of his admirable work, in one of his letters--"On a fair state
of my account, it would appear that my labours in the improvement
of my work do not amount to _half the pay of a scavenger_!" He
received only one hundred pounds to the times of Charles I., and
the rest to depend on public favour for the continuation. The sale
was sluggish; even Walpole seemed doubtful of its success, though he
probably secretly envied the skill of our portrait-painter. It was
too philosophical for the mere collector, and it took near ten years
before it reached the hands of philosophers; the author derived
little profit, and never lived to see its popularity established!
We have had many highly valuable works suspended for their want of
public patronage, to the utter disappointment, and sometimes the
ruin of their authors; such are OLDYS'S "British Librarian," MORGAN'S
"Phoenix Britannicus," Dr. BERKENHOUT'S "Biographia Literaria,"
Professor MARTYN'S and Dr. LETTICE'S "Antiquities of Herculaneum:"
all these are _first_ volumes, there are no _seconds_! They are
now rare, curious, and high priced! Ungrateful public! Unhappy
authors!

That noble enthusiasm which so strongly characterises genius, in
productions whose originality is of a less ambiguous nature, has been
experienced by some of these laborious authors, who have sacrificed
their lives and fortunes to their beloved studies. The enthusiasm of
literature has often been that of heroism, and many have not shrunk
from the forlorn hope.

RUSHWORTH and RYMER, to whose collections our history stands so deeply
indebted, must have strongly felt this literary ardour, for they
passed their lives in forming them; till Rymer, in the utmost
distress, was obliged to sell his books and his fifty volumes of MS.
which he could not get printed; and Rushworth died in the King's Bench
of a broken heart. Many of his papers still remain unpublished. His
ruling passion was amassing state matters, and he voluntarily
neglected great opportunities of acquiring a large fortune for this
entire devotion of his life. The same fate has awaited the similar
labours of many authors to whom the history of our country lies under
deep obligations. ARTHUR COLLINS, the historiographer of our Peerage,
and the curious collector of the valuable "Sydney Papers," and other
collections, passed his life in reselling these works of antiquity, in
giving authenticity to our history, or contributing fresh materials to
it; but his m