The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-06-15

The man who, an hundred years ago, ventured
to advance his fortune through the perilous paths
of authorship, was very likely to find that they
led neither to pleasantness nor peace. OTwAY is
said to have died by swallowing too hastily crust
which he unexpectedly obtained, and CHATTERToN
| persisted for want of bread GOLDSMITH and JOHN
son fought hopeless battles with neglect and penu-
ry long after they had proved their claim to the
world notice and regard. Grub street men
toned by the great public with contempt, and its
frequenters acquiesced humbly in the scornfu treat
ment which society thought proper to accord them
If magnificent prizes We're sometimes to be gained
i'll the literary arena, drudgery and unrequited
toll were generally. the lot of those who labored
! there. Nowadays, thanks TO the beneicent pub
fishers who have established and enlarged the
power and sphere of the press, writers great and
small, have equal opportunities of making known
their capacity and skill. The amount of genius
which has been developed, through the instrument
tality of booksellers is ncalculable and if it has
brought forth corresponding measure of graft
tude from readers, then have wisdom and good
ness increased in the land and multiplied exceed
ingly. 1t is an inestimable blessing to man to be
| allowed to blow his own trumpet after his own
fashion, but it must be an unspeakable ioy to an
unknown scribbler to find a friend who will per-
form that service for him, and pay for the whistle
in the bargain. 1t is pleasant to see how very
frequently this kindly office is performed, and
to that end we would suggest a perusaI of
certain class of advertisements to be found in
most of the daily papers. Mr. PERCY FITz-
DOODLE might have died as be had lived unno-
ticed altogether, but for the liberaty of the
proprietors of The Nec York Bloher, who have
engaged him to write solely for their paper,
and now announce his last novel as one calculated
byits startling Incidents its whitening satire and its
heart-rending pathos, toproduce an unprecedented
impression upon Fifth Avenue Society But for
the discrimination of the owner of The Battle Sco1c
the author of that terrific sea-story, The Phantom
'Pungy; Or Invalid Oysterman," would never
have earned his present fame. If the slow old
method Of imparting information was still in
vogue, how few of us would ever be made aware
of the fact that the new work of the world
renowned and Incompatible SYLvIUs FODDER has
surpassed even his previous efforts or that the de-
mand for the early chapters of the mirth-moving
GRINsBY's late book, which shook the national
sides with laughter, has required an additional
force of FIVE hundred men and six weeks labor 70
supply it?
More poets and romancers, who write exclusive
ly for somebody, have been lifted in a few
days into fanced Immortality than would
have emerged from Grub street in fifty years We
do not say this is altogether advantageous, for it
may be that these celebrated writers neither ele-
vate the taste nor enlarge the understanding of
their million readers. But as trait of the times
we live in, the putting system is worthy of being
noted, lest empty it is it should begin to speak
too authOrtatively for want of contradiction.