7 4 HISTORY OF AUTHORS BY PROFESSION. May II, 



/,r, from which he derives his reward. He paffes from 

 cabin to cabin, purchafing a fliare in their joys by the 

 recital of his tale and his fong. In that fimple and equal 

 Jtate, no individual poffeffes opulence to become a pa- 

 tron ; and perhaps no favage amatenr could afford the 

 luxury of fuftaining, for a confiderable length of time, 

 his bard. Hence the neceffity of fucceffively exhibiting 

 his talents to his whole tribe, of courting his little 

 public, and becoming, in the modern fenfe, an author by 

 profelFion. 



But the inequality of property, which, fo early arifes 

 in fociety, produces fpeedy and important elFefts on the 

 condition of the profefTors of a rude and fcanty literature. 

 The chief, who firft outflrips his neighbours in opu- 

 lence, courts with avidity the man whofe traditional 

 knowledge can give fplendor to his lineage, or whofe 

 poetical powers can add renown to his exploits. The 

 genealogill and the poet find a ready accefs to his board. 

 They gladly abandon a precarious and defultory life, for 

 an eafe and a luxury, which it requires only flattery to 

 purchafe, and obfequioufnefs to enfure. 



In this ftate, literature is not only invited to dependence^ 

 by the munificence of her patrons, but flie is driven into 

 it by the callous ignoiance oi z public no longer fufceptible 

 of her charms : For the fame progrefsof inequality, which 

 makes they^w; opulent enough to be patrons, degrades 

 the many too much to be admirers. The ardent paf- 

 fion, and the frequent ina£lion of favage life exift no 

 longer in the indigent drudgery of a civilized peafant. 

 The care of fubfiftence abforbs feeling, and the fenfe of 

 dependence extinguilhes pride. They have no longer 

 leifure or enthufiafm to liften with rapture to the fong, 

 or attend with anxious curiofity to the iflue of the tale. 



It is in this ftate, that bards and fennachies are the 

 houfehold ofHcers of the great ; an ufage of which a 

 remnant ftill remains to libel the Englifh intelleft, in the 

 royal eftablifhment of a Poet Laureat. The progrefs of 

 fociety, however, changes this domeftic into a more 



