Reviews for History of American Currency: With Chapters on the English Bank Restriction & Austrian Paper...

The average rating for History of American Currency: With Chapters on the English Bank Restriction & Austrian Paper... based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-07-05 00:00:00 Mark Craft Written in one week to defray the cost of his mother's funeral, Johnson's moral tale is a superior example of the prose of its era, and its era—the Age of Enlightenment—is renowned for the quality of its prose. It is true that Candide—written in 1759, the same year as Rasselas--excels Johnson's work in both wit and humor, but then Voltaire's task was much easier. He merely wished to demolish another man's philosophy, whereas Johnson wished to persuade his readers how to be happy. Being happy wasn't easy for Johnson. He suffered from poor eyesight, facial scarring from scrofula, intense irritability, OCD, Tourette's, and thoughts of suicide. He also was afflicted with severe depression in his youth, so profoundly that—as he once told a friend--“he was sometimes so languid and inefficient that he could not distinguish the hour upon the town-clock.” How did he withstand such obstacles? By keeping his fancies and wishes private, applying himself assiduously to the task at hand, and enjoying whatever happiness arose from his labors. It should be no surprise that Johnson's personal method is similar to the moral of his tale. When Rasselas of Abyssinia becomes discontented with “The Happy Valley,” where his every whim is catered to, he departs, with his sister, her companion, and his tutor to explore the condition of the world. The four of them have many adventures, experiencing much pleasure and pain, but nothing offers them real satisfaction (except for the enduring promise of heaven). After discoursing on various philosophical topics, they conclude that the greatest wisdom would be to return from where they came, embracing their destiny in “The Happy Valley'. As a sample of Johnson's measured, deliberate prose, I offer the following excerpt from a discourse on the relative merits of the monastic and secular life: Those men, answered Imlac, are less wretched in their silent convent than the Abissinian princes in their prison of pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reasonable motive. Their labour supplies them with necessaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded. Their devotion prepares them for another state, and reminds them of its approach, while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly distributed; one duty succeeds another, so that they are not left open to the distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades of listless inactivity, There is a certain task to be performed at an appropriated hour; and their toils are cheerful, because they consider them as acts of piety, by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity.” “Do you think, said Nekayah, that the monastick rule is a more holy and less imperfect state than any other? May not he equally hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind, who succours the distressed by his charity, instructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes by his industry to the general system of life; even though he should omit some of the mortifications which are practised in the cloister, and allow himself such harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach?” “This, said Imlac, is a question which has long divided the wise, and perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide on either part. He that lives well in the world is better than he that lives well in a monastery. But, perhaps, every one is not able to stem the temptations of publick life; and, if he cannot conquer, he may properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil. Many weary of their conflicts with adversity, and are willing to eject those passions which have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the weary may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of prayer and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man that, perhaps, there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life in pious abstraction with a few associates serious as himself.”

Review # 2 was written on 2020-12-05 00:00:00 Graham Wrigley Dr Johnson’s foray into fiction is an oddity. The themes are similar to Candide and they were written at pretty much the same time. For different reasons. Johnson famously said “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”. His only novel was no exception. In January 1759 his mother became ill and Johnson needed money to support her and pay her medical bills. He wrote Rasselas in a week, in the evenings. He received one hundred pounds for it and it ended up paying for his mother’s funeral as well. Like Candide it was meant to be a critique of the philosophy in vogue at the time; the general optimism that everything works out well. It is set in North Africa; Abyssinia and Egypt. Rasselas is a prince of Abyssinia; his father the emperor has an infallible means of stopping rivalry for the throne by making sure all who challenge him live together in an enclosed valley. They live in absolute luxury and want for nothing. The catch is they cannot leave. Rasselas becomes inquisitive about the outside world and speaks to those who have lived out there. He spends time with a man of science (all needs are catered for) who speculates that they might be able to build something that will enable they to fly out. This enables Johnson to be prophetic about humanity conquering flight saying that it would be a disaster because of the implications of being able to move armies and arms around too quickly (got that one right Dr J!) The flight idea is a flop and eventually it is a philosopher called Imlac who works out a way of escape (geeks win again!). Rasselas and Imlac are accompanied by his sister Nekayah and her attendant Pekuah. They wander around Egypt and explore the monastic life, life devoted to learning, wisdom and science, the pastoral life, poverty, power and rulers. There is a good deal of rather irritating philosophising and debate and some repetition (even for a short novel). Inevitably they find all ways of life have their drawbacks and everyone wishes they had picked a different track and everyone wishes they could be young again. They go round in circles for a bit and get absolutely nowhere and head back to their valley. However there is a little off the wall conclusion as part of the last chapter. Each of them decide on an ideal course if they were able to do what they wanted. Imlac, the philosopher wanted to drift around the world examining all these different ways of life. Rasselas wanted a small kingdom where he could have enough control to ensure everything was justly run and his subjects happy. Pekuah wanted to join a convent and be a nun. Rasselas’s sister Nekayah wanted to found “a college of learned women” where women could learn sciences and the wisdom of the world (didn’t see that one coming I must admit). All in all a mixed bag; Johnson isn’t exactly fluent and you can tell it was written in a rush. However it was redeemed by some interesting ideas and speculations and Dr Johnson suggesting a university for women would be a good idea in 1759.