Audio recording: Didactic
Dublin Core
Title
Audio recording: Didactic
Subject
deciphered shorthand
Description
Reading of 'Didactic', a shorthand dictation exercise from the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil Arthur Stone
Creator
Gerrard, Dominic
Date
2023
Rights
You may use this recording in accordance with the license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Credit: Dominic Gerrard
Format
audio/wav
Language
English
Identifier
Didactic.wav
Sound Item Type Metadata
Duration
1:15
Transcription
Title: Didactic
Transcription: Although the forms of religious belief in the world are almost innumerable it is probable that their grounds and foundations are very few. One constantly recognises the same idea reappearing under diverse terms from the time of the old heathen mythology even to the present day. This is always observable in the superstitions of mankind. It is, or it would seem to be, so extremely difficult to separate the old notions altogether from new. […] Thus no one can visit Rome, the headquarters of all degrading superstition and fail to see incorporated into the purity and beauty of Christianity the pagan ceremonies of ages ago. Just as many of the Christian churches in Rome are built upon ruins of the old temples, so many of the practices retained in them and made articles of religious faith ought to have perished and forever vanished from sight in the light of the Christian dispensation, but still encumber them, the mere dust and ashes of a rotten and dead people.
Transcription: Although the forms of religious belief in the world are almost innumerable it is probable that their grounds and foundations are very few. One constantly recognises the same idea reappearing under diverse terms from the time of the old heathen mythology even to the present day. This is always observable in the superstitions of mankind. It is, or it would seem to be, so extremely difficult to separate the old notions altogether from new. […] Thus no one can visit Rome, the headquarters of all degrading superstition and fail to see incorporated into the purity and beauty of Christianity the pagan ceremonies of ages ago. Just as many of the Christian churches in Rome are built upon ruins of the old temples, so many of the practices retained in them and made articles of religious faith ought to have perished and forever vanished from sight in the light of the Christian dispensation, but still encumber them, the mere dust and ashes of a rotten and dead people.
Collection
Citation
Gerrard, Dominic, “Audio recording: Didactic,” The Dickens Code, accessed June 16, 2026, https://dickenscode.omeka.net/items/show/23.