;gi. HISTORY or AUTHORS Bv PRoFEssroN. 13 



O/i the Hillory of Authors hy Frofcjfion. 



No. 11. 



I HAVE attempted to eftablifli in mv lad paper *, tha' 

 authors by profejjzon, or a clafs of men who derive their 

 chief fubiifter>ce from literary exertion, have ev«r ex- 

 ifted in fociety, among tlie rudeft, as well as the tsioft 

 refined nations, under the moll venerable, as well as 

 the moft contemned forms. Homer chaunting his bal- 

 lads, or Socrates delivering his moral inftruilions, cor- 

 refpond in thi<f particular with the unfliiiful bard of the 

 moft favage tribe, or the venal fophift of the moft cor- 

 rupted age. But it is to be remarked, that there are 

 two diftinft modes in which the profejjion of letters has 

 exifted, — either' by hecomi?tg oljetts of the munificence of 

 individuals^ or hy miniflering to the pleafure of the pub- 

 lic. The firft is the ftate of patronage : The fecond 

 that to which has been annexed the vulgar obloquy of 

 authorfinp. Under no otlier form can the literary pro~ 

 fejfion appear ; and the alternation of thefe conltitutes 

 its hiftory. It is not a little remarkable, that this al- 

 ternation aiFords a new example of that circle inhuman 

 affairs, that return to the point from which their prq- 

 grefs began ; which, in other provinces, has attraiSled 

 the attention of enlightened obfervers. 



Authorfhip is the form which appears in the earlieft 

 period of fociety; it Is fucceeded by ^rt^;-o««_g^^, which 

 again, in a fucceflion equally uniform and inevitable, 

 gives place to atithorjlnp, the ftate which occupies the 

 rudeft and the moft relined portions of the fecial pro- 

 grefs. This may be obvioufly illuttrated in detail. The 

 bard muft owe his fubfiftence to the grateful hofpitality 

 of his whole tribe. He is therelore complet'.dy in a 

 ftate of authorfinp. He minilters pleafure to that/)^^- 

 * Vq\. 1. p. (n. 



