men, and even from booksellers,
De Lolme had recourse to a subscription; and his account of the manner
he was received, and the indignities he endured, all which are
narrated with great simplicity, show that whatever his knowledge of
our Constitution might be, "his knowledge of the country was, at that
time, very incomplete." At length, when he shared the profits of his
work with the booksellers, they were "but scanty and slow." After
all, our author sarcastically congratulates himself, that he--

"Was allowed to carry on the above business of selling my book,
without any objection being formed against me, from my not having
served a regular apprenticeship, and without being molested by the
Inquisition."

And further he adds--

"Several authors have chosen to relate, in writings published after
death, the personal advantages by which their performances had been
followed; as for me, I have thought otherwise--and I will see it
printed while I am yet living."

This, indeed, is the language of irritation! and De Lolme degrades
himself in the loudness of his complaint. But if the philosopher
lost his temper, that misfortune will not take away the dishonour of
the occasion that produced it. The country's shame is not lessened
because the author who had raised its glory throughout Europe, and
instructed the nation in its best lesson, grew indignant at the
ingratitude of his pupil. De Lolme ought not to have congratulated
himself that he had been allowed the liberty of the press unharassed
by an inquisition: this sarcasm is senseless! or his book is a
mere fiction!

FOOTNOTES:

[132] Except by the hand of literary charity; he was more than once
relieved by the Literary Fund. Such are the authors only whom
it is wise to patronise.

THE MISERIES OF SUCCESSFUL AUTHORS.

HUME is an author so celebrated, a philosopher so serene, and a man so
extremely amiable, if not fortunate, that we may be surprised to meet
his name inscribed in a catalogue of literary calamities. Look into
his literary life, and you will discover that the greater portion was
mortified and angried; and that the stoic so lost his temper, that had
not circumstances intervened which did not depend on himself, Hume had
abandoned his country and changed his name!

"The first success of most of my writings was not such as to be an
object of vanity." His "Treatise of Human Nature" fell dead-born from
the press. It was cast anew w