhaled into a
sound, which forthwith steals into the ever-open ear of the
community. These ingenious methods constitute a sort of
machinery, by which thought and study are done to every person's
hand without his putting himself to the slightest inconvenience
in the matter. There is another species of machine for the
wholesale manufacture of individual morality. This excellent
result is effected by societies for all manner of virtuous
purposes, with which a man has merely to connect himself,
throwing, as it were, his quota of virtue into the common stock,
and the president and directors will take care that the aggregate
amount be well applied. All these, and other wonderful
improvements in ethics, religion, and literature, being made
plain to my comprehension by the ingenious Mr. Smooth-it-away,
inspired me with a vast admiration of Vanity Fair.

It would fill a volume, in an age of pamphlets, were I to record
all my observations in this great capital of human business and
pleasure. There was an unlimited range of society--the powerful,