The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-08-24
5Hlsrrllallpuug,
Prizes in the Lottery of Authorship.

for his Virgil, and Pope 10000 for his
Homer. Gay netted 9l60O by his Beg
gars Opera, and the subscription edition
OF his poems brought him 8lOoO. He
lived extravaganty, yet let $4,000 at his
death. The poet Mallet received $1,000
from the Duchess Of Marlborough, to write
life OF the illustrious general, her hus
band and the second Duke further pave
MN kenslon, 10 stimulate him in the
task; yet, when Mallet died, several wears
afterwards, 1t was found that the migrate
ful fellow had not written a line Of the
promised work Sir John Hill q con.
temporaneous satarist, used to net Gl5OO
year by his pen. Churchill, the poet
also realized so much by his satires, that
notwithstanding his notorious profliracy,
he bequeathed by his will two annnitics,
amounting together to Gl3O. Yielding
received G7O0 in all for Tom Jones, and
$1,000 for Amelia. Smollett's History of
England, produced him upwards Of $4,000.
Glo6on got for the second part of his Ills
tory of Rome, $4,000. DIR. Iawkcsworth
realized 10000 for his Collection of Vow
ages. DIR. Robertson received G60O for
his History of Scotland, and fl50o for
his History of Charles !. of Spain. DR..
llenry's History of Great Britain, produc.
ed f330O (and the King gave him Gloo
a year, to testify his admiration of the
work Hume received immense sums for
his historical writings also.
Macpherson cleared fl2OO b. his Os-
sian, and by his Great Britain no less than
$4,000. DIR. Clark received for his vari-
Gus "Travels," the sum of f7OOO. DIR.
johnson had :f1575 for his Dictionary,
Certainly stupendous labor,) and Bos-
well had fl0O0 for his life OF the great
Leviathan Of Literature. Hannah More
received for her writings, from first to last,
the enormous sum of $4,000, and at her
death she .bequeathed 100000 in chari-
ties. Goldsmith is said to haye obtained
tlSOo in single year by his comedies,
although his immortal Vicar" only pro-
duced ECO. 1t is true he died $4,000 in
debt, but in the words Of DR.. johnson.
"was poet ever so trusted beforcp Cod
wins Political Justice, produced 97OO.-
Mrs. Radcliffe sold her Mysteries of IDOL
pho, for $500, and her Italian for $500
Allen Ramsay cleared $500 by his first
poems, and much more by his Gentle
Shepherd.
Burns received above G5OO clear for the
inst large edition of his poems, and Cur
res Life" OF the glorious bard produced
$1,000 for the benefit of his family. DR..
John Wolcot (Pe;er Pindar) after receiv-
ing very large sums for his humorous,
saiirical poems, finally sold the copyrights
for an annuity Of f25O, which he enjoyed
for twenty years. Thomson obtained for
his Seasons" fir m frs: to last, about GOO
guineas. Crabbe received $4,000 tor his
Tales of the Hall. Sir John Carr, faceti-
ously nicknamed The Jauntng Car in
alIuslon to his numerous tours,) received
for four separate books of travel, the sum
of fl9O0. Thomas Moore was paid
$1,000 for his Loves of the Angels, and
not less than 5000 guineas for his Lalla
ltookh. For many years he netted $500
year by the sale of his Irish Melodies.
and it is understood that Longman & Co.
paid him an annuity of f30O for his en-
tire copyrights.
Thomas Campbell received in all, for
his Pleasures Of Hope, f9oO, (tae entire
poem contains only 100 lines } for the
short poem of the Pilgrim of Glencoe, he
had 800 guineas, and for the cditorship of
The New Monthly Magazine, he was paid
E600 per annum. His income from the
profits of his wor'is land the bulk of the
whole is very smalD was for many years
at least E700. and yet he used to morbid
ly express his fears Of coming to the work
house at last. Southey, too, though con-
tinualiy maundering about the scantv re-
muneration OF authorship and its drudge
ry, and so forth, received Gl0O for each
review article he wrote t,r the "Quarter.
ly," according to his own account, he has
written one in few days,) and after Iv-
ing in good style all the latter half of his
life, and property declining a baronetcy,
he left Gl2,000 to his children, besides a
library, characterized as zone Of the most
valuable private libraries in the kingdom -
Theodore Hook had $4,000 for the first
series of his Sayings and Doing" and
for years his income from his pen was new
or less than $4,000 year. The truly
enormous sums earned by Scott and by
Byron are we'll known. Byron received
in all some f25,0o0, and for one of his
smaller poems, written in three nights
ION his own authority Murray paid him
500 g Iineas.
| Besides the large sums above mention
ed, many of the authors referred to enjoy
ed pensions of $4,000 to $4,000 or up
wards per annum for many years.
II
REy. DR. IyEs.-The Freeman's Jour.