264 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



felt that I had a claim on the gratitude of the party in 

 whose cause I had interested myself, not only for what 

 I had attempted to do, but also for what I had suffered 

 from the disappointment which attended the failure/ 



So much by way of acknowledgment and consola- 

 tion to Mr Forsyth ; now for the effect of his literary 

 failure upon himself : 



' With respect to literary pursuits, I have every 

 claim to be regarded as one of the incurables mentioned 

 by Goldsmith. At this moment, when I can look back 

 to the complete failure of my speculation, I am as de- 

 termined upon improving to the utmost my ability as a 

 writer as I could have been had the public, by buying 

 my work, rendered the speculation a good one. With 

 only my present ability to judge of my own powers, the 

 event can alone determine whether, when I have attained 

 the art of writing, I shall succeed or fail in making my- 

 self known. But could I decide whether I possess or 

 be devoid of true genius, it would be an easy matter for 

 me to anticipate the result. If destitute of this spirit, I 

 shall certainly not rise to eminence ; for my situation in 

 life is not one of those in which fortune or the influence 

 of friends can supply the want of ability, or in which 

 mediocrity of talent can become admirable by clothing 

 itself in the spoils of learning. My education is imper- 

 fect ; I cannot even subsist except by devoting seven- 

 eighths of my waking hours to the avocations of a labori- 

 ous profession ; and I have no claim from birth to either 

 the notice of the eminent or the patronage of the influ- 

 ential. But if nature has bestowed upon me that spirit 

 of genius which ultimately can neither be repressed nor 

 hidden, then, though fortune should serve me as Jupiter 

 did Briareus when he buried him under Etna, I shall 

 assuredly overturn the mountain.' 



