"It's hame, and it's hame,"
is equal to Burns.
_Captain._ I will take the hint. The club at Kennaquhair are turned
fastidious since Catalan! visited the Abbey. My "Poortith Cauld" has
been received both poorly and coldly, and "the Banks of Bonnie Doon"
have been positively coughed down--_Tempora mutantur._
_Author._ They cannot stand still, they will change with all of us.
What then?
"A man's a man for a' that."
But the hour of parting approaches.
_Captain._ You are determined to proceed then in your own system? Are
you aware that an unworthy motive may be assigned for this rapid
succession of publication? You will be supposed to work merely for the
lucre of gain.
_Author._ Supposing that I did permit the great advantages which must
be derived from success in literature, to join with other motives in
inducing me to come more frequently before the public,--that emolument
is the voluntary tax which the public pays for a certain species of
literary amusement--it is extorted from no one, and paid, I presume,
by those only who can afford it, and who receive gratification in
proportion to the expense. If the capital sum which these volumes have
put into circulation be a very large one, has it contributed to my
indulgences only? or can I not say to hundreds, from honest Duncan the
paper-manufacturer, to the most snivelling of the printer's devils,
"Didst thou not share? Hadst thou not fifteen pence?" I profess I
think our Modern Athens much obliged to me for having established such
an extensive manufacture; and when universal suffrage comes in
fashion, I intend to stand for a seat in the House on the interest of
all the unwashed artificers connected with literature.
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