NUMB, 145: TUESDAY, August 6, 1751, IT Non fi priores Mæonius tenet Ceaque & Alcai minaces Stefichorique graves Camæne. What though the mufe her Homer thrones High above all the immortal quire; Nor Pindar's rapture fhe disowns, Nor hides the plaintive Caan lyre: Alcaus ftrikes the tyrant's foul with dread, HOR. FRANCIS T is allowed that vocations and employments of leaft dignity are of the most apparent ufe; that the meaneft artifan or manufacturer contributes more to the accommodation of life, than the profound fcholar and argumentative theorift; and that the publick would suffer less present inconvenience from the banishment of philofophers than from the extinc¬ tion of any common trade. Some have been fo forcibly ftruck with this obfervation, that they have, in the first warmth of their discovery, thought it reasonable to alter the common diftribution of dignity, and ventured to condemn mankind of univerfal ingratitude. For juftice exacts, that thofe by whom we are most benefited fhould be most honoured. And what labour can be more ufeful than that which procures to families and communities thofe neceffaries which supply the wants of 6 nature, nature, or those conveniencies by which ease, fecurity, and elegance are conferred? This is one of the innumerable theories which the first attempt to reduce them into practice certainly deftroys. If we estimate dignity by immediate usefulness, agriculture is undoubtedly the firft and noblest fcience; yet we see the plow driven, the clod broken, the manure spread, the feeds scattered, and the harvest reaped, by men whom those that feed upon their industry will never be perfuaded to admit into the fame rank with heroes, or with fages; and who, after all the confeffions which truth may extort in favour of their occupation, muft be content to fill up the lowest class of the commonwealth, to form the base of the pyramid of fubordination, and lie buried in obfcurity themselves, while they support all that is fplendid, confpicuous, or exalted. It will be found upon a clofer inspection, that this part of the conduct of mankind is by no means contrary to reason or equity. Remuneratory honours are proportioned at once to the usefulness and difficulty of performances, and are properly adjusted by comparison of the mental and corporeal abilities, which they appear to employ. That work, however neceffary, which is carried on only by mufcular ftrength and manual dexterity, is not of equal esteem,, in the confideration of rational beings, with the tasks that exercise the intellectual powers, and require the active vigour of imagination, or the gradual and laborious investigations of reason. The merit of all manual occupations feems to terminate in the inventor; and furely the firft ages cannot be charged with ingratitude; fince thofe who civilized civilized bárbarians, and taught them how to fecure themselves from cold and hunger, were numbered amongst their deities. But these arts once difcovered by philofophy, and facilitated by experience, are afterwards practifed with very little affistance from the faculties of the foul; nor is any thing neceffary to the regular discharge of these inferior duties, beyond that rude obfervation which the most fluggish intellect may practise, and that industry which the stimulations of neceffity naturally enforce. Yet though the refufal of statues and panegyrick to those who employ only their hands and feet in the service of mankind may be easily justified, I am far from intending to incite the petulance of pride, to justify the fuperciliousness of grandeur, or to intercept any part of that tenderness and benevolence which by the privilege of their common nature one man may claim from another. That it would be neither wife nor equitable to difcourage the husbandman, the labourer, the miner, or the smith, is generally granted; but there is another race of beings equally obfcure and equally indigent, who, because their usefulness is lefs obvious to vulgar apprehenfions, live unrewarded and die unpitied, and who have been long exposed to infult without a defender, and to cenfure without an apologist. The authors of London were formerly computed by Swift at several thousands, and there is not any reafon for fufpecting that their number has decreased. Of these only a very few can be faid to produce, or endeavour to produce new ideas, to extend any principle of fcience, or gratify the imagination with any uncommon train of images or contexture of events; the the rest, however laborious, however arrogant, can only be confidered as the drudges of the pen, the manufacturers of literature, who have fet up for authors, either with or without a regular initiation, and, like other artificers, have no other care than to deliver their tale of wares at the stated time. It has been formerly imagined, that he who intends the entertainment or inftruction of others, muft feel in himself fome peculiar impulse of genius; that he must watch the happy minute in which his natural fire is excited, in which his mind is elevated with nobler fentiments, enlightened with clearer views, and invigorated with stronger comprehenfion; that he muft carefully felect his thoughts and polish his expreffions; and animate his efforts with the hope of raising a monument of learning, which neither time nor envy fhall be able to destroy. But the authors whom I am now endeavouring to recommend have been too long hackneyed in the ways of men to indulge the chimerical ambition of immortality; they have feldom any claim to the trade of writing, but that they have tried fome other without fuccefs; they perceive no particular fummons to compofition, except the found of the clock; they have no other rule than the law or the fashion for admitting their thoughts or rejecting them; and about the opinion of pofterity they have little folicitude, for their productions are feldom intended to remain in the world longer than a week. That fuch authors are not to be rewarded with praise is evident, fince nothing can be admired when it ceases to exift; but furely though they cannot afpire to honour, they may be exempted from ignominy, and adopted in that order of men which deferves our kindnefs, though not our reverence. These papers of the day, the Ephemera of learning, have uses more adequate to the purposes of common life than more pompous and durable volumes. If it is neceffary for every man to be more acquainted with his contemporaries than with paft generations, and to rather know the events which may immediately affect his fortune or quiet, than the revolutions of ancient kingdoms, in which he has neither poffeffions nor expectations; if it be pleasing to hear of the preferment and difmiffion of ftatefmen, the birth of heirs, and the marriage of beauties, the humble author of journals and gazettes must be confidered as a liberal difpenfer of beneficial knowledge. Even the abridger, compiler, and tranflator, though their labours cannot be ranked with those of the diurnal hiftoriographer, yet must not be rafhly doomed to annihilation. Every fize of readers requires a genius of correfpondent capacity; fome delight in abstracts and epitomes, because they want room in their memory for long details, and content themselves with effects, without enquiry after caufes; fome minds are overpowered by fplendor of fentiment, as fome eyes are offended by a glaring light; fuch will gladly contemplate an author in an humble imitation, as we look without pain upon the fun in the water. As every writer has his use, every writer ought to have his patron's; and fince no man, however high he may now stand, can be certain that he fhall not be foon thrown down from his elevation by criticism or |