The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-09-17
THE LITERARY PROFESSION.

IN a great mistake We are not aware ., s'iss -
one OF the conspicuous literary men o, Ins an Co.
our time who has not had reason 10 IMAM, n's 49,
what IL has done for him. Indeed, inc s.y ~
80 ~.,, hsL,nd the legal profession during the
last age in respect Of the cases oil aas , h o
one grade Of society TO aaolher ~ni1h nav ~"
achieved by IT, Its young adventures nave no. PC
r,,r.d .ov peerages and not very many oarohctsees
op'u aa hat its disadvantage IN this part OF
.a,,r,s, !, from mere formal cause affecting the
me- ~ nrn,,s.op Great lawyers necessarily come
;,o treat political situations, IN which these honors
re matters of course. Great authors are perhaps
49, we'll with their honored unccpsed by titles,
and the universal esteem in which they are held
when their morals not unworthy oil their iame.
We have only To run over some OF the Prihclpai
Names and To reflect the his cries connected with
:hem order to be assured mat the case as mere
represented.
Sir Waiter Scott entered life the son OF Scot
fish Solicitor and promised to De nothing better than
sixth part employed barrster, till his pen brought
him place fortune, and title had he not unfortunate
IN involved himself in business atars-ior which his
original motive was dread Of the precariousness OF
literary galns-had he trusted, In short, to literary
gains alone, he must have died a man worth <lOO,-
0OO ard made good his wish TO found landed and
titled family.
MIR. Campbell, as is generally known was an un-
iended youth, studying at Scottish university with
perhaps only the life OF poor teacher, or preacher,
before him, when his first poem obtained Tor him
friends and fame. He has not perhaps realised
wealth. but he has always lived in the style OF gen
teman and moved in the highest circles OF society.
Ne.,t. Words W, nth aud ovuthey are remark
bic fr The gains they have made by literature but
they have en- al least, abe To live as gentlemen, In
the OF all their peculiar tastes especially
the love of nature aud the love Of study, which are
ius the tastes OF all Others no~-a-days least within
The power OF mea who not entirely independent
Ii we are not mistaken, Mr.. Moore has been raised
in fortune by the ard Of muse. II was said, few
wears ago, that ne enjoyed $500 per annum ON At
ttf,.z al, he
has snce been endowed with pension OF SSOO,
the express iruil OF his literary merit.
The Engllsh Tibullus may not be rich; but,
amongst the variou, tat of the sons Of Dublin cIti-
IN, here are than that of enjoying mode
rate npetency wh The soc.sty of the most rehned
mart o, the frs naiion upon EARN.
Mr. w ashington Irving was originally a merchant,
and dd succeed in business he devoted himself 10
le,t,Is and only the other day that he attained,
unquesonaby IN consequence OF literary distinction,
the Office of his countrys ambassador to pain.
Mr. Jeffrey has, we heiese, no reason 10 regret his
critical Writings His bir h and original prospects
were moi superior to those Of Scott. He Is
of large fortune, and judg', fully as much through
his literary celebrity as nythng else.
i he editor Of the opposite critical organ IL the son
of Scotch clergyman, respectable degree in socie-
IT, hut which endows It's C ,ldren with much for
tune to him literature has given large income a. well
as personal Importance II is no discredt 10 him 10
say that he would have re named comparatively poor
as well Us obscure, in his original profession. His
early associate Mr.. Wi son. has been not less ndebt
to his literary talents for station and incomes let the
horde OF '.lhe unemployed" who daily pace the Par
lament House in Edlnburg bear witness.
Within the last few years We have had an extraor-
binary example of rise in auence and consde
in Consequence of Ii erature in the person Of Mr.
Dickens. Society sees few revolutions In personal
io,tune greater more rapid than that which this
most merorious person has passed through since
1886 when he published his first sketches in the
Morning Chronicle. He walks the world more in
the OF Roman conqueror than any man
since The days of Rome.
Look, again, to Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer-novels,
written probably IN few weeks, paid at the rate of
fifteen hundred pounds each--political, arising from
literary distnction-a baronetcy! Are these things
significant of miserable Proiession' In short, it APP
pears that literature far from being necessarily
cated with vexation and penury is entitled to take
no low place amongst the means by which talent rai-
itself in the world Nor has it ever been other
wise since there printed literature in England
If look back the list Of those who more
particularly d pendent on their literary Abilities we
shall find that there have been at all times rising
to opulence least comfort and to personal dis
tinction, by these The position of Johnson,
after his early struggles were over was not an unen-
vable one. Hume from almost nothing, raised him
self by his writings to considerable wealth, and to
high Offices which brought him more so that he died
in the en- ,yment of thousand year, and left fif-
teen thousand pounds Pope got wealth by his muse,
and Swift attained considerable ecclesiastical pre-
ferment though to what he ain ed at-a bishoprc.
Addison rose to be Secretary of State and Prior,
from pot-house boy became, like Irving, ambas-
sador Dryden with such lecundity of brain as he
possessed, must have been well enough off but for the
silly that called him husband We do not
know much Of rare Ben, but many surmise that sot-
tish habits alone prevent, d him from being rich
fellow enough. In Shakespeare, elevated from a
woostapler's TO absolute fortune and the style of
country gentleman, have a striking case of
advancement by of literature, for certainly it
mainly through that cause that he attained
wealth seeing that his qualification as player were
so poor. We stop with Spencer, who may be thought
an untavorabe instance, as he died in distress; but
n t satisfied that this distress connected
in any way with his poetry. Elizabeth employ ed,
patronsed, and endowed him. and that grant of land
IN the south Of Ireland must have been small mat
tor 1t was only transient disturbance of the peace
Of the country which damaged the poor poets spirits
I'd brought him to his grave. Probably, if he had
survived the confusion for little, all might have
cen well with him.
When we consider these things, it is difficult to
count for the tendency which is everywhere shown
whine about the poor rewards Of literature, and
doom of indulgence and starvation which hangs
the heads of all who give themselves to pen and
- !. Can it ie owing to the actual known instances
p"ery-stitlck scrlbbIers and starved poets, No
lbt some men of letters have come to miserable
ed The mind lights IN memeDt on Chatterton, Sa-
wage, and way. But are these casualties not to be
found in all ranks of men and all professional Are
there not macy starved apoihccares Are there not
ny mseraby poor soIictors' Tlas Il church also
it, army Of martyrs--curates stepped in power
ty and poor probatIoners who live upon protracted
hope all their days' We do not hear of these men.
but we always hear of unfortunate authors and
hence perhaps the notion that misery is the almost
exclusive associate of genus 1t is also to he OBJ
served that many of the mshaps and sad ends of lit
erary men are to be traced to cir own imprudence
that thing of power which nothing can overcome
or gainsay When any Of the ordinary children OF
N he de- eoCa If tho of
money, and consequently spend in day what they
gain in six, they usually go to wreck II unrea-
sonable to expect that men of genius to be ex-
empted from the same rule Goldsmith lived in DIFF
hcutes, and died three thousand pounds in debt but
Goldsmith was prosperous and well paid author.
have lenp a(iarfah lr L