CHAP, vii.] APPEAL FOR AUTHORS BY PROFESSION.
"their riclies and their learning in a reciprocal proportion, their 1759.
" stupidity and pride encreasing •with their opulence. . . Every jpTT.,
ZEit. Oi.
encouragement given to stupidity, -when known to be such, is also
" a negative insult upon genius. This appears in nothing more evident
" than the undistinguished success of those who solicit subscrip-
tions. "When first brought into fashion, subscriptions were con-
" ferred upon the ingenious alone, or those who were reputed
" such. But at present, we see them made a resource of indi-
"gence, and requested not as rewards of merit, but as a relief of
" distress. If tradesmen happen to want skill in conducting their own
" business, yet they are able to write a book; if mechanics want money,
" or ladies shame, they write books and solicit subscriptions. Scarcely
'•' a morning passes, that proposals of this nature are not thrust
" into the half-opening doors of the rich, with perhaps a paltry peti-
" tion, showing the author's wants, but not his merits. . . What then
" are the proper encouragements of genius 1 I answer, subsistence and
" respect, for these are rewards congenial to its nature."*
" does it meet the questions at issue. Even in a pecuniary point of view, a sum
" might often be necessary for a limited period in the production of a particular
" work, which it would not be necessary to continue for life, and which need not
'' be applied to the mere relief of positive distress, or the support of infirmity
'' and age. Schiller was in the prime of his life, and quite capable of being a
" bookseller's drudge, perhaps of writing Grecian histories, and works on
'c Animated Nature, when two noblemen, thinking that his genius was meant for
'' other things, subscribed to endow him with a pension for three years, to enable
'' him to do that which he was calculated best to do. It came to Schiller at the
'' right time of his existence. It served, we believe, not only to aid his genius,
'' but to soften his heart. Some help of a similar nature, a national fund in
" connection with the pension list might not unprofitably bestow. Perhaps, in
" any comprehensive system of national education which the conflicting opinions
" and prejudices of party may permit the legislature ultimately to accomplish,
" means may be taken to render the Mechanics' Institutes (many of which are
'' fast decaying, and cannot, we believe, long exist upon resources wholly voluntary)
'' permanent and valuable auxiliaries to popular instruction; and endowed
'£ lectureships or professorships, at the more important of these in our larger
'' towns, might be devoted to men distinguished in letters and science, connect
'' them more with the practical world, occupy but little of their time, and yield
'' them emoluments, if modest, still sufficient to relieve them from actual
" dependence on the ordinary public and trading booksellers. Perhaps, too, in
'' the point of social consideration, it may be well to reflect whether it is wise or
'' just that England should be the only country in which men of letters are
'' deprived of the ordinary social honours, which tend to raise literature to its
" proper place in the estimation of the crowd." I may refer also, with the pride
and interest of one associated in the scheme, to the recent project for a Guild
of Literature and Art, which, if it be permitted to realise the hopes and aim
of its originators, will accomplish much of what is here desired. * Chap. x.