54 THE HISTORY OF AU-THORS BY PRpFESSION. May 1%, 



ipunificent patronage. Thefe arts will in their turn 

 M'fldei DO the fame jevolution, xvhen tlie number of arr 

 ^ifts becomes formidable to the defcrrmination and mu- 

 nificence of the great. It is unneceflfary to remark, 

 hovv' happily thefe changes coincide with the general 

 fndfls wliich It has been the obje(9; of this efl'ay to efta- 

 felifli. A collateral caufe indeed operates, to confine 

 pstronage to the inferior arts at the period of which 

 I'am fpeaking. 1 he glory that was to be gained by 

 the encouragement of letters, had been almoll exhault- 

 ed by their earlier patrons. The fame, therefore, that 

 oould be conferred by it was fecond rate, while the new 

 <irts prefented to the vanity of patronage an unexplored 

 path. Hence from Mecenafes, the nobility becamje 

 Dilettanti. It is not unworthy of incidental remark, 

 that from that moment commenced the degradation of . 

 the Englifh nobles as a body. When they ceafed to 

 feel any pride in patroniling literature, they loft their 

 tiioft powerful incentive to cultivate it. A nobleman 

 of genius and learning became a phenomenon ; and no- 

 thing but occafional democratic ingraftments, could 

 have preferved any femblance of life in a faplefs aud 

 ■withering trunk. 



To apply the fame principles to another body of 

 ■men mentioned above, the Greek philofophers, it ap- 

 pears to me, that the fame change from patronage to 

 avthorjhip, from dependance on individuals to depen- 

 dance on the public, which we have remarked in mo- 

 dern times, is difcernible in their h'iftory. The bigot- 

 ed venerat"oii which furrounds thefe philofophers 

 v.'ith fuch awful fplendor, will be fliocked at the auda- 

 city of him V ho attempts to difpel the mift, to expofe 

 them in commercial plainncfs, and reduce them to a mo- 

 dern level. It is probably this bigoted veneration, 

 v/hich has hitherto prevented their hillorians from 

 viewing in its true light, the fmiple faft, which feems 

 to ni'! complete evidence of a change in their condition 

 r.s authors, fimilar to what has occurred in our own «ge. 

 To he concluikd in our nepit. 



