which we have as yet been unable to attain; that the situation which we now occupy, and the advantages which are attached to it, may operate on that genius as powerful motives to double his activity, to repel the insults of ignorant contempt, to vanquish despair, and to prevent his yielding to disgust at the sight of that injustice which so frequently discourages the rising talents of men of merit. Some, indeed, from the impulse of their irresistible mental powers, and actuated by a consciousness of their own abilities, have dared and surmounted every obstacle. But how much greater is the number of those, whose talents have been crushed under the pressure of distress, or whose genius has been buried in oblivion! What class of men require more encouragement than men of letters? What is the end and object of their toils? It is not gain, except as far as an unequal distribution of riches induces the poor to consider as wealth that which merely suffices to supply the exigencies of life. Still less is it their object to arrive at court promotion, which to them must be unsolicited. Is it then fame? Undoubtedly. But from whom do they expect it? from their contemporaries, or from posterity? If they aspire at the enjoyment of reputation during their life-time, at what an exorbitant rate must it be obtained? How many vexations and disappointments are they condemned to undergo? They must oppose a spirit of pride, which beholds every surrounding object with infinite contempt; they must encounter ignorance, which affects to judge of what it does not understand; they must combat with prejudice and narrowness of mind, whose characteristic is selfishness; they must be vulnerable to envy, which delights in calumniating merit, and to levity, which sacrifices every thing to the
temptation
