246 PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 



to unite into corporate bodies. The reasons are not difficult 

 to find. 



Carried on chiefly in monasteries or by endowed eccle 

 siastics, the writing of books in early days had not become 

 an occupation pursued for the purpose of gaining a liveli 

 hood. Even after the invention of printing there was for a 

 long time no public large enough to make literature a bread- 

 winning profession; and when, at length, books were writ 

 ten to get money, miserable lives resulted : such rewards as 

 could be obtained being chiefly obtained through the patron 

 age of the wealthy. Indeed, it is curious to see how the 

 modern man of letters for a long time continued to stand in 

 the same relative position as did the minstrel of old. lie 

 was a hanger-on either of the king or of the great noble, 

 and had to compose, if not in verse then in prose, fulsome 

 laudations of his patron. Only in recent days has lie been 

 emancipated, and only by the extension of the book-buying 

 public has it been made possible for any considerable number 

 of writers to make tolerable incomes. Hence, until lately, 

 men of letters have not been sufficiently numerous to make 

 professional union feasible. 



Remembering that in France the Academy has long ex 

 isted as a literary corporation, we may note that in England 

 our generation has witnessed movements towards integra 

 tion. Forty odd years ago an effort was made to establish 

 a Guild of Literature and Art, which, however, did not suc 

 ceed. But we have now a Society of Authors, as well as 

 a special periodical giving voice to authors interests; and 

 we have sundry literary journals which, at the same time 

 that they are organs for criticism, bring the body of authors 

 into relation with the general public. 



