The Rambler.: [pt.1]

NUMB. 21. TUESDAY, May 29, 1750.

Terra salutiferas herbas, eademque nocentes, Nutrit; & urticae proxima saepe rosa est.

OVID.

EVERY man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine, that he possesses some peculiar qualities, superior, either in kind or in degree, to those which he sees allotted to the rest of the world; and, whatever apparent dis∣advantages he may suffer in the comparison with others, he has some invisible distinctions, some latent reserve of excellence, which he throws into the balance, and by which he ge∣nerally fancies that it is turned in his favour.

THE studious and speculative part of man∣kind have always seemed to consider their fra∣ternity, as placed in a state of opposition to those who are engaged in the tumult of pub∣lic business; and have pleased themselves, from age to age, with celebrating the felicity of their own condition, and with recounting the perplexity of politics, the dangers of greatness, the anxieties of ambition, and the miseries of riches.

AMONG the numerous topics of declamati∣on, that their industry has discovered on this subject, there is none which they press with greater efforts, or on which they have more copiously laid out their reason and their imagination, than the instability of high stati∣ons, and the uncertainty with which their profits and honours are possessed, that must be acquired with so much hazard, vigilance and labour.

THIS they appear to consider as an irrefra∣gable argument against the choice of the states∣man and the warrior; to this weapon they have always recourse in their rhetorical at∣tacks; and swell with all the confidence of victory, thus furnished by the muses with the arms which never can be blunted, and which no art or strength of their adversaries can elude or resist.

IT was well known by experience to the nations which employed elephants in war, that, though by the terror of their bulk, and the violence of their impression, they often threw the enemy into disorder, yet there was always danger in the use of them, very nearly

equivalent to the advantage; for, if their first charge could be supported, they were easily driven back upon their confederates, they then broke through the troops behind them, and made no less havock in the precipitation of their retreat, than in the fury of their onset.

I KNOW not whether those, who have so vehemently urged the inconveniences and dan∣gers of an active life, have not made use of arguments that may be retorted with equal force upon themselves; and whether the hap∣piness of a candidate for literary fame be not subject to the same uncertainty with that of him who governs provinces, or commands armies, presides in the senate, or dictates in the cabinet.

THAT eminence of learning is not to be gained without labour, at least equal to that which any other kind of greatness can require, will scarcely be denied by those who wish to elevate the character of a scholar; since they cannot but know, that every human acquisiti∣on is valuable in proportion to the difficulty implied in its attainment. And that those, who have gained the esteem and veneration

of the world, by their knowledge or their genius, are by no meanes exempt from the solicitude which any other kind of dignity produces, may be conjectured from the innu∣merable artifices which they make use of to degrade a superior, to repress a rival, or ob∣struct a follower; artifices so gross and mean, as to be an evident proof, how easily a man may excel in learning, without being either more wise or more virtuous than those whose igno∣rance he pities or despises.

NOTHING therefore remains, by which the student can gratify his desire of appearing to have built his happiness on a more firm basis than his antagonist, except the certainty with which his honours are enjoyed. The garlands gained by the heroes of literature must be gathered from summits equally difficult to climb with those that bear the civic or tri∣umphal wreaths, they must be worn with equal envy, and guarded with equal care from those hands that are always employed in efforts to tear them away; the only remaining hope is, that their verdure is more lasting, and that they are less likely to fade by time, or less ob∣noxious to the blasts of accident.

EVEN this hope will receive very little en∣couragement from the examination of the his∣tory of learning, or observation of the fate of scholars in the present age. If we look back into past times, we find innumerable names of authors once in high reputation, read perhaps by the beautiful, quoted by the witty, and commented by the grave; but of whom we now know only that they once existed. If we consider the distribution of literary fame in our own time, we shall find it a possession of very uncertain tenure; sometimes bestowed by a sudden caprice of the publick, and again transferred to a new favourite, for no other reason than that he is new; sometimes refused to long labour and eminent desert, and some∣times granted to very slight pretensions; lost sometimes by security and negligence, and sometimes by too diligent endeavours to retain it.

A SUCCESSFUL author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write. The regard of the publick is not to be kept but by tribute, and the remembrance of past service will quickly languish unless successive performances

frequently revive it. Yet in every new at∣tempt there is new hazard, and there are few who do not, at some unlucky time, injure their own characters by attempting to enlarge them.

THERE are many possible causes of that inequality which we may so frequently observe in the performances of the same man, from the influence of which no ability or industry is sufficiently secured, and which have so often sullied the splendour of genius, that the wit, as well as the conqueror, may be properly cautioned not to indulge his pride with too early triumphs, but to defer to the end of life his estimate of happiness.

—Ultima semper Expectanda dies homini, dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo, supremaque funera debet.

AMONG the motives that urge an author to undertakings by which his reputation is impair∣ed, one of the most frequent must be mention∣ed with tenderness, because it is not to be counted among his follies, but his miseries. It very often happens that the works of learning or of wit are performed at the direction of those by whom they are to be rewarded; the

writer has not always the choice of his sub∣ject, but is compelled to accept any task which is thrown before him, without much considera∣tion of his own convenience, and without time to prepare himself for the execution by previous studies.

Miscarriages of this kind are likewise fre∣quently the consequences of that acquaintance with the great, which is generally considered as one of the chief privileges of literature and genius. A man, who has once learned to think himself exalted by familiarity with those, whom nothing but their birth, or their fortunes, or such stations as are seldom gained by moral excellence, set above him, will not be long without submitting his understanding to their conduct; he will suffer them to pre∣scribe the course of his studies, and employ him for their own purposes either of diversion or interest. His desire of pleasing those whose favour he has weakly made necessary to him∣self, will not suffer him always to consider how little he is qualified for the work imposed. Either his vanity will tempt him to conceal his deficiences, or that cowardice, which always encroaches fast upon such as spend their lives in the company of persons higher than them∣selves,

will not leave him resolution to assert the liberty of choice.

BUT though we suppose that a man by his fortune can avoid the necessity of dependance, and by his spirit can repel the usurpations of patronage, yet he may easily, by writing long, happen to write ill. There is a general suc∣cession of effects, in which contraries are pro∣duced by periodical vicissitudes; labour and care are rewarded with success, success produ∣ces confidence, confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins that reputation which accuracy had raised.

He that happens not to be lulled by praise into supineness, may be animated by it to un∣dertakings above his strength, or incited to fancy himself alike qualified for every kind of composition, and able to comply with the public taste through all its variations. By some opinion like this, many men have been engaged at an advanced age, in attempts which they had not time to complete, and, after a few weak efforts, sunk into the grave with vexation to see the rising generation gain ground upon them. That judgment which appears so penetrating, when it is employ∣ed

upon the works of others, very often fails in performances where interest or passion can exert their power. We are blinded in examin∣ing our own labours by innumerable prejudi∣ces. Our juvenile compositions please us, be∣cause they bring to our minds the remembrance of youth; our later performances we are rea∣dy to esteem, because we are unwilling to think that we have made no improvement; what flows easily from the pen charms us, be∣cause we read with pleasure that which flatters our opinion of our own powers; what was composed with great struggles of the mind we are unwilling to reject, because we cannot bear that so much labour should be fruitless. But the reader has none of these prepossessions, and wonders that the author is so unlike him∣self, without considering that the same soil will, with different culture, afford different products.