1832.] Conversation with the Double Sighted Youth. 581 



CPG. M. What do you think of getting up a petition for some legislative 

 enactment ? Lord Ellenhoimigh would present it. By the bye, what is your opinion 

 of the present state and future prospects of this country ? 



I). S. Y. You will have the cholera again in the summer. 



O'G. M. Sir Astley Cooper says, wait till June ! 



D. S. Y. I told him so, and you will see my prediction will be fulfilled. 



O'G. M. And pray, Gordon, can you see any prediction of a returning pros- 

 perity in the literary world, for you are doubtless aware that for these twelve 

 months and more, there has been a deadly blight upon the efforts of all those 

 who live by their intellect ? 



D. S. Y. I see nothing but starvation. The profession of literature has always 

 been precarious and miserable. You remember what Coleridge said on this subject. 

 Can any thing be more dreadful and more heart-rending than the situation of a 

 man of talent, without friends or money in London ? Don't talk to me of genius 

 finding its way; it's all cant. Place the greatest geographer that ever lived in an 

 African desert without food or companions, and tell him to find his way to 

 Timbuctoo ; will he ever arrive there ? And is the most illimitable wilderness more 

 desolate to the solitary traveller than London to the poor destitute student. Who 

 ever hears of his talents, or who would take the trouble to find him out if he did ? 

 Come with me to the Tower-hamlet ; you see that old dilapidated house by the 

 water-side, which seems about to tumble every minute. Pick your way up that 

 rotten stair-case that " winds in murkiness," and tell me if it can lead to the dwell- 

 ing of a genius ; open the door gently and look in ; did you ever behold such 

 misery? Hush! do you see that the bed clothes are moving? We have disturbed 

 the inmates. Lay thy head upon thy pillow once more, O thou forsaken one, and 

 take thy rest ! Yet a little while this mortal garb of beggary shall fall from off 

 thee, and a hand perchance of thy mother or sister, now happy in the heaven of 

 heavens, will wipe away all tears from thine eyes ! 



O*G. M. Why, Gordon, don't cry, man. 



D. S. Y.l cannot help it, Sir. My heart is heavy with the afflictions which I 

 behold in store for the children of intellect! The shadows of their griefs are 

 gathering around me ! Oh, how much will the publishers and authors of that book, 

 The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties, have to answer for, how much blood 

 the blood of life will be on their hands. For every honest and glad-hearted 

 country-boy, who shall be seduced by the perusal of the history of Robert Bloom- 

 field to neglect his labours and devote himself to poetry ; for every sober and indus- 

 trious mechanic who shall be led by that book to throw up his employment, and 

 surrender his mind to the study of machinery, and the construction of engines ; 

 for the miseries of these, and such as these, shall a tremendous compensation be 

 exacted ! When has the devotion to science or learning, or poetry, except in a few 

 instances, been other than one perpetual agony. Look into the history of past time, 

 and contradict me if you can. What did a life spent in earnest, untiring, enthusi- 

 astic application to the diffusion of classical knowledge, obtain for the celebrated 

 Stephani, (Henry and Robert), and their no less illustrious successor, Charles. The 

 two first dragged out a miserable existence in penury and torture, and the last 

 expired in the hospital. Corneille wanted nourishment in his last illness, and Fon- 

 taine was not much happier; and if Racine, Moliere, and Quainault were more 

 prosperous, it was only because they were under the more immediate patronage of 

 the Court. The life of every man is dashed more or less by sorrow and misfortune, 

 but a literary man has no enjoyment, of the tenure of which he can feel confident 

 for the briefest period. The happiness he partakes is the sunshine of a prison. 

 Other men may have melancholy seasons, but the literary devotee is always in sor- 

 row. His life is one continual uninterrupted passion of the soul. 



O'Cr. M. Here, Gordon, take the bottle and replenish the tumbler, for your 

 spirits seem to require some restorative. It appears Double- Sight has its inconve- 

 niences as well as single. 



[The Double-Sighted Youth applies his handkerchief to his eyes, and addresses 

 himself with much earnestness to the preparation of the toddy. This grateful oc- 

 cupation being satisfactorily concluded, he continued in renewed spirits.] 



D. S. Y. I suppose, as you appear to be literary in your tastes, you are connected 



