166 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



happy and desired nothing more than to go 

 on finding a ready market for his wares, a 

 sufficient income for the daily wants of his 

 household, and that praise which means to 

 authors far more than it means to any other 

 class of men. Nobody praises the physician 

 or the barrister : they go on their own way 

 quite careless of the world's praise. But an 

 author wants it ; I think that all authors need 

 praise. To work day after day, year after 

 year, without recognition, thanks, or apprecia- 

 tion, must in the end become destructive to the 

 highest genius. Praise makes a man write 

 better. Praise gives him that happy self-confi- 

 dence which permits the flow, and helps the 

 expression, of his thoughts. Praise gives him 

 audacity, a most useful quality for an author. 

 Jefferies could never have written his best 

 things but for the praise which he received. 

 The chief reason, I verily believe, why his 

 work went on improving was that every year 

 that he lived after the appearance of the " Game- 

 keeper at Home " he received an ever increasing 

 share of praise, appreciation and encourage- 

 ment. 



